3 Steps to an Organized Pantry

I don't think that organizing the pantry should cost money. I look at all the pretty pictures from pinterest and it's tempting to want to go out and buy coordinating jars and baskets. However pretty that may be, you can still have a well organized and functional pantry in three steps without spending a bunch of money.

Since I recently reorganized my pantry I thought I'd share my three steps to get an organized pantry. I try to go through it real quick once a month when I take my major grocery shopping trip, so it wasn't too horrible. But it had been a long time since I'd done a thorough job and a lot of items that don't really belong in the pantry have ended up there.

I used the following three steps for each shelf. It's a bit time consuming and so I did a few shelves one day, and the rest the next.

Step 1 - Remove everything from the shelf.

Take a look at the expiration dates and throw out anything that is expired. If it doesn't belong in the pantry, place it in a pile to be put away. I worked on half a shelf at a time, since the shelves are so large. I found a lot of extra room by just removing the items that don't belong in the pantry. I was pretty pleased with how few things had expired.

Step 2 - Wash the shelf. 

I grabbed a bucket of soapy water a rag and quickly washed down the shelf, then dried it.

Step 3 - Place everything back on the shelf with like items together. 

I keep all the canned goods on one shelf, the boxed items on another. Noodles are at one end {beyond the camera's viewpoint}, and baking items such as salt, baking powder, cocoa, vanilla etc. are all placed together. Small items can be corralled in containers. Ice cream buckets are great to reuse in the pantry. For other cheap containers check out your local dollar store or keep you eye open for them at yard sales.

 I've pretty much found the way I like things to be organized. But when you've removed everything and are putting it back, you can sometimes see a better way to utilize your space. For example, the whole floor of my pantry has 5 gallon buckets full of flour, wheat, rice, etc. There's also my wheat grinder and food dehydrator. Once everything was out and I'd cleaned the floor, I started putting things back in. I found a much better way to put everything back.

 Bonus Step - if desired label your containers. 

This can be as simple as marking your containers with a sharpie. Which I've done with a lot of them. But I was in the mood for something a little cuter. So I got out the vinyl and cut out some labels. I used the Champagne and Limousines Font. You can download it for free.

I have all different shapes and sizes of containers that I've collected over the years.  The coordinating labels help bring them together.  I also have some containers that I opted not to label, either because I forgot about them when I was making the labels, or because the container is not for a particular item, but is used as needed. Like when I get goldfish for a snack one time, but the next time I get pretzels.

Is your pantry in need of some organization?