How to Organize Your Pantry for Good

Learn how to declutter, take advantage of wasted space, choose the proper containers, and strategically organize your pantry for good!

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I have to admit, I was overwhelmed at first when I decided to organize my pantry. I had been putting it off for far too long, and of course, the longer I procrastinated, the more intimidating that small section of the house became for me. There it stood in the corner of the kitchen, a dark symbol of my organizing failures.

Finally, after I had had enough of its silent taunts, I gathered my courage and drew up a battle plan, much like a general does before tackling an enemy.

I created my organization strategy based on one challenging but simple-sounding idea: make a system that will remove the need to ever declutter the pantry again.

In other words, I wanted to organize my pantry for good!

In order to accomplish this, I focused on making the storage practical and easy to maintain. Let’s be honest; there are times at the end of a long day (or at the beginning of a long day), when it just becomes so much more challenging to keep up a tidy storage plan. With this in mind, here are the steps I created to organize the pantry for the final time:

Be Strategic With The Size, Quantity, and Shape of Your Organizing Containers

The first thing I did was take a good, hard look at the items in my pantry I wanted to be in clear, airtight containers. I took note of their size and how many of them there were. Then, I purchased my bins with this information in mind. I don’t suggest purchasing a variety pack of these. Most likely, you will end up with a lot of mini containers you probably don’t need. Instead, look for sets of the individual sizes you require based on your inventory list. My containers were sized about 1.5 quarts and 4 quarts. Here is a rundown of a few of my needed sizes:

Oatmeal: 4 quart

Walnuts: 4 quart

Lentils: 1.5 quart

Farrow: 1.5 quart

Brown Rice: 1.5 quart

I ended up purchasing a total of 24 one and a half quart containers and 16 four quart containers.

Also, look for the tall, thin containers to make the most of vertical space.

I used these containers:

Organize Your Pantry Based on Frequency of Use

After I purchased my containers and neatly labelled them, I separated everything in my pantry into three giant piles: items my husband and I use (almost) every day, items we use about twice a week, and items we use about twice a month. I grouped together items of the same category. For example, we use olive oil much more often than we use avocado oil, but the whole category of cooking oils earned a space in my heavy use pile. This was hands down the most overwhelming part of the process! There was definitely a part of me that wondered at that point what in the world I was thinking.

Nonetheless, I soldiered on. Here are the items that ended up in each pile:

Heavy use: Cooking oils, vinegars, grains, beans

Medium use: Broths, soups, condiments, chips and crackers, pasta

Light use: EVERYTHING ELSE. This was by far the biggest pile. It included baking ingredients, coffee (which I mostly just have for guests), canned tomatoes, and an assortment of other random food items.

I placed foods we use more frequently in the middle of the pantry in the easiest to reach position. I put foods we reach for less often towards the back of the pantry. Everything else filled in the space in the middle. Organizing your space like this makes it MUCH easier to stick to your system. Remember: we are organizing for the days when we are the busiest!

Declutter, Declutter, Declutter

Guys, there were so many things in my pantry I didn’t even realize were there. Random kitchen appliances we never use, food long since expired, and about 5 open bags of pistachios, to name just a few. By far the biggest thing I did to help my pantry was to get rid of all that stuff. So long, Soda Stream we used literally once. Farewell, aluminum watering can. (On a related note, why was there a watering can in the pantry?!)

I even moved some things we actually use regularly to a more appropriate space. The garbage bags found a new home next to the garbage can underneath the sink. The Ziploc bags were relocated to the drawer where the plastic wrap and aluminum foil resided.

Take Advantage of Vertical Space

If your pantry is like most, you have plenty of wasted vertical space between your shelves and on your walls. Use this to store items as well! Look at purchasing a vertical can organizer, hanging produce bags, or a lazy Susan based on your individual needs. Here is what I ended up choosing:

Vertical can organizer. Here I put chickpeas, beans, canned tomatoes. Basically anything in a can… Be sure to only put one variety of food in each section of the organizer, rather than just filling it up with all your miscellaneous cans. It might seem like a waste of space, but it is worth it to not have to move unwanted cans around to find the one type you need.

Lazy Susan: The product above is not the exact turntable I used, but it is close.

I stacked smaller containers to take advantage of vertical space. You always want to be able to easily reach what you have! Putting these items on a turntable allows me to access everything with the simple spin of the wheel. Plus, it’s just plain fun.

Hanging Produce Bags: I took advantage of the wall space and hung produce bags with Command hooks. These bags hold my potatoes and onions. Bonus, not only does this method take up zero shelf space, but it also prolongs the life of your produce! Win!

And now, just to totally remove all memories of that dreadful monster of a pantry before, here are some extra pics of the organized pantry:

I hope you liked this guide on how to organize your pantry for good! Let me know what you think below!

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