“Organisation can be incredibly artful and soulful,” says Margot Guralnick
The pantry is the soul of the kitchen. It is home to all the items you use daily, which means that having an excellently organised pantry is necessary to make your life easier. It helps you know where everything is, and a great organised pantry saves you time. Now we all know we always need more time in the day. Especially if you have small children at home like me.
The most common pantry problems include not enough space, old items storage like toys storage, cloths and many more. As well as difficulty in keeping track of supplies and hard to reach items. But, with some coordination, you can enhance this space in your home. Using the right storage techniques can help you save space and give your pantry symmetrical, in style, fresh and fancy look. Planning, organisation and labelling can help you. It’s all about getting creative and being resourceful. Follow these pantry organisation ideas, and you too can have an effectively organised pantry as well.
Declutter and Buy What You Need for Better Pantry Organisation
Pantry organisation is not only about arranging to organise, but it also means ‘discarding’. Who else is guilty of buying one too many items when they are on sale? Unless its a highly used item resist the temptation. Not only is it likely to be pushed to the back and quickly forgotten, but it's also possible to be expired before you use it. For all those other ingredients pick them up as you require them. Have the right sort through all your items and chuck out the things that are expired and not needed inside your pantry.
Divide Your Pantry into Zones
When organising my kitchen pantry, I like to hold by zones. I want to include the heavy bulky items at the bottom and then divide my pantry into certain zones to keep food organised and to reduce your meal preparation. This way you know where to look for each product. So, identify the food and cooking items that suit your lifestyle. Be it the baking ingredients in one zone, breakfast containers in the next and so forth. Then, of course, designate the area for each.
Organise Your Food by Its Use-by Dates
I can't help but feel every time I do this; it reminds me of the days I used to manage a greengrocer in the UK. I always make sure I refill my pantry goods as if I was still working on the shop floor. By the west use-by date at the front and the oldest at the back or if refilling your containers in your pantry I use another container to empty the oldest and add the fresh flour for example and the older flour back to the top. Now often I'm asked about expiry dates when you put all your items into containers and label up all pretty, and I have an excellent tip for you. I was using a blank sticker on the bottom, but a customer suggested to me chalkboard labels. Then all you need to do is add your expiry date to the bottom and update as needed. Pretty Little Designs stocks pantry labels HERE.
Buy Pantry Containers
Now I love to use square containers in my pantry. They may not look as pretty as some of the others on the market, but they store much more comfortable and smarter in your pantry. They are easy to stack and fit nicely into space with no wasted space. I personally love the oxo pop tops. These can be bought from several places. I originally got all of mine from Howards Storage World. You can purchase Pantry Containers HERE.
Smart Ways to Gain Extra Space
To get creative about how you are going to set up your pantry, some great ideas are the three-tiered shelves for adding extra height to items and creating clearer visibility. Turntables are great for those tricky hard to reach areas. Shelf helpers are perfect for creating an additional "shelf" in the pantry without having to pull out the drill and a trip to Bunnings. I also have wall-mounted my spice rack to the back fo the door to create a completely new "zone" entirely for all my herbs and spices.
Baskets For Organisation Rescue
Baskets are a simple, organised, cheap and easy way to create an organised space. Always see what you have and use and label into categories. I have stored in mine things like crackers, baking supplies, side dishes, snacks etc. Items I don’t use as often I have stored on my top shelf. You can, of course, make these just as visible with adding some of out labelled tags or the acrylic labelled tags to the baskets so you can still see clearly what is stored in each basket. Check these out HERE. Acrylic Plates with Labels or the Labelled Storage Tags
Pantry Organisation is Incomplete Without Pantry Labels
Last but certainly not least...LABELS. I’d say, for the simple fact you are reading this article means you love an organised and pretty pantry. There is no better way to finish off your beautiful pantry than with labels. Pretty Little Designs has a variety of labels to suit any budget. We also have after-pay for the ones that love to use this. I have recently introduced out the range of pre-printed pantry labels. These still look gorgeous, are waterproof and come in a huge pack that you can keep using as you add to your pantry. They also come with matching spice labels. There are currently 6 styles available to choose from. Then there are our original style labels. These are completely custom in ant font, colour and working that your require. These are made with high quality waterproof vinyl.
Anyway... I hope these kitchen pantry organisation ideas will help you organise your pantry today...
Until next time,
Deanna xo