What does your food cupboard / pantry look like?

amother

Silver

Sun, Jul 10 2016, 7:22 am

What does your food cupboard / pantry look like?

I have a small kitchen so no pantry, just one double door kitchen cabinet for most of the food items. How do you keep your food items neat and organised? Do you transfer everything into plastic-ware?

Please share your organisation tips and ideas!

lucky14

Mon, Jul 11 2016, 5:36 am

Personally, I viewed to see what the question/topic was about, but I have a much bigger pantry so I'm no help with answering. Sorry. One thing I would suggest is that for things like granola bars/individual snacks take those out of the boxes and put into plastic boxes all together in one box. I do that with my protein bars and another for my other snacks.

Rubber Ducky

Mon, Jul 11 2016, 8:05 am

I occasionally organize pantries in my space planning business. (More frequently, I design the pantry as part of a remodel or addition.) Here are some basics:

• Sort items either by by category or by height — by category is more organized but by height allows you to maximize vertical space (I am assuming adjustable shelves).

• Label the shelves — I use a label maker for this. Labelling makes it more "official," more likely that you will be able to keep the pantry organized over time.

• Frequently-used items get best shelf space (between knee and shoulder height).

• Beverage bottles can go on the bottom of the cabinet.

• Bagged snacks like potato chips store well in bins — you can see them easily and you don't need to open a container to get to them.

• I keep granola bars in their box because I buy very large sizes. The rectangular boxes take up less space than bin storage.

• Flour, sugar, rice and other items that come in bags store well in Tupperware (or similar). You can also put several small packages of beans, barley, etc. in their bags in a single rectangular Tupperware container. Label the containers.

• 3-tier shelves are good for small items like spices.

• Door racks may allow you to create additional storage space.

Last edited by Rubber Ducky on Mon, Jul 11 2016, 8:23 am; edited 1 time in total

Rubber Ducky

Mon, Jul 11 2016, 8:56 am

Right now I have 6 bags of barley, split peas, and navy beans in one of these Tupperware Rectangular Modular Mates #2:
https://www.amazon.com/Tupperw.....gular

I also have quite a few — like around 20 — oval and square Modular Mates for individual items like rice, flour, and chocolate chips, transferred from their bags, like these:
https://www.amazon.com/Tupperw.....+oval
and these:
https://www.amazon.com/Tupperw.....quare

Modular systems that stack are good space savers. Tupperware Modular Mates have been around forever (so it seems). I purchased some of mine over 30 years ago! Because they've kept the same design, I've been able to replace lids as needed. The lids do wear out over a few decades with frequently used items, but I've never had a container wear out!

glamourmom

Mon, Jul 11 2016, 9:19 am

I keep boxes on one shelf, canned goods on another, and one shelf for random stuff. bottom shelf for storage stuff like extra bottles of ketchup, tuna etc. I do have a big pantry so I don't know if this is helpful.

good luck.

amother

Scarlet

Mon, Jul 11 2016, 10:03 am

I have one cabinet above my parve counter for baking goods--flour, sugar, cocoa etc. I have a separate cupboard for everything else. I keep bags of beans, rice etc in plastic mesh baskets. Canned goods are sorted by type with more commonly used ones in front. If I stock up on canned items they go on a high shelf until needed.

Spices are on a lazy Susan rack. It was two-tier but my shelves aren't tall enough so I only use one level.

Things generally stay organized until we have a chaotic week and things get thrown in. Luckily my kids enjoy organizing the cupboards so it usually doesn't stay a mess for long.

Optione

Mon, Jul 11 2016, 10:57 am

The following all take up half of a shelf on 3 shelves:
1. Cans
2. Mason jars filled with dried beans, rice, quinoa, etc.
3. Boxes (pasta, cornflake crumbs, instant potatoes)
4. Snacks in 2 clear bins
5. Baking items in a clear bin
6. 2 types of flour and sugar, each in a cereal-type bin
*my spices are in a separate place in the kitchen