INSIDE : HOW TO ORGANIZE YOUR PANTRY TO MANAGE YOUR ORGANIZED CHAOS

When my kids get home from school, I have flashbacks from Billy Madison, when he and the housekeeper have their moment.

“Just give me the SNACK-PACK!”

My pantry seems to be the center of the universe sometimes. And the current condition of mine is not functional, so I decided a pantry organization makeover was needed.

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What happens when a certain 18 year old gets hungry or when 2 little people get home from school and they are “starving” but dinner isn’t ready immediately? Let them starve? Of course we are…..because waiting 15 minutes for dinner would be like pure torture. Alas, if I let them have a “healthy” snack before dinner, I fight less battles surrounding dinner. So here is the ONLY rule: 

• Only healthy snacks within an hour of dinner time. Between the hours of 5:30 and 6:30 pm, you may eat carrots, cucumbers, yogurt or a cheese stick.
  

Moving onto the pantry…….

I decided that moving things out of reach would help keep the kids in check and me more organized. 

Like all good organization makeovers, this one started with removing all items from the pantry. This allowed me to group like things together better.

Shelf #1 – Extras

Extra items and oils are not used every meal, so keeping them out of the way allows for more important things to remain at eye level.  

Once I removed everything, and saw what I had, I decided the items needed to be corralled. So I found these cute (and cheap) bins on Amazon. AND since I got a Cricut for Christmas, I figured I could label them with fancy fonts and it would perk up the pantry…sounds good right?

Shelf #2 – Breakfast only

It lets the kids know what they can eat for breakfast or NOT. This also allows me to reach to the shelf where my NOT so used Shakeology mixes are…..and maybe use them for once! 

Again, I moved everything and decided that I needed something else….but what?

Open boxes of everything – cereal, poptarts, pancake mix – I needed air tight containers! YYYAAAAAASSSSS!!!!!

I went to Amazon – in hindsight I should have ordered a HUGE bundle, but I didn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on this. So I opted for containers similar to this.

You might be wondering where all the other cereal went….well, since no one was eating it AND January is FOOD DONATION month, I added the cereal to the donation box.

Shelf #3 – Dinner items

Taking a quick glance at this shelf lets me know if I have pasta, taco shells, or rice. Obviously, we eat a lot of macaroni and cheese around here.

Using those plastic containers, I put the lentils, quinoa, and barley in them. They come in plastic bags that don’t reseal very well.

I’m sure I could have put the rice into a container, but I’m not sure if I want to yet.

Shelf #4 – Lunch snacks

We do a lot of home lunches (school lunch is not very popular with a certain picky eater) so we need plenty of lunch snacks.

I take the chips out of the bag they come in and place them in a Thirty One Your Way Rectangle.

I purchase large boxes of Goldfish, since it is a relatively non-messy snack. Instead of leaving it in the giant box, I measure 1/2 cup of Goldfish, place them in snack size Ziploc bags, and we keep snacking under control. It makes lots of snack bags….PORTION control!

Shelf #5 – Random snacks

I have had these bins from Target for a long time but I decided to jazz them up with my new Cricut. They are perfect for popcorn, Ramen, and SNACK-PACKS!!!

I also found a bunch of crackers down there, since I know we won’t eat all of them, I added them to the donate box.

And I moved all my extra aluminum foil, plastic wrap, and parchment paper to this shelf. I snuck them behind the pretty bins and hopefully I will remember they are there!

The bottom of the pantry holds my air fryer, watering can, and Fresh Market Thermal. The thermal is great for shopping at multiple stores. Ever plan out your shopping trip based on getting the cold things last? Me too…..hence why this thing is KEY!!!

I think we will find out things much better now!

The key is making a system that works and makes sense to you and your family. 

What do you need help organizing? How have you organized your pantry?

Happy Organizing,