How to Spring Clean your Pantry Organization

 Entry #3341, March 15, 2014

With warmer weather just around the corner, it’s about time to shake off those cobwebs and start spring cleaning. While the main rooms of your house might require the most attention, it’s important not to forget about smaller spaces such as your pantry. Using these pantry organization tips, you can spruce things up in just a few minutes and develop a system that will help keep things orderly all year long.

Pantry Organization ideas

Image via: Kerri Robusto Interiors

Completely Clean Out your Pantry

The first step toward an organized pantry is being aware of what you already have. Start by taking each item out and checking the expiration date. Toss any foods that are past their prime and consider donating items that are still good, but you know you won’t use. While the shelves are still bare, take the opportunity to give things a good scrub down with wet paper towels. You’ll be surprised how much cleaner things will feel afterwards.

Invest In Storage Solutions:

Whether you have a walk-in butler’s pantry or just a few cabinets, odds are you don’t have as much space as you would like. Make the most out of every inch by investing in storage solutions such as bins, raisers, and lazy susans. Get creative by repurposing things like back-of-the-door shoe racks to store snacks or a magnetic board to hang your spices. Whenever possible, clear storage is best because it allows you to see everything you have at a glance.

Invest in storage solutions in your kitchen pantry

Image via: transFORM | The Art of Custom Storage

Don’t Fight Filing:

As weird as it may sound, creating a filing system for your pantry goods will help you work a lot faster in the kitchen. Use your storage solutions to group items by type – put rice next to pasta and other boxed starches, etc. Place foods you eat everyday on the lower shelves, while putting lesser-used ones higher up. Finally, if you buy more than one of the same item at a time, take a cue from the supermarket and place foods with the nearest expiration date up front. That way, you have the least chance of wasting foods that have expired.

Consider Going Digital:

This one is more to help with ongoing organization. If you’re the type have information available with the swipe of a finger, consider making a spreadsheet of all your pantry foods. Create a sheet that has five columns: food group, item name, quantity, and expiration date. Then, fill in a row for each for each individual package. With an easily-updatable spreadsheet at your fingertips, grocery shopping will get a whole lot easier.

Consider pantry organization on pullout glides

Image via: W. David Seidel, AIA – Architect

Hectic days and buy schedules can make chores like sprucing up the pantry fall to the end of your to-do list. However, if you have a few minutes for spring cleaning, these pantry organization tips will help save your family time and money.

Do you have an essential pantry organization tip that we need to know about? For more kitchen pantry organization tips on Stagetecture, click here.