For those of you that saw my pantry makeover and wondered if I had food in my house, the answer is “yes!” Last week I shared my pantry makeover and today I wanted to show you the other side of the pantry and give you some pantry organization tips.
You don’t have to have a large pantry to be organized, in fact I have seen more unorganized big pantries, than small ones. I’ve had small pantries for years and always found it easy to organize them because if I wasn’t organized, I wouldn’t have room for all my stuff.
Organizing a large pantry is something that’s new to me but I wanted to make sure it was organized well so that food doesn’t get “lost” and I end up buying more than I need just to fill the space. I started by grouping similar items together: baking, breakfast, pasta/rice, etc.
Then I used these baskets from Michael’s to hold all the loose baking items, breakfast stuff, etc. I also placed all our bags of pasta, quinoa, rice, etc. in a basket to keep them organized and easy to find.
By taking things like oatmeal, out of the boxes, I am able to store a lot of it and use less space.
On the shelf below the baskets I have a designated area for all my drink making ingredients and our large baking ingredients, like flour, GF flour, sugar, etc. I used the green basket to store all my shakers, shot glasses, etc. so they aren’t always falling down.
I also used these large baskets, that I used to have in my entryway, to store our potatoes and the extra flours we use for making our GF blend.
The tall, narrow shelves (the ones that are pretty much the size of my entire old pantry) is where I have school snacks, the coffee bar, paper products, and more.
I kept one of the built-in baskets, that came with the pantry, and used it to organize all of Malea’s school snacks and our other snack foods. I like keeping the snack items in the boxes they come it because then they are easy to keep separated from one another. I usually just rip the top of the box off and then place it in the basket. I store a few things, like trail mix and raisins, in glass canisters.
I also kept this wire rack shelf, that’s on the opposite wall.
I use it to store all our canned good items. I’m a bit of a stickler when it comes to menu planning so even though it looks like I don’t have very many cans, I have exactly what I need to make 2 weeks worth of meals. One of the reasons my pantry is so organized, and the reason having a small pantry never bothered me, is because I do meal plan. One of the keys to an organized pantry is not having more than you need, don’t fill up an entire pantry with food you don’t need, just because you can, save money and space by meal planning and buying only what you need.
Because the food portion of my pantry is so organized I’m able to have a “pretty” part of the pantry too, so I can display all my pretty dishes, platters, pitchers, etc.
Do you have a small or big pantry? Let me know if you have any pantry organization questions because I’d love to help you out, no matter what size pantry you have!
I love your pantry!! Since we moved into a fixer home in July, our old laundry room, which is right off the kitchen, will become my new pantry. At the moment, it’s still the “tool shed”. I can’t wait because I have all of our food and kitchen electronics either on the counter or on the open kitchen shelving, which, is not the prettiest to look at. I will definitely be using some of your ideas. Love the baskets with labels.
Now that is one organized pantry! Such great tips friend!
Thank you Bonnie. 🙂
Where did you buy the pantry shelving?? Thanks
It was all already there when we moved in. Sorry. 🙁
Pictures of a small pantry? Learned tons from your site. Thank you
Here’s a post that shows you how I organized the pantry at my old house: https://askannamoseley.com/2012/03/spring-into-organization-my-organized-kitchen/. It was teeny tiny so this should help you. 🙂
I LOVE your pantry! Whew almost forgot the “r” in pantry, that could have awkward!
Anyway, we just bought our first house and there is so much storage!! I love it, but I am having such a hard time trying to figure out where everything should go. Isn’t that weird? I have been dying for storage for so long j don’t know really what to do with it! Quick question, what do you keep in the baskets labeled No. 1 and No. 2?
Haha, yeah that would have been awkward/really funny! 🙂 I’m not surprised you’re having a hard time figuring out storage now that you have more space, I find that people with a lot of space are a lot of times less organized than people that have a lot of space. When you have a lot of space it’s easier to just throw stuff wherever. 🙂
As far as the baskets go, nothing too exciting, just some dishes I don’t have room for on the shelves. 🙂
Hi Anna, My pantry is a blank slate right now-I’m renovating my kitchen. Any suggestions on general design? It is a closet that measures 7′ x 3′ and I need to plan shelf height/spacing. It is 10′ high so I’m thinking of putting party supplies and platters near the top but I don’t have to…want to have a smart plan for organizing.
Thanks so much,
Lydia Parnell, Baton Rouge, La
I think that’s a great idea. I’m not sure if you’ve ever visited the EasyClosets site but they have a great tool for helping you design closets, pantries, etc. Here’s the link: http://www.easyclosets.com/get-started/start-a-design/start-a-design-closet/. Even if you don’t end up using their products in your pantry, the tools on there can help you with your design. 🙂
I love you ideas, but when you say “small”…compared to mine, yours is huge. My pantry consists of 5 shelves (8 1/2″ deep and about 24″ long). I didn’t measure the height but I can barely stack 2 regular cans of vegetables. The floor space underneath is about 24” high. The top shelf also has plenty of room as far as height. I love the basket idea but I would have to awfully small baskets. Meal planning might help some, so I’ll try that.
You may want to fix that first sentence, “For those of you that saw my panty makeover and wondered if I had food in my house, the answer is “yes!”
You talk about a PANTY makeover rather than a PANTRY makeover!!
Haha, thank you. 🙂
Beautiful job Anna! Could you please tell me the dimensions of your pantry?We will be building one and yours seems the perfect size.
Thanks!
Thanks Gina! Our pantry is 91″ x 66″. It’s a great size, not too big but not too small. 🙂
Anna, that pantry is SO GORGEOUS!
I think I have one of the tiniest pantries ever! Seriously, the size of useable shelving is 26-inches wide by 12-inches deep, and it’s about 6 feet tall. The worst part is the shelving is NOT adjustable! (And, with me being only 5 feet tall, I naturally can’t really reach the upper 2 shelves, so Hubs stores his popcorn popper on the top shelf.)
Thankfully, there are 2 lower cupboards next to the pantry, that have wire drawers that we use for extra food storage.
Oh, but…I live in Hawaii, so I’m not supposed to complain….lol.