How to Organize a Kitchen Pantry

No one likes a messy kitchen pantry. It is a royal pain to not be able to find food or ingredients you are looking for when you need them. Organizing your pantry will make your life much easier. It is simple and not as time-consuming as you think.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Sponge
• Clean cloth
• Bucket
• Mild cleanser
• Small plastic basket

1. You need to get a clean start, so remove everything from your pantry shelves so you can sort through the mess. You can set the food on an empty counter or kitchen table until you are ready to put it all back on the shelves.

2. You probably have sugar and flour spills somewhere, not to mention a few stray pieces of macaroni. So fill a bucket with warm water and add a mild cleanser. Dip the sponge in the mixture and use it to clean off the shelves. Then take the cloth and dry them off.

3. Organize your food in different groups. For instance, put all of the canned food in one spot, the boxed food in another, bagged food in another, and so on. You may want to separate further by type of food. For instance, the canned food can be subdivided into fruits, vegetables and pastes.

4. Decide where the food should be placed for the maximum convenience. Heavy items such as large cans and glass jars should be placed on the bottom shelves for safety reasons. You could also organize by type of meal, placing breakfast foods on one shelf, dinner foods on another, etc. Take all of your stray flavor packets and smaller bags and place them in a small plastic basket.

5. Now that you have decided what works best where, go ahead and put everything back on the shelves.

Tips & Warnings

• Once you have your kitchen pantry organized, there's no reason it shouldn't stay that way. Touch up as necessary; it's a lot easier than organizing the whole thing all over again!