Organizing the Pantry

“No matter where I serve my guests, they seem to like my kitchen best.”

This quote is on a plaque in my aunt’s kitchen. A kitchen where I spent a large majority of my childhood and where I learned to cook. Like my aunt, I enjoy cooking for my family and although my kitchen is not as large as hers, I learned how to organize my kitchen efficiently so that I can achieve success anywhere.

 Whether or not your kitchen is your favorite place to be in the home, it is still considered the heart of most homes. Most kitchens multitask—not only are they places to prepare meals but also they are the dining/snacking hub, a place to accumulate papers, and even for some an office. Organizing your kitchen to accommodate all of these tasks and more is possible with a little planning. Specifically, let’s start with the major storage issue in the kitchen – the food. Food is the main reason the kitchen exists. It is the place to store, prepare and serve it up. How can you maximize the space you have to store food while still having room for all of the other stuff that needs to be in the kitchen?

 Well, first of all, figure out what foods you buy regularly and in what sizes. Do you buy in bulk? Do you always buy the same sizes/brands? Is there a food that consistently spoils before you finish it? Make note of all of this and use it to create a master pantry list. Some software programs like Microsoft Works have list and database programs that you can modify for your personal needs. Or print out the Pantry Inventory Chart from A Virtuous Woman.

 Once you have assessed what you keep in your cabinets, take it all out and arrange your food into categories – beverage mixes, seasonings, baking, pasta, snacks, etc. You can do this with your list first, if you’d like. But I have found that most people are visual so it is easier to do with the actual food. This way you can move it around until you find categories arranged how you most use them. For example, in my kitchen, the sunflower seeds are with the baking goods because I use them more for cooking but my sister has hers with her snacks because that is what she does the most with them. While the food is out of the cabinets, take the time to wipe down shelves, place new liners, or paint the walls in the cabinets. Once it looks nicer, you are more prone to keep it looking nice.

 Now that you know what you stock in your pantry and how you want it arranged, the next step is to figure out how to best store it so that it stays fresh for as long as you have it. In most cases, that means removing it from the original containers. Did you know that cockroaches can live for weeks on the glue that holds food boxes together? Getting rid of those containers not only means creating more space for more food, it also may mean getting rid of cockroaches that come home from the grocery store with the container. Decide what storage solution works best for you – bags, boxes, canisters, plastic containers. Choose a system that you can live with. Place food in the storage system you choose and make sure to label what you have. (Using your list to create labels you can print out on your computer helps.)

 When you are done determining how to store your food, place it back in your cabinets according to the stations that you designed. This makes it easier to identify when something needs to be replaced. In addition, keep a copy of your pantry list inside the cabinet door so that you can easily circle needed items. Organizing your pantry will get you one step closer to organizing your kitchen.

 Nadine Finigan is a custom kitchen planner with Tupperware. Contact her at nadinef@my.tupperware.com for her pantry inventory list and suggested storage containers. To purchase pantry storage products, visit her site at www.my.tupperware.com/nadinef.