After I posted about my quick jar makeovers a couple of weeks ago, several people asked how I organize my pantry. Specifically, people asked about how to organize a pantry when the husbands aren’t necessarily on board.
While Mr. Gray isn’t going to organize the pantry on his own, he does a pretty good job of maintaining what’s in place. I try to make sure it’s organized simply enough that it doesn’t require much extra effort on his part. Keep it simple.
Mostly, the way this works well for us is by keeping things grouped. They’re grouped by category to a shelf and then subcategories within. They don’t have a specific order within that, which makes it easier for others to stick to. When I get home from the grocery store, I am able to quickly and easily identify where things go and get them put away.
Our pantry is a tall set of cabinets at the back of our kitchen (windows are on either side, sorry for the backlighting–and the fact that I had to dig out a super old photo just to find one of the actual cabinets).
The top set of cabinets is right at eye level, so that is where I store our most frequently used items.
The very top shelf contains entertaining pieces that we use for dinners, parties, showers, and the like.
The two perfect-height shelves have our snacks and Baby Gray’s grab and go foods.
Our snacks are on the highest shelf with two tubs and a little extra space. Anything that comes in a box and is individually wrapped gets put in the small box on the left. The larger box on the right has chips, crackers, and other items that come in a bag. Chip clips are stored right on the tub so there’s not need to search for them. The sides are flanked with nuts, popcorn, oatmeal, and other ill-fitting containers.
Below that is a shelf with Baby Gray’s stuff (well, and cereal–not all the cereals are his). As soon as I get home from the grocery store, all cereal is put in the plastic cereal boxes and all of the to-go snacks are put in the jar on the right. I try not to store boxes. The containers help me know how much space is always needed in the pantry.
The bottom two shelves have cooking and baking items.
I keep cooking items on the top shelf pastas and rices in jars. Anything boxed or bagged fits in the middle, and jars and bottles go to the right.
The bottom houses baking items; again, I try to keep boxes and bags to a minimum. Containers help hold the place of staples (I shop weekly, but I do keep a few staples on hand) when I run out and remind me to add them to the grocery list.
There are definitely some places I need to improve, but, for now, this works for us.
