How to Organize Your Pantry

We don't use our pantry for actual food storage, but rather an extra storage closet for kitchen items. And it was beginning to look more like a junk cupboard with all the extras from Christmas just being thrown in there. The hope/plan was that I would get to organizing it as soon as the holidays were over. But the cold of 2012 had me waylaid for over a week.

before - not too bad, but disorganized and poorly planned

Today I finally got to it and took an hour to purge some things, reorganize and move things around to more strategic locations. Here's my plan:

1)   REMOVE SEASONAL ITEMS AND ORGANIZE ITEMS TOGETHER

I used these storage totes for holding the patio glasses, outdoor dishes and paper plates together - this way they are accessible when I need them but not flying around loosely.

2)   MOVE SELDOM USED ITEMS TO THE TOP OR BACK OF SHELVES

I have a lot of cake pans and decorating items from my old wedding cake days which I don't use very often. But I like to have them close at hand. So I moved them up to the top two shelves, labelled them and organized it a bit better.

3)   KEEP LIKE THINGS TOGETHER

I gathered all my vases together from throughout the house and took one whole shelf to house them. This way when I'm looking for a vase, my whole collection is easily accessible.

4)   KEEP THOSE ITEMS THAT YOU USE MOST HANDIEST

One of the things I hated about the old arrangement was that every time I wanted to use my food processor, I had to dig through to the back of the closet to get to it. Along the way, I would knock down a couple of patio glasses which were stored right inside the door. Now I have all those larger appliances (food processor, slow cooker and rice cooker) on an easily accessible shelf just inside the door.

5)  CHANGE THINGS AS YOU NEED TO

after - still looks messy because of the stacked items, but much more user friendly

Obviously come spring, I'm going to need those patio glasses so neatly stored away in a container. So I'll switch things up a bit by moving the appliances and vases around to accommodate the change in seasons.

Although this project was on my January To Do List, it was Sandy from  The Reluctant Entertainer who inspired me to get off the couch (still nursing that cold) and get to it. Check out her tips and hints here  You'll be glad you visited her wonderful blog as it's full of tips and recipes for everyone to enjoy.