Let’s talk Pantry Organization!

When I say pantry, I’m really talking about wherever it is in your kitchen, or nearby, that you store the majority of food for you and your family within your house.

As a Professional Organizer, I’m fully aware that all of our kitchen spaces are very different so the way we store food is very different. Some of us have large, walk-in pantries. Some of us have small pantries that look more like a closet. Some of us have purchased an additional storage cabinet just for food storage. Others utilize the shelves in their cabinets to store their canned goods, cereals, and more.

I also know that we all shop differently, which affects how much food we attempt to store in our pantries. We may be Sam’s Club or Costco shoppers so we buy in bulk and have 100 bags of snack sized chips floating around. Others make multiple trips to the grocery store each week and only purchase food for a couple of days at a time. We have meal planners and the “Oh Snap What’s for Dinner?” crowd! We have those who rarely cook a meal in their own kitchen.

The size of our families varies, as well. Those who are empty nesters or don’t have children at their homes may not need near as much space to store groceries as those who have 4 kids who insist on eating a hot meal every night of the week. Who told my kids they are entitled to a home-cooked meal every day of their lives and 2 a day on weekends?

All that to say, we’re all different! There is no one size fits all pantry storage organization plan available. I hate to burst that bubble! However, some of my professional organizer friends have written some great pieces to help us deal with our pantry and grocery storage situations!

Melynda, of Order to Everything, offers 7 Tips to Make Your Pantry Oh So Functional! She’s also written a 3 part series called Pantry Organization A to Z that will give you a really thorough dive into all the various items that we find in our pantries. It’s actually a really fascinating read!

When we watch organizing shows on TV, or when you’re scrolling through Pinterest, we often hear a lot of talk about decanting and we ooh and aah over all the pretty jars and containers. Janelle, of A Meaningful Space, walks us through the Pros and Cons of Decanting in her Decanting: Yes, No, Maybe? post. Like her, I subscribe to a 50/50 combo approach to decanting!

If you live in a home with what we like to call a “reach-in” pantry, Lisa of Sort Support, offers a very detailed walkthrough of organizing your pantry, start to finish in her How To Tackle Pantry Organization post! Follow her lead and you’ll end up with the pantry of your dreams!

Finally, my friend, Martha Stewart, (NO, not that Martha Stewart!) of Chaos Organizing gives us the low down on our favorite organizing accessory, the lazy susan in The Lazy Susan: A Pantry’s Best Friend! She also tells us why we need to organize our snacks, our most favorite food group, in The Benefits of Organized Snacks.

Taming your pantry is one organizational project that you’ll never regret. The time, energy, and money an organized pantry provides are quite rewarding! You may actually enjoy cooking meals in your own kitchen again.

Stumped on what products will work best in your pantry, check out my Best Organizing Products for Kitchen Post!