Organizing and maintaining a pantry can be a lot of work, but it does have its advantages. By bringing a little bit of order to a pantry and making space to stock up non-perishable food and other ingredients, a pantry can actually save a lot of money in grocery bills. It’s quite simple to achieve this end, first by de-cluttering the pantry and then reorganizing it. In order for a panty to have satisfactory results, several factors need to be considered: the designated amount of space for the pantry, the food items used most often, and willingness to spend money to organize it, to name a few.
Put Some Items in Kitchen Drawers
The most important thing to do to make some space in the pantry is to rearrange the kitchen drawers so that some of the stockpile can find home in those drawers, allowing more space in the pantry. If the pantry doesn’t look cramped after this initial stage, it should then be determined which food items are to be stored where. Based on the food items that are used most often, the pantry should be arranged in as accessible a manner as possible, depending on the type of food and who it is for.
Consider How Often Certain Items Are Used
Sometimes, non-perishable food items such as canned soup or cereal get used less frequently, so it would only follow that they can be stored up high, or behind other items. In doing this, shelves with higher traffic are not cluttered with infrequently used items. It is also wise to determine the location for bulk perishable food items. It can be a second freezer or a chest freezer, which can be organized similar to organizing the pantry, in which items used most often are more accessible. In terms of organizing the pantry, a stair step shelf or a hanging door organizer can add more space. Both of these may involve spending money if you do not have these types of shelves on hand. Pest prevention must also be an ongoing effort in the pantry, as mice and bugs are common problems. This may involve repackaging food into plastic containers which are more durable than the plastic bags most food is packaged in.
Plan Ahead Before Buying New Items
The key to maintaining a good pantry is to plan ahead. This of course means setting aside space for new items, keeping the space organized, and buying items when they’re on sale. This can especially help in emergency situations. It’s rather tempting to buy everything that comes on sale for a good price, but its advised to ignore unnecessary temptations and only purchase the food that will be used—and only buy what can be stored in the pantry.
There’s no sense in buying in bulk if there’s no place to store it. When buying a new food item in bulk for storage, it is a good idea to try it first, or it will go unused in a corner of the pantry. Another key to managing the pantry is to always remember to rotate new and old items, which will ensure that less food is wasted from expiring.
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Stocking up to save money is a great idea–as long as you remember to “empty out” every so often.
And if you need more pantry space, consider adding more shelving.
Its pretty easy to do, and I think most pantries are set up to where adding shelving wouldn’t be that hard.
This is quite a snappy new look to the blog by the way also.
Congrats and great stuff!!!
Stocking up on things you use more often then not is so important. At least in my humble opinion. It just doesn’t make sense to buy things you don’t need and have no use for or rarely use.