By: Toni Hetrick

A few days ago, I opened the pantry door and said, “THAT’S IT!”.  I can’t continue to open this door and pretend that it doesn’t look like a hot mess inside.  Hopefully I’m not the only person with a messy pantry.  As I stood in front of the pantry, head bowing in shame, it hit me that this pantry has only been organized maybe twice in the last six years.  When I say organized, I mean everything pulled out and completely sorted, then put away neatly in its own little space.

I feel like this is one of the areas of a home that is out of sight, out of mind.  The chore of grocery shopping is large enough, so once I get home from that treacherous soul sucking trip, I just want to get everything unloaded and put away as quickly as possible.  I have avoided organizing this pantry, I mean who wants to do that? There’s nothing about that situation that sounds like fun to me.  At any rate, I reached my breaking point and decided to get my act together.  I needed to step up and adult on this one.

When I think of an organized system, I think of containers.  I feel like containers would work especially well sitting on the slotted racks in the pantry.  It’s annoying to have for example a bag of rice that won’t stand upright due to those racks.  After some searching, I decided to purchase these fridge & freezer safe, BPA free bins.  They are made by Totally Kitchen and come in a variety of sizes.  They are versatile and can be stacked.  As soon as I saw them, I knew they would do the job.  I LOVE the fact that they are freezer safe.  I see a freezer organizing project in my near future.

Once I had all my containers, my first plan of action was to pull everything out of the pantry.  I got rid of anything that had expired or that I felt I simply won’t use.  As a person who has been paying closer attention to their budget, it was eye opening to see the items that I had hidden in the hard to reach places that had expired.  NO MORE!  Next was to pull all individually packaged items out of their boxes.  I threw out those boxes and sorted everything into categories.  EX: granola bars, crackers, baking items, etc. This step was a little intimidating.  Our stove and part of our countertop was completely covered, but once I got started, I was on a roll.

The next phase was to find the perfect container for each category.  Once that was established it was smooth sailing.  Everything now has its own little home.  Clear containers for easy visibility.  Everything is now grab and go.  This should make things easier to find for those husband eyes that can never seem to find anything.  I think this will also shave a few minutes off my morning prep time when I’m rushing to pack a lunch for work.  Even though it’s not necessary, I decided to make labels for each container.  This makes my crafting heart smile. 

Now for the reveal you’ve all been waiting for…… the before and after pictures.  It might still be a little busy but I’m very happy with the result.

If you are interested in purchasing these containers for an organizing project of your own, I have provided a link to them below. Please note we may receive a small commission if you purchase using our link. I personally love these containers so far. I think they will serve a purpose for a long time and have certainly helped in taming the crazy pantry. If you have any questions please feel free to comment below. As always thank you for reading!