Take some time to organize your pantry and see what a difference it will make in the way you cook and the way you eat.

Imagine this. You open a pantry door to find bags of food piled up on top of each other, food lost in the piles that you had to look for and probably did not even find, re-buying the foods you had but did not know you did. And a pantry that was not encouraging to look at!! This was my reality. It probably was not as dramatic but I’m sure you got the picture.  I had to do something about it and I did!! 

We’ve probably all seen the customized pantries with the dreaded wire shelving. In our previous home, I had a tiny pantry but the shelving were not made from wire. They were wood of some kind (guessing customized by the previous owner). I have taken many photos of how I kept it organized but my terrible lighting and not so good of a camera, did otherwise. So no pantry org from that home. I admit though, that I prefer wood shelves because they keep the food more stable in the pantry. The pantry in this house is a tad bigger than what we had before but when I saw the wire shelves I sort of ‘panicked’. (Wire pantry shelves and I don’t really go hand in hand – the food stuff don’t stay stable enough). I knew customizing was not an option for us because of renting. So I immediately wanted to do some serious organizing but with moving and all, things took longer than expected. But whether you have wood or wire pantry shelves, a small or a large pantry it’s good to organize it in some shape or form. You’ll notice that:

• you’ll know exactly what you have in your pantry
• you will easily find what you need
• less time will be spent searching for food
• you’ll save money on grocery by not re-buying what you thought you did not have
• you’ll probably enjoy more home cooked meals
• your pantry will look put together

With all the fabulous looking pantry organization around the web, it may be tempting to try to make yours look like someone else’s. That is not practical. One thing I find common about all organized pantries I have seen (large or small, wood or wire) is that they all are organized using the same basic items – jars, baskets or bins. It all boils down to the same basic system. It’s best to take an idea and figure out how you can customize it to suit your pantry rather than try to do a replica of it if your pantry is not designed the same way. If I was waiting to make my pantry like someone else’s, I’d still be experiencing the frustration that comes with a disorganized pantry. Here are my three steps to get your pantry organized:

• Choose varying sizes of baskets, bins, and food jars to corral foods
• Group like items
• Label items (download my free sets Food Jar Labels 3×3.5 and Food Jar Labels 2×3 Inches)

By implementing these three steps, your pantry will be on it’s way to being organized. Our pantry organization makes such a big (good) difference in the way we eat and the way we grocery shop. It’s been a few months since I have organized it and it’s been staying organized. If you think your pantry could use some organizing, I’m hoping my organized pantry will give you a little inspiration. Take a look at how I am keeping it organized. You’ll also see how I have organized a few cabinets with food that do not fit in the pantry. 

3 Steps to an Organized Pantry

1.Use food jars, baskets or bins 

• Jars

I don’t think it’s necessary to put every. single. item. in the pantry in a food jar or in a basket but it’s helpful in many ways. Food jars or canisters for example, are a great way to store dry staple foods. Flour, rice, baking mixes, even cereal are much easier to use from a jar than having to scoop or pour them out from packages. Plus jars keep these types of ingredients a bit more ‘fresh’ and from the regular spills that come with trying to dig them out through an opened package (at least in my experience). In our pantry, I used large and medium plastic jars to store cereal and mixes (pancake mix, baking mix, cream of wheat). I also use these jars to store small packs of food, beans and pasta. 

• Baskets or bins

Baskets are such a great way to corral items in a pantry. Most of the larger wicker ones in our pantry are holding opened food packages. Say for example, a 5 pound bag of rice will not all fit in a food jar at once. I fill the jar and save the extra in one of the baskets along with other opened dry goods. I also like to put opened boxes in one bin and opened packages in another and so on. 

I had those three crates at the bottom and have used them for various tasks around the house such as craft items, mail, paint, etc. I thought they would work well for holding extra unopened ‘bulk’ foods. I use the term ‘bulk’ loosely because they are not in big packages but lots of little extras. I’ve seen many pantries with the bulk foods placed on the top shelf. I prefer them at the bottom – they seem easier to reach when needed than having to take down heavy baskets from the top.

2.Grouping Like Items

It’s always best to group like foods when organizing a pantry. It makes them easier to find and it saves time. The larger basket next to the miscellaneous used to hold snacks down at the bottom. Now I’m using it as a baking basket to hold things like unopened packages of chocolate chips, shredded coconut, etc. that is also on this shelf. That self is storing both baking and some other smaller breakfast items that do not need to be emptied out in other jars because they are already in jars. There are a few boxed foods such as extra packs of unopened granola (not bars) and other energy bars on that shelf. It’s all grouped in a way that makes sense to us and are easy to find. 

You may have noticed the dried breakfast foods in jars on the top shelf. I would put them in a cabinet but the cabinets are storing other food items (at the bottom of this post). The small basket that says “extra cereal” is holding extra opened bags of cereal. Sometimes when the amount of cereal in a box is too much too fit in a jar, I would remove the bag from the box, add a food clip to it, and store it in this basket. It can hold up to 4 bags of left over cereal so it saves some space in the pantry.

As seen here, not everything in the pantry is in a jar or a basket. I don’t see the need for it. I simply group and stack items in a way that makes them easy to see and easy to get to.

Since our canned and bottled foods are not of such a huge variety, they are easy to organize. The top shelf consist mainly of Mexican ingredients, Italian and tomato ingredients (diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, paste, etc) a variety of salad dressing, a few Asian ingredients, and oils. The bottom shelf is mainly baking and breakfast type of canned or bottled foods. We’re not big on too many types of canned prepped foods – we prefer fresh foods all around. Apart from the peanut butter and nutella, most of the other ones are use to prepare meals rather than already prepped foods.

3.Labeling

I truly love to label some of my food jars to help identify what is in them. Many of them are obvious and may be labeled just to make them look more organized and cute. But I do have a problem identifying various white flours and baking and cooking mixes so I added labels to know what type is in which jar. I’ve also labeled a few baskets where what is in them cannot be seen unless the basket is removed from the pantry. It’s easier to tell just from looking on the outside.

Here is a look at the cupboards. I don’t get the very best lighting for photos of the kitchen in general but this corner in particular. But this is how I have the cabinets organized. The large glass jars on the bottom shelf are a favorite of mine and I rather keep them in the cupboard than on the wire shelves. And Mason jars? I have them in abundance!

And here is another cabinet that I use to keep food. This cabinet is located to the right of the stove and really makes seasoning mixes, oils, salts, and daily cooking ingredients easy to get to during cooking. I also keep some baking spices and baking ingredients here too. It is close to the cabinets and cupboards with the mixer, mixing bowls, and measuring spoons, etc. What is in the pantry is more like add-ins for baking.

I could NEVER have too many spices of all kinds. Growing up in the Caribbean will do that to you. We’re all about spices – it’s why our food is so tasty. Yes, I’m biased:) I even feel a bit cheated here because in our previous home, I had the entire pantry door dedicated for spices & seasonings. Notice that some of the oils and cooking wines are corralled in a small crate. It’s my way of keeping the oils from draining out on the cabinets and leaving oil marks.

I hope this gave you an insight of how you can organize your pantry and make it work for you and your family. You can download a free set of labels of your choosing if you’d like to use them: Food Jar Labels 3×3.5 and Food Jar Labels 2×3 Inches. They are a clean simple yet fancy design and you’ll love this sticker paper (affiliate link) I used and how easy it was to print and put on the jars.

Do you have an organized pantry? What is your system for keeping it organized? I’d love to know in the comments.

Sources:

Wicker Baskets – At Home Stores

Food Jars – Walmart

I shared our organized shoes in our entryway a few days ago which was the first part of this post. Today I am sharing the rest of the entryway with our winter gears. Having our entryway organized has made a huge difference in our home already. 

Our entryway was in a state of chaos and was not a joyful place to look at. Maybe it was not totally out of control but it was not organized. It was not fun to look at a messy entryway every time we walked by with shoes and jackets in piles. But sometimes getting a space organized does not happen quickly. It may take a while to figure out the best items to make the space functional. Plus when there are multiple areas that need to be organized, some things take priority. Our entryway was a priority, but it took me a while to search around to figure out what was best to use to get it under control. 

After much thought, research (searching around to find ideas and organizers), I’ve concluded no two entryways would ever function the same because each needs to be organized based on the operations of a family. For example, a family with teens in sports (soccer for example) may need to have something in the entry for organizing soccer gear. Whereas a family with teeny tiny babies would not need to organize soccer gear but may need a place to put baby gear. But there are a few must haves for keeping a main entryway organized (the one you use frequently):

• a shoe organizer – rack, stand, tray, etc (or else they’ll end up in large piles all over the floor)
• a place to hang jackets, coats, purses – this could be hooks, hangers or even a standing coat rack (to keep them from piling up in the front entry). If they are wet, they will need to be hung to dry and aired out
• a floor mat (to keep the extra dirt away)
• a small seating area (makes it easier to sit and put on or take off shoes) 
• a place for smaller gears such as hats, gloves, mittens, etc (to make them easy to find when needed)
• a place for keys and tiny nick-nacks (if you keep keys near the entry then have a dedicated spot for them rather than throwing them which ever way). Also, there may be small things like pens or whatever you may remove from your pockets that may need a temporary spot
• maybe an extra basket for larger randoms (this could be used for things like extra purses or umbrellas during the rainy season)

Other accessories that are great to have in an entryway would be things like a mirror just in case you feel the need to check before you step out, a pretty plant to soften up the space, and even a welcoming sign. But really, the main things you need to have to keep it organized before thinking about “style” are what I listed above. 

In our front entryway, the two biggest problems were the shoes and kids jackets, especially the shoes. Some were in a bin and others in a pile on the closet floor – no fun to dig around for shoes when we needed them. As for the kids jackets, they’d only be hung if one of us parents hung them up (or taken down if we did) because they can’t reach the hangers. Many times, when they came from the outside, I’d have them just put it on a bench or so until I hung them up. Sometimes I would put them up shortly and other times, they’d remain  in a pile for a few days (if they were not wet). 

I’ll share more about the shoes and kids jackets further down but everything now has a “place” to call its own. The closet and entryway are so functional now. It’s been a few weeks since I organized them and everyone seems to be on board and pretty consistent in putting things back where they belong. Doesn’t it make you happy when you take time to organize a little place at home that feels functional and your family helps with keeping it functional? That’s always great.

The three baskets on the very top holds our (parents) hats, scarves, gloves. I used some labels to attach to the baskets because to make it easier to know what is in them. I’ve heard my husband ask what was in each basket and even I tend to forget what is in which basket. When I first added the labels, our 6 year old got excited and began reading them (pictures helped) but she is too small to reach the baskets anyway. The kids belongings are placed lower so they could easily get to them without always having to call on one of us to reach them.

To organize most of the kids jackets, I bought this kid-sized standing rack (affiliate link). At first, I was not sure how a rack would look out front because the entryway is split with a front room on the opposite side. So there is no ‘real corner’ to place it. I tried it in the closet and it fit fine but I needed back the space to organize the shoes. I have placed in one area near to the entry closet and it fits perfectly in it’s spot. It’s not big so it does not take up a ton of space.

This little rack is doing wonders! It’s such a joy to watch the kids reach for and hang up their jackets. Even our 2 year old could reach the lower racks. We keep only the regulars on the rack to save space and a few others winter jackets hung in the closet and some stored away. The snow suits are also in the closet as they are not daily wear -no need to try to fit them all on the rack if they are not using them right away. But this little rack has been a true blessing. If the kids come in wet from outside, they could easily hang the jackets up to dry instead of placing them on the bench waiting to be hung by one of us. It also helps our Kindergartner to easily get her stuff in the mornings. 

I mentioned earlier that our entryway is split with a front room on the opposite side. You can see it in the following photo. This little bench is one of my favorite. But it’s too big to fit near the closet so it has assumed a position here for now. And can you guess what the drawers are holding? Yes, the kids smaller winter gears – scarves, hats, gloves, mittens, ear muffs, etc. Most of it are just thrown in there. But this whole entryway system has been working really well. I placed a small jute rug underneath the bench to keep shoes off the carpet because sometimes we use it to put on our shoes.

Here is a close-up of our everyday winter shoe organization. It is not practical to keep them in the bedroom closet. You can read all about how and why I decided to organize them in this post and a few of my tips for organizing shoes. This system has been so helpful!! Everyone can find their shoes easily, especially if we are rushing out the door. No more wasting time and trying to find matching pairs.

The table is a thrifted and repainted find. I share it here in this post. It’s helpful to have something to place keys and miscellaneous items to keep the clutter away (although, not much go here). So far, some keys are placed here as everything else seem to be placed in our garage entryway – a work in progress. But we’ve had some rain already so I am thinking a small tall basket that fits snugly under or beside the table with umbrellas would be ideal. The only problem is that we have kids who like to play with umbrellas and as a result, they get broken. So we’ve been keeping them out of reach.

I also think a nice little seat would work well beside the table. It will make it easier for putting on shoes rather than us having to bend or sit on the bench on the other side of the room. But the space is too small for both. I may change things up if I find the right pieces (a seat with no table or a seat and a smaller table). 

So that’s the organized front entryway and my “must haves” for keeping it organized, especially during the winter season. If it doesn’t get too cold where you are then you may have to use some other method. We usually rotate out the shoes and jackets once the weather warms up. The smaller winter gear are usually washed and stored away so these baskets could be used for other things if we decide to store away the gears. But having an organized entryway has really made a good difference for us. Things remain neat for the most part, easy to find, and it is a prettier site to look at. 

What else would you add to organize an entryway? I think I’ve covered the main items that would keep an entryway organized but I’d love to know your thoughts.