A pantry is a terrible thing to waste. With the business of day to day life, it’s easy to just close the pantry doors and forget about the episode of Hoarders growing inside. Today, I tackled this daunting area of the kitchen. We have a beautiful and spacious Avondale corner pantry, and it was a shame to have things strewn about, misplaced and shoved into corners. We even came to find that we have a lifetime supply of pasta! Here are some tips and tricks to help you get organized too.
1. Take everything out! Put EVERYTHING on the counter, floor, or island. You may be surprised what you find in there! After the pantry is empty, wipe down all of the shelves with a damp cloth, starting at the top, and working your way down. We don’t want our beautiful organized pantry to have graham cracker crumbs and honey sticking to everything.
2. Purge! Is there three almonds left in the bag? Old opened cookies you don’t remember owning? A bottle of coconut curry that expired in 2006? A can of clam chowder that you can’t even imagine eating? Throw. It. Away. Get rid of everything expired, stale, or anything you honestly won’t eat.
3. Remove things that don’t belong. You don’t need plant food, hammers, light bulbs, extra remote controls or shoelaces in your pantry. This is prime real estate we’re talking about. Get rid of things that don’t belong in the pantry, but have found their way there.
4. Group Like-Things. Before organizing, we bought containers and baskets at the dollar store. All tomato sauces went in a basket together, all cans of soup in another basket. Packets of gravy, soups, etc., in a smaller basket. All cup noodles in a larger basket on a shelf. Baking supplies earned their own shelf. Tupperware containers were places in an easy to reach box, on a shelf as well.
Bonus Tip: Put the things you use regularly at eye level. If you see it, you will use it, and vice versa.
Happy Organizing!!
Written by my beautiful wife Karen Lee
