As a chef, I’ve worked in different professional kitchen settings over the years, from a bakery to food styling studios, and what I learned is that having a “Pinterest-worthy” pantry at home is not all that important for real-life. What I found more helpful was learning how to organize a pantry that’s practical, easy to maintain, and makes you want to cook.
Especially during a pandemic where we are all cooking a lot more at home, you want to be able to open your pantry, and not only feel peace, but inspired to get food on the table.
I LOVE aesthetically beautiful pantries as well…I mean who doesn’t? Maybe one day in my dream kitchen, I’ll have a walk-in style pantry, and all my ingredients will be in uniform glass jars, and all my snacks will be nestled neatly in wicker baskets like a farmer’s market. But for now, my tiny pantry with mis-matched containers and hand-written labels work just fine for me!
The reason I decided to re-organize my pantry and share my process with you in our VIDEO, was in preparation for filming our Skillshare class! We just launched our first class called Kitchen Confidence: Practical Ways to Help You Cook with Intuition and one of the tips I give in there is to take inventory of your pantry. The only way to really do that is to keep it organized in a way where you can see all your ingredients, so you clearly know what you have. If you want to watch our class for 2 WEEKS FREE, just use this referral link: https://skl.sh/3bCUteX and sign up for your trial. It’s a class that we’re proud of and it has even been named a “staff pick!”
I think it’s because I’m all about sharing real-life skills when it comes to the kitchen. That’s why I think it’s more important to create a practical system that works for YOU, and not necessarily what looks the nicest. That way, you’ll be more likely to grab the items you need, and be more inspired to cook.
I go over a lot of my tips while I organize my own pantry in real life in our VIDEO, but here are some of the basic tips I cover:
BE CREATIVE WITH SPACE:
- If you are lacking space for a pantry, do what works for your kitchen. Currently, I have limited pantry space as well, so I keep all my food in separate areas. It’s not the most convenient, but you gotta do what you gotta do. My cooking ingredients are split up from my snacks, and my spices and sauces are near me in two separate cupboards. Just be creative and make it work.
- If storing ingredients in cupboards, do not store food in hot areas like above the stove, because ingredients can go bad quicker.
- Do get yourself a metal metro rack (preferably one on wheels) if you need more space to store kitchen equipment and overstock pantry items, like they do in commercial or professional kitchens. I have two just outside my kitchen. You can see what they look like in Our Kitchen Tour.
USE DELI CONTAINERS:
- It’s important to transfer as much of your ingredients as you can into clear containers once opened, because they will keep food fresher longer, keep the creepy crawlies out, and be more front and center in your face so you are more likely to reach for them and use them.
- I love using deli or “take out” containers because not only are they cheap and easily replaceable, but clear, reusable, and stackable. The lids fit on all the different sizes, making them easy to store and use. They take up less space and I like using them to keep things uniform. In professional settings, everything from spices, dried herbs, seeds, pasta, and grains are stored in deli containers. I use them in my fridge as well to store sauces, soups, mise en place and leftovers. Trust me, once you have them, you’ll find multiple uses for them around your kitchen!
BE RESOURCEFUL:
- Containers can get pricey, so look around your house and see what you can repurpose as storage containers. I’ve saved glass kimchi jars, pickle jars, and large mason jars to hold my ingredients. They’re usually large and made of sturdy glass. The bonus is that you don’t have to buy anything extra!
- Check your local Dollar Store. I find a lot of containers from Dollar Tree. There are a lot of great large plastic containers to hold cereal and pastas, and some of them come with handles which make them easy to grab.
- If you are looking for quality containers, invest in a few good ones that won’t break easily and will last you for years. I do recommend these sturdy plastic containers with pop tops from OXO. We’ve had ours for over a decade and usually store our cereal in there. I’ve recently used one to store spaghetti and it keeps things nice and fresh. I’m probably going to invest in some more soon.
PAINTER’S TAPE:
- Label everything, including your bins and sometimes your shelves! I normally use just blue painter’s tape and a black Sharpie marker to label my bins. It’s the most practical and quickest way to know what I have. I always keep a roll of painters tape and a black marker in my kitchen drawer. When you’re done with a certain ingredient and want to use the container for a different ingredient, you can easily rip off the tape without worrying about it leaving behind residue.
- Sometimes I bust out a P-touch label maker, but I’ll still put a strip of painter’s tape down first, so I can easily swap out the labels if needed.
- When transferring ingredients into containers, be sure to cut out or jot down any cooking instructions and ratios you need and stick it on the top or back of the container. Make note of expiration dates as well.
RECTANGLE BINS:
- It is nice to corral “like-items” into bins as opposed to keeping them loose on your shelves. When you need dinner inspiration, all you have to do is pull out a bin of your “Asian noodles” or “grains” and dig through to see what you have. When items are in bins, it’s easy to shift things around or grab what you need quickly.
- Check your Dollar Store for bins galore! I tend to like the rectangle bins the best because they fit nicely on the shelves. If you want a uniform look, get multiple bins in the same color.
WHAT MAKES SENSE TO YOU?:
- It would probably make sense to most people to store their jarred tomato sauces with their dried pasta, but I opt to group them together in another section with all my jarred and prepared sauces. This way I am more likely to be creative and use the sauce for multiple things and not just pasta.
- I do this for all my condiments as well. I know that my peanut butter, Dijon mustard, and Sriracha can all be used to make sauces, dips, dressings, and marinades. So I put them all together to let them inspire me.
BE REALISTIC:
- Don’t aggravate yourself. Keep the most important items, the ones you use the most everyday at eye-level and the items you are less likely to use up and away. For me, this means I keep my Kraft mac and cheese at eye-level so I can grab it for Lincoln at a moment’s notice, and my baking stuff up high, since I only tend to bake occasionally. Do what makes sense to YOU and makes the most sense for your realistic cooking needs. You don’t want to be shifting things all around to reach the one item you use everyday.
- If you do keep things up high, make sure you keep a step-ladder next to your pantry as well for easy access.
- If keeping items high above, make sure they’re light-weight and not heavy glass jars that could come crashing down on you or break. It also helps to put loose items into lightweight bins for easy grabbing. Some good things to put up high above are overstock items, like items you buy in bulk, or specialty items that you don’t have to reach for that often.
PRACTICE FIFO:
- Remember to practice “FIFO” which is a restaurant terminology for “first in first out.” When storing items, place them in rows, from oldest to newest, with the older items towards the front of your pantry and the newer items towards the back, or up and away in the overstock area.
- Use your painter’s tape to label the expiration dates of items that you place in containers. Keep a post-it note or piece or paper next to your pantry so you can even make a note or remind yourself of what’s going to expire soon so you’ll be sure to use it first.
- Don’t refill a container with more ingredients until it’s all used up, even if it’s getting low. Otherwise, you will continually be putting the newer / fresher items on top, while the bottom continues to get older, or possibly spoil.
A pantry is just like a closet. You want to keep it as clean and organized as possible, but in a system that makes the most sense. If it’s too crammed and jam-packed full of stuff, you won’t even know what you have and you may even buy the same things over and over again, not knowing you already have it.
And just like a closet, every now and then, you need to do a refresh. So that might mean pulling everything out of your pantry just like I did and re-evaluating. Toss the old/ expired stuff and transfer the opened items into bins with labels. You’ll be more likely to use it and know what to buy (or not to buy) when at the grocery store. Ever since re-organizing my pantry, I have been more inspired by it everyday.
Some days I grab the soba noodles and other days, it’s the quinoa. In reality, my pantry does get messy again, especially as I go grocery shopping and have to add more things to it, but it’s still fairly easy to maintain and doesn’t give me stress. And that’s more important to me than looking great on Pinterest.
Thanks for watching our video. I hope you found these tips helpful. By the way, I am using affiliate links, which means I may get a small commission from any of the items mentioned that may be purchased at no additional cost to you. All of these items are things that personally help me stay organized in the kitchen and might help you. I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about them. Thank you for supporting our blog and YouTube channel in advance!
