Another organizing post coming your way this week and this was one was born out of necessity! Our narrow kitchen pantry houses canned and boxed goods, plastic wrap, treats, and anything with a shelf life. But it was a mess. And I was re-buying things I already had. Not to mention finding expired products when I did bother to rummage through it. So I decided to take it on and finally get it all organized!
How to Organize a Small Pantry!
Take Everything Out!
And I mean EVERYTHING! Warning: your kitchen will get messy!
Make sure to give your shelves a wipe down and/or add in some shelf liner paper. I use a brand called Macbeth Collection which is self-adhesive (and wipeable!)
Purge (and check Expiration Dates!)
If your pantry is like mine, you’ll be amazed at what you’ll find. Duplicates, expired food and just plain random things!
Categorize Items and Put Everything Back
After your purge, start putting your items into categories (i.e., soup, pasta, etc) and place them on shelves that make sense. For example, items that you use most often you should be put on the most accessible shelves and items you use less of should be put on the tallest or lowest shelves.
Organizing Tip: If your pantry has narrow shelves like ours does, try keeping only one row of goods per shelf. If you start putting canned goods behind other canned goods, even if they’re in the same category, you may miss them when you go looking in there for something.
(We apparently REALLY love diced tomatoes!)
Label, Label, LABEL!
Even if the categories seem obvious when you open your pantry door, labels will encourage you to keep the order which you just established! Whatever your labeling method is (label maker, computer generated or just a marker and some tape!) label each category on each shelf.
Enjoy the Organization!
After all of your hard work, enjoy your newly purged, organized, labelled and functional space! I’ve found myself buying less because I know what I have. Another bonus!
Do you have a pantry that needs organizing? Let me know what you do to keep it all organized!
(Oh! And don’t forget to pin this for later!)
shirley says
Nice job! Looks very professional! Wish I had one of those cupboards…they don’t take up a lot of room & they store soooo much
Lidia says
Thank you so much!! xoxo
Jamie says
Just the motivation I needed to tackle my pantry. Reorganizing it is a fleeting thought every time I open the doors. Thanks for sharing. Great post!
Lidia says
Thank you! 🙂
Dora Thomsan says
Great tips! I agree that putting labels in the pantry can make things easier and organised for you. Thank you for the amazing tips on kitchen organisation.
Lidia says
Thank you Dora!