Pantry, oh Pantry how you cause me grief!!

In some houses, the pantry can be a place of mess and chaos. With no organization system, items are frequently lost. You may find yourself running to the grocery store to buy cornstarch, only to later find two more boxes already stashed behind the sugar. Creating a logical and simple organization system for your kitchen pantry can save you frustration and maybe even some money.


Clear it out
1. Before you can start organizing your pantry, remove all items from it and set them on the kitchen floor or table. Clean out any spills or messes in the pantry. Next, toss out any items that have passed their expiration date. If you have any items that you know you will never use (like those three cans of lima beans that no one in your family will touch), consider donating them to a food drive.

Separate
2. Begin separating the food into categories. Items like canned vegetables should go together. Canned fruits go in another pile. Put all spices and seasonings together. Make as many piles and categories as you wish. Everyone's categorization techniques will be different, so do what makes sense for you. If you bake a lot, you might want to have all the basic ingredients together, including flour, sugar, baking soda and brown sugar. Another idea is to keep bottled liquids like oil, vinegar and molasses all together so that they can stand upright and not spill.


Storage Bins
3. Count how many piles you have, and consider their sizes. Visit Marshall’s or home store and check out their selection of storage bins. You can buy plastic containers that fit perfectly on a shelf for very reasonable prices. Buy as many as you need to accommodate the different sizes of the piles. You may want to buy a few extras, just in case, and then return them later if you don't need them. Place the items from each pile neatly into their corresponding bins and arrange them on the shelves in an order that makes sense to you. I like to use a label maker to label container.

Containers Keep it Fresh
4. Good quality containers will keep your food fresher for longer. Also, a barrage of food packaging won’t greet you every time you open the pantry door. Use tall plastic or glass sealed containers to store things like dry cereal, pasta, sugar and flower. Your food will look much more uniform and organized, and will fit better on the shelf.


Make the Most of the Space
5. If your pantry is large enough, you might want to invest in a closet organization system that you can buy at HD, Lowe’s, or Container Store. (Container Store has a great over-door storage that has different size baskets. This can add more storage if you have a smaller pantry.) These customizable storage systems give you plenty of options for storing and organizing different items in practical ways. Shelf space can be doubled and better utilized.