In what order should a pantry be organized?

maintain food zones First, no matter how small your food storage location is, you need to keep food zones separated and organized. Keep your canned foods in one spot, your dry goods in another, and the snacks in another. Here are some more small kitchen tips that will help you keep everything organized.

How can I organize my pantry with no money?

Go through your house and find boxes, baskets, glass jars, and clear canisters Use them to store snacks and open bags of chips. Mix and match and rearrange your food storage containers until you find a configuration that works! This is the key step in organizing your pantry without spending any money.

How do I group items in my pantry?

Designate areas for different types of food such as baked goods; breakfast items like cereal, oatmeal, jams, spreads and syrups; grains; bottled, canned and boxed beverages; tea and coffee; snacks; boxed or canned stocks; condiments; and oil and vinegar.

How do I layout my pantry?

Divide your pantry into zones to keep your food organized and reduce meal preparation time . First, identify food and cooking categories that suit your lifestyle (such as weeknight dinners, portable lunches, and baking). Next, designate an area for each, with the most often-used zones easiest to get to.

How can I organize without buying anything?

How to organize without spending any money Begin by decluttering. (Image credit: Interior by Prescott Design / photograph Amy Bartlam) ... Go digital. ... Repurpose old jars. ... Stick to your 'space budget' ... Ask friends and family. ... Create a coffee station. ... Reuse boxes. ... Give everything a home. Apr 21, 2023

How do you maximize a small pantry?

Use Available Space Dowel rods keep small items, such as spices and condiments, in their place. Arrange larger bags and boxes of snacks directly on the shelves of the cabinet. To optimize vertical space, especially if your small pantry lacks adjustable shelving, stack cans and containers whenever possible.

How do you organize a modern pantry?

A storage space with more shelving is the most efficient configuration for ingredients . Drawers or slide-out shelves also help tremendously with visibility. Store everything you can in clear containers.

How do I organize my pantry pasta?

Transfer common ingredients — flour, sugar, brown sugar, pasta and so on — into large glass jars with lids, and place them on the middle shelf for easy access . On the shelf above, arrange small glass jars full of more specialized ingredients, like spices, nuts and dried fruit.

What do you put on the bottom shelf of a pantry?

7. Make a Kid-Friendly Spot. Fill a bottom shelf with water bottles, snack bins and cereal dispensers , so your kiddos can help put away groceries and grab something to eat.

Is there an app for pantry inventory?

FoodShiner is a food inventory app that will help you to keep track of all your food supplies in a simple and elegant way. We believe that food management is very private, after all, the complete consumption of an individual / a family is understandable.

How do chefs organize pantry?

In professional settings, everything from spices, dried herbs, seeds, pasta, and grains are stored in deli containers . I use them in my fridge as well to store sauces, soups, mise en place and leftovers. Trust me, once you have them, you'll find multiple uses for them around your kitchen!

How do you organize a healthy pantry?

Tips for Stocking and Organizing the Pantry Take everything out first. ... Clean your shelves. ... Ask yourself if you really need to be eating each item. ... Allow for a few treats. ... Be realistic about your expectations. ... Put the good stuff front and center. ... Stock up on the basics. More items... Dec 27, 2022

EASY Pantry Organization Ideas - I Heart Naptime (2024)

Jamielyn Nye
Updated August 10, 2021

39 comments

Pantry organization storage ideas, tips and tricks to get your space organized in the new year.

EASY Pantry Organization Ideas - I Heart Naptime (2)

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DIY Pantry Organization
How to Organize a Pantry
Pantry Storage Containers
Pantry Labels
How I Labeled my Bins
More Ways to Organize

DIY Pantry Organization

One of the things that sold me on our new house was the kitchen (post coming soon)! I also loved the fact that it had a walk in pantry. I’ve never had a pantry before, usually I just stored everything in cupboards, under the bed or coat closets (which you can definitely make pretty and functional too).

I knew with this pantry that I wanted to keep things organized and make sure every item had it’s own container. I’m going to take you through the steps of how to organize your own space and make it work for you.

How to Organize a Pantry

Take measurements. Be sure to measure the size of your pantry so that you can maximize the entire space and find containers that will work for the shelves.
Remove all items. Remove everything from the pantry and wipe it down so that you can start with a clean slate.
Group items into sections. Group all pantry items into sections, i.e. baking supplies, snacks, canned goods, etc.
Start pitching. Get rid of anything that has expired. This is also a good time to pitch anything you know you won’t use and that is just taking up space. The goal is to have a functioning pantry with items your family will eat. Remove packaging before adding items to the container, recycle the big boxes if possible.
Add items to storage containers. One section at a time, start adding the items into your pantry storage containers. Try to find containers around the same size as your items. You can group multiple items in one container. For example I put all my sauces in one container.
Organize containers in pantry. Place storage containers in your pantry. You want to organize these based on what’s most convenient for your family (i.e. snacks on the bottom shelf for your littles, things you don’t want them to get up top).
Make sure everything has a place. Even if you’re storing your food in a cupboard, you want to make sure it has a place.
Add labels. Once you have everything in place, now you can label the containers. This has made it super easy to keep our pantry stay organized. I loved using my white sharpie to write on the labels.
Write the expiration dates. Use a white sharpie to write the expiration date and instructions on the bottom of the container. It will wash off with water and a scrubbie. You could also cut out the nutrition label and tape it to the bottom if desired.
Store extra’s up top. Have a bin for extra’s that don’t fit in the containers. Then when it’s running low, you can easily refill.

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Pantry Storage Containers

Clear Containers: For my clear containers, I used these BHG food storage containers from Walmart. They work great and are the cheapest that I was able to find without losing quality. These are great for things like pretzels, crackers, nuts, pasta, etc.
Cereal Containers: For my cereal containers, I did splurge and get the OXO cereal dispensers. I didn’t love that my kids couldn’t hold the bigger containers, so these smaller ones are perfect.
White Bins: I found the white bins from IKEA. They are the Kuggis box (the majority of them are the 10″ and the ones up top are the 14×21″. I love these because you can’t see through them and they are super easy to wipe down.
White Buckets: For bulk items, I used food safe containers with a gamma seal lid. I have the 3.5 gallon size (because that fits best in my pantry), but if you want to hold a 25 pound of flour then you’ll need a 5 gallon bucket. Again, just make sure it is food safe. You can find these at Home Depot, Lowes and some stores like Winco.
Jars: I used these Ball glass jars with white storage lids to store nuts and seeds. They are the perfect size to fit a whole bag and keep them nice and fresh. I found these later, or I probably would have added more to my pantry. They are so pretty!
Can Organizers: I’ve had these can organizers for several years. In my last house I had a book shelf in a closet and stacked them in there. It worked!
Turn Tables: turn tables also make a great addition to store things like honey, spices and sauces.
Baskets: baskets are also a cute and functional container. Just make sure not to put loose food in them, only packaged items.

Pantry Labels

I used these chalkboard labels from Michaels on the white bins. Then on the clear containers I wrote directly on them using this white sharpie. It makes it look like a chalk pen, but it won’t come off. I also used that sharpie on my containers. It will come off the containers with water and a scrubbie.

Most craft stores have all kinds of labels in different colors and sizes. We even have some of the basic pantry organization labels available as a free printable. I love these cursive labels that you can buy with the items written out as well.

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How I Labeled my Bins

Several of you requested for the names I put on the bins, so I thought I would update this list.

White Bins

Pasta
Sauces
Condiments
Salad toppings
Stock cans
Produce
Nut butter
Bread
Breakast
Mac & Cheese
Snacks
Dried fruit
Apple sauce
Baking
Vitamins
Chips
Extra (this is a big bin I keep up top with extra food that didn’t fit)
Paper goods

Clear Containers

Noodles
Rice
Cocoa powder
Flour
Oats
Powder sugar
Chocolate chips
Marshmallows
Chia seed / flax seed
Granola
Cereal
Pretzels, etc.

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More Ways to Organize

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Categorized as: DIY, Kitchen Tips

Jamielyn Nye is the founder and recipe creator at I Heart Naptime. She is also the author of the I Heart Naptime Cookbook. Here you will find easy family-friendly recipes for every occasion.

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