Photo courtesy of ClosetMaid
My son came home the other day with a note that they were having a food drive at school. Of course the note had been left in his book bag for a week and he needed food the next day. A trip to the store wasn’t in my schedule so I decided to “shop” in my pantry. Wow! It was unbelievable how much stuff was in that closet and how unorganized it all was. The kitchen pantry needed to be overhauled but there wasn’t enough time that evening. I got some things together for his school and made a mental note that the next day I was free it was time to tackle the pantry.
Photo courtesy of ClosetMaid
In a magazine I found a great article on kitchen storage and organizing. It had some great tips so I took the time to make some notes. That way when I was ready to begin there was a method to putting things back in to make the most of the space.
The first step is to remove everything from the pantry. We live in one of those ranch home plans and there’s a U-shaped kitchen with a corner pantry. It was convenient because as I took everything out I just placed it on the counters and table. There was a lot of cleaning to do once it was emptied. Over the years all the food that had come out of bags and containers was stuck to the floor and the shelves. A big bucket of soapy water and some scrubbing cleaned up most of the debris on the shelves. I then grabbed a mop and scrubbed the floor. Once it dried I was ready to put things back in.
The only items that were going back in the pantry were things that I use to cook and entertain with. There were a lot of things that had made their way into that closet. I put all the odds and ends that didn’t belong in a basket and then into the laundry room so they could be sorted out later.
Photo courtesy of FreedomRail
We have shelves that are about 9 inches from the ceiling and a step stool is needed to access them. I started with those top shelves and placed serving platters and holiday and seasonal trays on them. We only use these on special occasions so the top shelf is the perfect place. I also put the muffin, cake, and loaf pans up high because they are not things we use everyday.
The next shelf down is where I placed all the smaller kitchen appliances like the food processor, blender, mixer, electric frying pan and popcorn popper. I like to put them in the pantry so they don’t clutter up the kitchen counter.
Now it was time to tackle the food. The only thing that I intended to put back in the pantry was food that would be used. The freshness dates were checked on everything and if it was expired I threw it away. If it was fresh but was food I had bought for a certain diet or phase I was in and would never eat again I put in a bag to donate to the local food bank. If there were two bags of something open I combined them to cut down on space and better organize what I had. I purchased some airtight containers and put the flour, sugars, pastas, tea, and coffee in them to keep them fresh and from spilling all over the pantry again.
In my pantry there really was no method to organizing the food and from what I gathered this is a big NO! If it is not organized it can’t be found, so what people tend to do is overbuy and then you have too much of a certain item and the food sits and expires. I vowed this was not going to be the case moving forward. I organized all the food on my counter into groups like baking, spices, kids snacks, adult snacks, storage bags/wraps, powdered mixes, pastas, vegetables, soups, canned meats, boxed meals, and ethnic foods and their sauces.
I then moved these into the pantry and placed the items I used everyday in the most convenient locations and then moved to the next item until all of these were placed back into the pantry. For the canned good like vegetables and soup I used risers so I could utilize the entire depth of the shelf and still see all the labels. For the snacks I placed them in plastic drawers that were stacked on top of one another. For the bags and wraps the wire shelving that stores them upright along the wall came in handy. This really helped get the most from the space that was available.
The heavier items like bottled water, liters of juice, oversized food jars, etc., were placed on the floor of the pantry. That way over the years the shelves won’t start to warp or pull out of the wall.
Now that the pantry was completely rearranged I knew my family would be so confused. To help them out and also to remind me that everything has a place I began labeling it all. This will also help out when others do the grocery shopping or are helping me unload. They won’t have the excuse of, “ I didn’t know where it went.”
So, needless to say, my son’s food drive was an eye-opener for me. It would have been easier to run to the store and buy more but it encouraged me to get organized and realize that my pantry was fully stocked. We don’t need to buy any groceries except perishables for quite some time. While placing all the food back into the pantry it also gave me some great dinner ideas that I can’t wait to prepare!
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