How many times have you promised yourself that you’d clean up the pantry, only to leave it to a later date? We’ve all been there. It may be a difficult task to get started on, but if you keep an organised pantry layout, you may never have to do a major clean-up again!
Keeping your pantry tidy saves you time and alleviates stress. By sorting your food into different categories, it becomes easier to find items. A well-organised pantry maximises space in the kitchen. Storage solutions such as adjustable shelves, drawers, spice racks, jars, and air-tight containers can help you make the most of your pantry space and eliminate the headache of misplacing things. Glass and transparent plastic containers are particularly handy as they allow you to see what’s inside them.
A tidy pantry also reduces food waste and saves money. Oftentimes, food will get lost in a pantry and you’ll end up buying duplicates. With smarter storage, you won’t buy more than you need and you’ll be more likely to use items before they pass their expiration date. Ever lost a bag of chickpeas or a packet of stock cubes in the mountain of stuff in your pantry? You could kiss that goodbye with consistent labelling and neater placement habits.
Strategic ordering and placement in a pantry can also help you to eat healthier. You can store healthier foods in more prominent positions and allocate a smaller, harder-to-reach area for indulgent snacks. Additionally, a tidy pantry makes cooking quicker, easier, more enjoyable, and efficient. It also fosters creativity in the kitchen. With all your ingredients readily at hand and nothing hidden away, you’re faced with all your culinary options in one visual image. As a result, you’ll find yourself motivated to cook more and, in turn, you’ll have a lot more healthier home-cooked meals and feel better as well.
An organised pantry is also comforting and impressive to look at. Not convinced? Take a look at actress and health guru Gwyneth Paltrow’s pantry. Earlier this year, Paltrow shared photos of her extremely well-organised home on her website Goop. Paltrow separates her pantry items into several food categories including breakfast, dinner, snacks, sweet snacks, baking, and cooking. She does this through the use of baskets, door shelving, and labels. Her team recommends to avoid cramming too many items into one basket or area. They also place long-life foods and non-perishables such as canned foods in the top shelf, while everyday items like cereal and children’s snacks are kept easily accessible.
Another well-known organiser and self-proclaimed OCD sufferer is Khloé Kardashian. The reality TV star meticulously arranges items all over her house and her pantry is no exception. She keeps it ship-shape with lots of containers. According to Khloé, keeping a consistent style and overall look is key. To achieve this, she uses multiple containers of the same kind and matches them with complimentary jars, bottles, etc. However, she notes that it’s also possible to find suitable containers and cupboard organisers at garage sales.
Even some of her food is placed in tessellating patterns in their containers. Her infamous cookie jars have “Khlo-C-D” written all over them.
So even if cleaning out your pantry is tedious, a well-kept pantry would seriously improve your life. If you want to do something good for you but don’t feel like exercising or eating light today, how about a pantry makeover? And once you’ve organised your pantry, it’ll be easy and satisfying to keep the system in place. You’ll save time, space, money, and mental energy, and at the very least, you’ll have something neat to show your friends and to impress your partner with.
