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How to Organize and Stock Your Pantry

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Today I am showing you how to organize and stock your pantry so that you can be ready to cook amazing meals for your family.

I have worked hard over the years to build a stocked pantry that I am proud of. Keeping certain things on hand makes it easy for me to create a delicious dinner on the fly for my family. But — sometimes, it can totally get out of hand and wind up totally disorganized and full of outdated and stale pantry ingredients.

Today, I am going to share with you how I organize and stock my pantry — with the help of one secret tip! I've also created a handy dandy printable for you at the end can you can get for free.

How to organize and stock your pantry

My pantry sometimes gets filled to the brim with an assortment of foods that may or may not ever get used. Part of this is due to reviewing foods that we didn't really care for, something wound up being on sale so we bought too much of it, or it got covered up and lost in the abyss of the pantry!

Don’t worry, having a disorganized pantry is totally curable. In fact, you may find that the remedy is actually a little fun — at least it is for me anyway.

In the spirit of cleaning and organizing, today I am showing you my tricks and tips on how to clean, organize, and build a pantry that will help you save money, reduce food waste, and bring more zen into your kitchen!

How to Organize and Stock Your Pantry

how to organize and stock your pantry

For starters — pull everything out

I know this may sound like a daunting task, but trust me on this. There are things hiding in there that you may not ever remember buying, so you need to pull everything out and line it up on your kitchen counter and dining room table.

Now, taking a hot dish rag and some good cleaner, wipe down all the shelves and get them spic and span. Sweep and mop the floor and let it dry.

Invest in Containers and a Labeler

I did not think this would make that big of a difference, but this week I decided to try my hand at using containers and a labeler, and you know what? It turned out perfect and I am so in love with it.

how to organize and stock your pantry

I had a bunch of Ball canning jars that I had either picked up from yard sales and thrift store runs or some of the ones they sent me to review (these octagon-shaped ones are my new favorites).

I bought this Dymo Labeler a while back when they were on sale and finally got to put it to use! These two things will come in handy during the next phase of cleaning out your pantry

With neatly labeled clear containers, gone are the days of having four partially open bags of quinoa and rice.

Purge the Old and Outdated

Now, once you have your supplies, and you have cleaned the space, now it's time to start putting everything back in the pantry. Before you do though, you need to go through each item and find out if it is stale or outdated.

I start with all boxed items first because they are the easiest. If it is not stale or outdated, take the item out of the box and place it in one of your storage containers. Using your label, label what it is (because cornstarch and powdered sugar look exactly the same and you do not want to get those two things mixed up!)

how to organize and stock your pantry

I will be honest with you. When I cleaned out my pantry this past week, I tossed two garbage bags full of items that we could not use any longer because they had gone stale or was outdated.

Spices only have a shelf life of 6 months no matter what the expiration date says, so don't go by those dates. Open the containers and smell the spices. If you cannot smell them, toss them. They should be vibrant in the smell.

Group Like Items Together

I cannot stress this enough when you are organizing your pantry. As you are putting things back, be sure to put all your baking items together in one place as well as all your grains and kinds of pasta.

It will make it much easier to find what you are looking for. — trust me!

How to organize and stock your pantry

Put baking ingredients with baking ingredients, cans with cans, and boxed ingredients with boxed ingredients so you’ll always have a general idea of where to find what you need.

Make it a Weekly Habit

Once you’ve tossed all the expired items, be sure to set yourself a baseline to remind yourself to do this on a weekly basis.  Tidying-up expert, Marie Kondo suggests only keeping items in your home which “spark joy.”

Keeping your pantry organized and in good shape doesn’t have to an all-day time-consuming task. Instead, when you are meal planning each week, make it part of your routine by scanning what you already have.

Knowing what’s in your pantry is a good way to cook and eat what you already have on hand, and avoid buying multiples of the same thing. It allows you to get creative in the kitchen (like our delicious one-pan cheeseburger pasta dish) and use up things before they go bad.

Now It's Time to Restock

Stocking your pantry with staples saves you time, money, and ensures you’re never far from a home-cooked meal. But if you aren’t sure how to do it, you can click here for my extensive list of pantry staples that I always keep on hand.

I hope my tips have helped you clean and organize like a boss!

How do you keep your pantry clean and tidy? Any pantry organization tips you want to share?

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Ashley

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

Thanks for the printable. I need to get into my pantry and make some changes to maximize the space.

Krystel | Travel on a Budget

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

I'm going to save this because I really need to redo my pantry. It's a mess right noq

Krystal

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

I actually just bought new glass jars and loose spices to make my own.... hoping this gets me organized and starts the year off right!

Emily

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

I love the matching clear jars for everything! It's such a clean look. I really need to do this and get labels!

Catalina

Tuesday 15th of January 2019

I don't use containers and a labeler either. But I like how they look in your pantry. Maybe I should start using them!

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