Kitchen Pantry Organization

Good kitchen pantry organization is at the heart of an efficient kitchen.

If you have time and money on your hands, you can purchase plastic containers and label them to hold items in bulk such as pastas, rice, flour, baking soda, etc. Unless you're cooking a lot of these items and turning the inventory over frequently, you run the risk of these items going stale or worse yet, getting weevils.

I prefer to keep dry goods that don't stack well such as rice in a Ziploc bag stored in a stack-able Ziploc containers.

With these tips, your kitchen organization is underway. Meal prep is simplified, saving time and money as you use what's on hand because you can see it! You'll be cooking with fresh ingredients too because you'll be turning over the pantry inventory more efficiently.

Whether your pantry is a designated closet or cabinet, it holds all your stock up purchases and basics for meal prep.

Two things to remember before you start organizing your kitchen pantry...

Remember the purpose of the space you are organizing.

Keep all non-food items separate from food items.

If your pantry is a mess with everything from food to toys in it, then you will need to grab a trash bag and a box to sort through and toss anything that is old and stale. Place items that are still good, but won't use, for donation to your local food bank in the box. Once you've done your clean out move onto the next steps.

• Categorize items into canned goods and dry goods.
• Further categorize such as canned vegetables, beans, fruit…dry goods cereals, pastas, rice, crackers…you get the idea.
• Stack all like canned items together two high and in rows.
• Don't mix canned goods together such as corn with the cut green beans.
• Continue organizing other canned goods in the same manner.
• Keep the labels of items facing out so you can quickly see what's available.
• Keep a small space between the stacks to keep things nice and neat and visible.
• Continue your kitchen organization by sifting through the categories of other food products in the same manner.
• Remember FIFO (first in first out). When putting groceries away place new items behind old items to be sure the old gets used up first.

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