Kitchen Pantry Organization

I wish we had a pantry...when we re-do the kitchen? We are making a pantry!!

In my storage room, I have baskets for things like prepared rice or noodles so it's not just sitting in there.

My husband set up can racks, I think you saw them when you came to my house??? Any way - he made a slanted board for me to put jars, cans, etc. on. so I can see what I have in there.

Cereal is stacked on its side with the top facing out so we can see what it there.

The boys snacks are in basket...and my baskets are the wooden ones, they are the plastic or metal - not everything has to match.

On my slanted shelving, I admit - I'm like Mrs. Doubtfire's "wife" - there are labels for what is there....black olives, black beans, tomato paste, diced tomatoes, soup - tomato, soup chicken noodle, pickles - sweet, pickles -dill...

What I need is a new freezer!!! Mine is almost 20 years old and was "Frost free" and not so much any more!! LOL!! I had that baby organized ONCE...now?? I feel like i just need to dump the food off at the local shelter and start over!!

We have the white wire shelving too in a pantry you can almost step all the way into.
A big priority in our house is it has to be in a mouse proof container.
Almost every year when they harvest the soybean field we have a 2 week mouse invasion.
We seem to have been spared it this year (knock on wood).
That means we keep everything that's not in jars and cans in covered storage bins.
Jars and cans go on the 2 bottom shelves.
Bins go on the 3 upper shelves.
Most of the bins are a good size to hold most things without getting too heavy to lift down.
A few smaller bins hold small things like sauce mixes, and pudding/jello boxes.
I try to categorize bins - baking stuff (flour,sugar, etc) in one, pasta in another, rice mixes/side dishes in another, cereal, crackers/snacks, etc but every so often I go through and sort them/organize them again - sometimes stuff gets shoved in where ever there is room for it.

There are tons of household organization groups on Facebook and Pinterest.
Really good ideas, tips and photos!

Me? I look really hard at the photos on those sites of the well organized pantries with labeled bins and alphabetized canned goods -- and then I close my pantry door! Lol

So I might not be the best source of advice...

We had a professional organizer help us with ours and she bought a bunch of clear plastic container store bins to keep the food separated. So, we have a medium bin for "sweet snacks" one for "salty snacks", one for bread, and small shoebox size bins for baking items, overflow condiments, coffee and tea, etc. Total we probably have 9 bins. They all have labels on them. We don't keep the lids on them. It's easy to keep the pantry looking nice with the bins. The canned goods are on the extender riser shelves that look like little stairs and are in zones based on their type.

I have a large pantry too. I have my bigger kitchen gadgets in there as well as food. I have it probably organized as much as you do. I have all the like items together but don't have any special containers or shelves. I do have a couple shoe size containers that I have our spices in. I also have a round bucket looking thing that I have opened items in, like crackers with a chip clip and dry pastas. So I look in there first for those items to use before I open a new one. I keep a well stocked pantry in the event of zombie attack. Some of my friends are jealous. lol

I have canisters for baked goods, a shelf of cereal and crackers for the kids -all in canisters.

I then have baskets. And I have all my spices on the back of the door.

Yes, I just put stuff in, based on type. So I have a big bin with my speciality baking stuff in it, special chocolate, sprinkles, Wilson food colors, etc. I have another with popcorn and other occasional treats I keep up high.

But I've found the canisters really cleaned up the look of my pantry, and my kids love he canisters for crackers. They don't keep stuff the freshest, but it looks better in there :-) and the cereal containers are great of little ones. It really has allowed my son to get his own breakfast, étc. He loves it.

I only have one flat long row of shelves as my pantry. The doors fell off a few years ago and it's just covered with a really cute shower curtain now.

(L-R)
Tippy Tip Top- reusable grocery bags, paper bags, plastic bags
Top- Empty jars, Halloween candy, chips, cookies
Next down- all bottled oils/vinegars, pastas, beans, boxed rices and macn'cheese, cereal boxes.
Middle-canned goods, a small bin in the middle for small packets and bags of things (salts, jellies, croutons, choc chips, nuts), containers of salt, baking sodapowder/breadcrumbs, cornstarch etc
Next Middle- flour/sugar etc, peanut butter nutella and other jarred tasty things, a small bin of decorating items (sprinkles etc)
Almost Bottom- coffee/tea, all breads, all crackers and granola bars
Very Bottom- sponges, trashbags, soft lunchboxes... and the sno-cone maker. Nowhere else to put that stupid thing.

You can read through and see if there is any rhyme or reason to that. It works for me. I don't have breakable on the bottom, and the shelves my kids can reach is stuff they can have whenever (crackers, granola bars, a bagel). Up high are chips and cookies where only mom can reach, and breakable jars. All the cooking and baking stuff is in the middle for me :)

Spices have their own little cupboard next to the pantry.

If I could change anything now that I look at it, I might move the coffe/tea up top next to the chips and cookies. My 9 month old got in there and dumped a buncha tea bags the other day... no need for those to be on the "low" shelves :)

I use an expand a shelf unit which has 3 tiers for my canned goods and some bottled things to stack on the shelves. It makes finding and placing things in there nicer. I also use see through containers for my dry goods. Things like rice, flour, sugar, cereal, etc. I have different sized containers but most of my containers are square in shape and they are stackable which is helpful too.

I have baskets for things like my extra large plastic bags from shopping wihich can't be used to scoop our dogs poop because they are too big but I like to keep them for other things.

I hope this is helpful.

My favorite place to find out storage ideas would be the www.containerstore.com I love them.

I use open plastic bins for things in bags: rice, beans, lentils, etc. After a nasty infestation of pantry moths, I put all those things in separate zipper bags. I do the same for flour and cornmeal type products unless they are in a closed canister. That way, if anything came from the store containing bugs, at least it will be contained! I use the bins for things like boxes of tea too - we always seem to have a ton of that and I have no idea where it comes from! I have a separate bin for dog stuff - biscuits, chew sticks, etc.

I also use a couple of those lazy Susan type spinners - one is a single level and 1 is a two-tier unit. Those are good for small things as long as you don't spin too fast!

I have a large plastic bucket with a latching lid for dog food - it's easier than opening the whole bag. I keep a scoop or a plastic tupperware-type container inside for scooping - great use for those containers that have a missing lid.

I find that those old fashioned spice racks you can still find in thrift shops and yard sales are great for the small things - spices you don't use often, food coloring and other baking supplies (cupcake paper liners or almond extract for example, that you don't need regularly), any packets used like dressing or gravy things, bouillon cubes, birthday candles, etc. That can be attached to the wall or to the inside of the door.

Clear boxes or even see-through shoeboxes are great for stuff that doesn't stack well, or smaller items like tuna cans that stack but might tilt if they go through the wire.

I keep baking stuff together, soups together, and then I put beans together and pasta products together, with tomato puree in between because I use it for the products on either side. I also try not to get too carried away with stock-up sales, but if I bring home new stuff by mistake, I put it in the back and move the older product forward.

Office store organizers can be helpful - for example, the book racks can be good at holding up boxes of cereal or crackers (except the giant ones) so they don't tip over on the wire shelves. I also use them for cookbooks, especially the thin ones that tip over. They're good for storing small trays and trivets too.

This isn't exactly what you asked for, but I also use the insides of cabinet doors for posting things for quick reference - a listing of offices in the Town Hall, school contact numbers, emergency instructions, business cards I might want but haven't put into my phone yet, take out menus, etc. Gets them off the counter or the front of the fridge.

I've also seen people use an old dish drainer for plastic leftover containers (stacked) and then the lids go in the slots where you would put the plates, 2 or 3 to a slot.

If you use bins, definitely go to the trouble of labeling them so you can see at a glance where stuff goes. But too many bins take up space of their own, so be judicious in their use.