Ah the pantry. A love/hate relationship in my home. The official definition for pantry should be “Pantry (n.)-where culinary dreams go to die. See also-devil storage”. I try SO HARD to keep it organized. My pantry is small but very deep. Things get shoved back there and one day you pull something out that expired 10 years ago (yep, guilty). I try to buy and keep only necessities that I know I will use in a reasonable amount of time. I’m lucky enough to have a basement so I stock up on a lot of items in bulk and just bring up a few things at a time to restock the devil closet.
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But…I have a husband and children. My husband loves to try different sauces, spices, liquids, etc. He doesn’t shop often but when he does, of course it’s appreciated…but…the thing that man brings home sometimes…
I have a limited amount of space to work with and need to take into account several things:
- What are we always using?
- Is there enough space to move things around to get to what we want?
- Is it for the adults or the kids? If the kids, it needs to go on the lower shelves.
- Did the face I made just piss my husband off when I seen him pull out 10 jars of pickled beets?
- Like everything else in my life, it’s a work in progress. But I’ve found a few things that have helped over the years
Storage containers:
- This 4-pack is really nice because of the removable dividers. I’ve used them for bars, mini donuts, trail mix, etc. Plus it’s technically stackable because you can set them on top of the dividers
- This 8-pack is nice as well. They’re larger and can be used in the fridge too! I store mix packets, mac n cheese, hamburger helper, ramen, rice, pretty much anything!
- Another set I have is this 8-pack of grey stackable bins. I wanted something more narrow for snack bags and able to stack them on top of each other. They’re working out quite well!
But my absolute favorite is…the shoe organizer! This was a game changer for me. Doesn’t take up any of my precious shelf space and super easy to grab and go when you’re in a hurry (or lazy). Check out my other post “How to Organize Your Small Linen Closet” for other pictures and ideas.
*Note* make sure you’re not overloading the shoe organizer. Also keep in mind there may be wear and/or scratching on the frame depending on how your door closes.
The very top shelf is for infrequent items (birthday, charcuterie board, slicer, etc)
Next shelf is baking, adult serials, liquids, hot chocolate and tea mixes.
Next is salad stuff, “tools” (this is like my junk drawer 😂), bake ware is hiding behind my tote and my husbands weird and sour snacks.
I tried to keep the lower two shelves for the kids for their cereals, muffins and other snacks.
And the floor is for my bulk oils, crockpots, instant pot, air fryer and dust bunnies 🐰.
How are the rest of you handling your small pantries? Comment below!
