Getting Your Pantry Cabinets Organized
No matter how neat our pantry storage cabinets start out, eventually they look as though a tornado came through them. Nothing is organized and it is difficult to find things readily. Getting your pantries in order and easy and will make them not only look better, but will also make it simpler to find things.
Decide on a day and time to get organized. Give yourself a few hours and choose a time when there will be little or no interruptions. You may want to try and do this on a day when you will be alone so there are no distractions.
The best way to start is to actually take everything out. Stack things on the floor or a nearby countertop. During this time, you will likely find outdated products, items that you never use and things that were not sealed properly and are now stale. Just throw these things out.
After everything is out, give the pantry a full cleaning. A good anti-bacterial kitchen cleaner and a rag will do the trick. Spilled foods and oils are breeding grounds for germs. Also, if your trash pail has been stored in the pantry, you have probably ‘missed’ the pail a few times. Be sure to clean the floor well too.
Now you are ready to put all your goodies back inside. Start from the bottom up. The floor is a good place for heavy things like water jugs and soda bottles. Determine which items you use most frequently and put those on a shelf that is eye level. The top shelf will often be best for taller items, like cereal boxes. Place canned goods all together. If possible, create rows on the same thing. For example: a row of soups, a row of vegetables, and a row of tomato sauces. If space will allow, double stack the cans for better efficiency.
Things that come in packets, like soup and gravy mixes should go inside a plastic storage container to keep them together and prevent them from getting buried underneath larger products.
Organizing pantry cabinets sounds like a pain, but can actually be fun. You will love the convenience of finding things quickly and it will be more pleasant to look inside.