The pantry is the hub of the kitchen, often used multiple times a day by multiple people. A disorganized pantry can steal time from your day and even money from your pocket. Spending unnecessary time searching for items, overbuying food items that you didn’t realize you already had, even letting food items go to waste because they got shoved to the back and you didn’t notice them before they expired. There is no wonder why pantry organization has become almost a trend in the last few years, it really can make a difference in your day to day life. It can feel overwhelming though, where do you start? In this post I am going to give you a step by step guide on how to be the most efficient in organizing your pantry and making it more functional for you and your family.

1. Take Everything out and purge expired/unwanted items

It may feel like a lot, but sometimes it has to get worse before it gets better. Taking all items out of your pantry is necessary to discover all that is hiding in the nooks and crannies. Having it all out at once will make the categorizing step more efficient, it ensures you don’t miss any items in a category. If it just feels like too much, then it is totally ok to go shelf by shelf. Progress is better than perfection so just do what you can when you can. There will be some additional sorting and rearranging later on if you do each shelf individually, to make sure that the entire pantry is cohesively organized, but that’s ok!

As you are pulling items out, have a look at the expiry dates. Anything expired you can toss, and anything that is close to expiry or that you just haven’t been reaching for, can be set side. You can either find an organization to donate it to or work it into next weeks menu plan to make sure it gets used up.

2. Sort into categories and determine high use items

While your pantry contents are out on your kitchen surfaces, group them into categories that make sense to you. This is a personal thing, depending on the types of food you use and how you use them. Some common categories, are as follows: Breakfast, snacks, baking, meals, health products, drinks, spices, kids snacks, back stock and non-food items.

This is the time to also think about which items you use most. When you put all of the contents back into your pantry I recommend putting the most used items front and center, closest to eye level and easiest to grab. Then work outwards from there, with the least used items being at the very top, bottom & back of the pantry.

For a full list of categories, including what foods fall under each category and where they should be located in your pantry, I have created a printable guide that covers it all. It may not be a perfect list for you but it is a great starting off point, then you can edit as needed. A download for the pantry category printable guide is available at the end of this post, just scroll to the bottom.

3. Measure for and purchase containers/organizers

Measuring is key here. It is the most important step to make sure you are using your pantry space efficiently. You want to maximize the space on each shelf but also leave enough breathing room that you can easily slide bins in and out. There are a multitude of bin/basket/container options to hold pantry goods. You can decide if you prefer containers where you can see the contents, like a clear plastic bin or a wire basket, which can make finding things easier. Or maybe you’d rather have a less cluttered look with a solid colored bin or woven basket. There are also other pantry organization solutions that can make great use of awkward spaces:

4. Put everything back and label

When you are putting your pantry items back in, keep in mind those items that you determined were the most used during the categorizing step. You want these items to be on the middle shelves, closest to eye level and easy to reach, the least used items can go on the lowest and highest shelves.

The labelling is the key to maintaining the organization system that you just implemented, especially if there are multiple people in the household. Labels tell everyone where an item is and more importantly, where it goes back after using. My pantry has kept it’s same level of organization for 1.5 years in a household of 5 people because of the labels! You can get crafty on a Cricut and create custom labels, there are many options to order off of amazon as well. I really like using plain vinyl stickers and using a chalk or acrylic pant pen to write on them. With this method the writing can be wiped off and a new label written if you decide you’d rather store something else in that basket or container.

5. Maintain and tweak as needed

Organizing is not a one and done type of event. It is something that takes maintenance and requires tweaking. As you use the new pantry system that you’ve created, you might find that something needs to move over here, or that works better over there. It is normal and expected to make little changes here and there as you are figuring out which setup functions best for your home, family and lifestyle.

Thanks for reading and happy pantry organizing! I think you will find that an organized pantry really can make a difference in your daily routines running smoothly.

Please comment with any tips or tricks that you have found make your pantry more efficient!

Thanks for reading! – Brigitte

^{The Harmonious Home, Professional Organizer and Interior Decorator in St.Albert, AB, Canada}