My pantry. Wow. I don’t even know where to start. It HAS to be organized and needs to be organized SOON, as in TODAY! My goal today is to get my pantry organized. I usually keep my pantry organized but life happens, I get busy, and things get a little out of control. I bring home groceries and find that because I’m in such a hurry these days, I tend to shove things in wherever they will fit with whatever energy I have left at the end of the day. Ever since I started buying in bulk, things tend to get pushed to the back. Out of sight, out of mind–and sometimes I end up heading out to purchase what I “think” we ran out of, only to dig it out from the back of the pantry during a huge organizing process like today. It’s not that bad, but things need to be grouped together. I have canned goods mixed with snacks, snacks mixed with condiments…you get it. It just needs organized. So my friends, I am going to take some time off from blogging today to get my pantry organized. I will return when my project is complete!
I hope you will join me and organize your pantry this weekend, too! I would love to hear about it! Anyone else out there have a scary pantry in need of some TLC? Help me feel normal by leaving your comment with your story 😉 For those that keep a very organized pantry always, we would love to hear your tips!
My pantry stays pretty organized. Growing up my parents owned a small convenient store. We had to keep the shelves organized, neat, clean and rotated to keep fresh product at the front. I use all of these tactics when putting things in my pantry.
I front face everything on the shelves and I categorize it all. I have a shelf for baking, for canned foods like beans and veggies (the few I buy), a shelf for tomato products, and etc. When I put groceries away I always put the newest products behind/under the oldest. This way I make sure to use products by the time they expire.
I also keep a master list of items that I have in the pantry on the back of the pantry door. This is a printed page that has list of all items I keep regularly in stock that is slipped inside a page protector and taped to the back of the door. I use a dry erase marker to write on the page protector with. Say I start with 1 bottle of ketchup and come home from the store with 3, I erase my one mark and write 3 down. Every time I take a bottle out I write the new number down. This way when it is time to go my grocery list I know exactly what I have on hand and how much.
Hi Felecia! I do need to work on making sure I grab the items that expire first. That is a good idea, especially for anyone that stockpiles. I also front face everything (when it is organized) as you can see on my after photos. I have to be able to see what it is! Good idea about the list. I may have to adopt that idea. Thanks for sharing!
I aleady did a few weeks ago! But good luck!
Hilary, how did it go for you? Any tips for us?
My pantry is in desperate need of organization. I’m not sure if I am up to the challenge, but I will try to throw out a few empty cereal boxes.
I did throw out a lot of cereal boxes. I think I am going to stop buying cereal–I often find that it goes to waste. The only cereals we really eat here (my daughter) are regular Cheerios and Kix.