How to Organize your Kitchen Pantry Once and for All (Video)

Entry #919, January 25, 2012

January is almost coming to a close, but that doesn’t mean the organization needs to end. In fact, your kitchen is one of the most important rooms to organize. From safety, ease of use, and enjoying cooking while finding what you need quickly and efficiently are the main reasons kitchen organization is essential. Your kitchen pantry is one of those key areas that will make the difference between you dreading to cook or loving it!

Here is a DIY Saturday post from the archives on how to organize your kitchen pantry and a video to show you how.

Organize your pantry for ease of finding kitchen items quickly

Original Entry #394, January 22, 2011

If you are spending more time looking for your dry food ingredients in your pantry than cooking your dinner, you need better organization. Do you find that your bagged spaghetti, cereal boxes and canned soup are not working well in the same space in the pantry?

If this sounds like you, than today’s DIY Saturday is for you! Kitchen pantry organization can help you gain more cooking than searching AND may keep old food from getting forgotten in the back of the pantry!

Kitchen pantry storage

Here is a You Tube Video from HGTV to help you organize your kitchen pantry.

Tips for organizing your kitchen pantry from DIY Network

1.) Figure out how to organize the pantry staples.

The most frequently used items, the basics, should be at eye level.

Nearby should be the items that work with the basics to make fabulous dishes.

2.) Organize items according to function.

Store baking products all together with some sweet spices, and keep the savory spices and herbs with similar marinades and sauces.

Specialty items that add that special touch can be grouped together, or place them with items it’s used with.
Pantry items such as garlic and onions, which have a much shorter shelf life, should also be together.

High shelves and out-of-the-way nooks can contain those items that are rarely used. To see everything at a glance, use risers on pantry shelves, or stack cans of the same items on top of each other to avoid moving cans to see what’s underneath.

3.) Clear everything out of the pantry.

4.) Organize the pantry in a way that works for cooking.

Look for the basics: the canned broth, tomatoes, beans, dried pasta and rice used for dinner. Put them at eye level, and stack them so everything is visible at a glance.

5.) On a nearby shelf, place items used to cook those basics: extra-virgin olive oil and canola oil are a couple of good examples.

Keep a variety of vinegars, soy sauce and flavor ingredients like mustards, ketchup, sauces and mayonnaise. Try keeping a four-pack of wine in the pantry; it adds better flavor to foods than cooking wines, which can be bitter.

Keep kosher salt, pepper and savory spices together. Dried herbs loose their potency after about six months on the shelf. To test them, open the jar and sniff: if there’s no smell, there’s no taste to them. To get the most taste out the dried herbs, crush them in your hand before adding them to a dish.

Organize your kitchen pantry today, and see how much time and food you will save!

For more kitchen organization ideas on Stagetecture, click here.