How to Make the Best Pantry Ever

Today, we’re all about how to make the best pantry ever! When you look at your pantry, do you instantly feel frustrated because it’s unorganized? If everything is all over the place, you’re probably wondering how to make it look and work its best.

While it will involve deep cleaning and excellent organizational skills, you can get your pantry to look its best in one day. You’ll need to use the right products and take the proper steps to get everything in order.

Once you create the best pantry ever in your kitchen, you’ll love looking at it. Most importantly, you’ll have no problem finding what you want and need. I want to share my tips and would love to hear yours. It’s all about cooking from scratch, right?

A properly created and maintained pantry will help every person in the kitchen cook from scratch. Items are easier to find, and you’ll have less waste. In case you missed this post, How to Stock Your Pantry

My Favorite Pantry Items

• 18-Inch Lazy Susans
• 12-Inch Lazy Susans
• Double Stackable 12-Inch Lazy Susans
• 16-Inch Single Lazy Susans
• OXO Containers
• 8-Quart Rubbermaid Containers and 8-Quart Rubbermaid Lids

How to Make the Best Pantry Ever

Go Through Your Spices

Start going through the spices in your pantry to see what you need and don’t need. You may find some practically empty bottles. If there is hardly anything left in some of the bottles, consider throwing them out because they take up unnecessary space in your pantry.

Another issue is ensuring all the spices still have valid “best used by” dates. Recipes seldom turn out the way you’d like if the ingredients, including spices, aren’t relatively fresh and flavorful; that’s why we include the spices in the first place.

If possible, try to get containers for the spices. If you have the same container for everything, you can easily keep them together and organized instead of worrying about some containers taking up way too much space in the pantry.

Of course, the best way to keep the spices organized when using the same containers is to add easy-to-see and read labels. After all, you wouldn’t want to mistake paprika for ground cinnamon or anything else like that.

Get a Lazy Susan for Spices or Other Items

Consider getting a lazy Susan for your spices. This convenient piece of equipment can hold many spice containers at once, and you can rotate it at your convenience to grab what you need.

So, instead of rummaging through several containers, move the device from one side to the next to see all the spices and then grab what you need. Note that it helps with efficiency to place the containers facing out so you can read the product label. Just put it back the way you found it; the next time it’s needed, you can find it easily.

Many types of lazy susans are available, so you should be able to find one that works for you. Most importantly, you can find several options for other pantry items, such as assorted canned goods, pasta sauce, cooking oils, etc.

Consider Using Small Plastic Baskets or Buckets

Check the Dollar Tree or any other dollar store for small plastic organizational baskets. These baskets are often available in different colors, including white, gray, and black.

You can choose a color that goes with your pantry’s rest. Matching the colors of your kitchen and any decorations hanging on the wall adds a fun and efficient treatment to your pantry and, if done right, the whole kitchen. I store my excess food storage in these baskets from Walmart on some rolling shelves. Here are some of my salsa jars.

The baskets are convenient because they allow you to keep different items together in one spot, such as bags of muffins, pretzels, and other tasty treats.

In addition, your children will know where to go when they want to grab a quick snack in the pantry, making these baskets even more convenient.

I have heard you can get 5-gallon buckets relatively cheap at bakeries. You may want to try Two-Gallon Buckets with 2-gallon Gamma Lids for your pantry. My philosophy has always been to BUY RIGHT THE FIRST TIME.

Get Food Storage Containers with Labels

Invest in suitable food storage containers with labels attached. These labels will be useful when looking in the pantry and trying to find something specific, such as flour, pasta, beans, or other ingredients you’d typically use to prepare different meals.

There are a few advantages of using food storage containers, such as:

• Keep your food fresher for more extended periods. You can expect them to last longer when you’re not leaving ingredients in bags or open containers. The proper airtight containers will keep all kinds of foods fresh and protected from dirt, dust, rodents, and insects! You’ll feel much better about your food when you know you’re storing it in spacious containers that protect it.
• They’re easy to organize. It’s easy to manage and stack the food storage containers to save some space. That extra space is beneficial because you don’t know when you’ll need it the most. Stacking the food storage containers on top of one another can keep your items from looking unorganized.

You can easily find food storage containers with labels in stores and online. Many people buy these containers on Amazon.com! If you’d like to get them as soon as possible so that you can work on fixing the pantry and making it look its best, Amazon is an excellent choice because you might get the containers delivered the same day!

8-Quart Rubbermaid Containers

I store so many things in these 8-Quart Rubbermaid Containers with 8-Quart Rubbermaid Lids for pasta, cereal (Mark’s cereal), quinoa, rice, and anything else you want to keep fresh and protected from unwanted pests. If you have heard this before, I recommend buying RIGHT THE FIRST TIME. Mice and cockroaches cannot penetrate these commercial-grade containers. I used to live in the desert, where there were all kinds of critters.

Get Rid of Bulky Boxes and Bags

Go through the items in your pantry and remove the bulky boxes and bags. You may have random boxes for expired food. Be sure to toss them in the trash. If you have boxes of stuff you’re not using, you can always ask someone if they’d like it. 

If you have unopened boxes of items you don’t plan to use, you can donate them to the less fortunate. It’s a great way to clear out your pantry space while doing something nice for others. If you have bags with clips to keep them sealed, consider pouring the contents into food storage containers that you can label to quickly identify what you need.

Make the Best Pantry with These Easy Steps

Use these easy steps to make the best pantry ever. If your pantry is unorganized, messy, and downright cluttered, it’s time to change. You might not look forward to opening the pantry because you know it’s hard to find anything you need, particularly if you’re hurrying to prepare a meal or bake some cookies.

However, suppose you can devote one day to making some significant changes. In that case, you can make some serious progress and drastically improve how your pantry looks and works to make your kitchen the most efficient possible. 

What is a Pantry?

A pantry is a room or closet in your home, usually close to the kitchen, designed to store various things like canned food, packaged mixes, ingredients used to bake or prepare meals, etc.

What is the Purpose of a Pantry?

Technically, a pantry could be a room to store more than food-related items. It could be used to store drinks, glasses, and other dishes, tablecloths, things to clean your home, and any other items you generally want close at hand for easy use.

What is the difference between a Pantry and a Kitchen?

Generally speaking, the kitchen is a room or area used to prepare and eat meals. It may contain space to store pots and pans, dishes, utensils, and other food-related items. A sink is an expected feature. The kitchen usually includes appliances like a refrigerator, stove, microwave, dishwasher, coffee maker, etc. It can also include a table and chairs, an island, and cabinets for storage.

As mentioned above, the pantry is a separate space for storage rather than food preparation.

Should My Pantry be Ventilated?

Some people feel the pantry should have ventilation to keep the contents at the desired room temperature. My experience has been that unless your home is subject to high humidity, the items in the pantry should be ok, particularly if items are stored in sealed containers. The pantry is dark and not subject to direct sunlight.

Must-Have Items for a Stocked Pantry:

• Baking Items: flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, sugar, honey, etc.
• Canned Goods, anything YOUR family will eat.
• Beans, Grains, and Legumes.
• Your favorite oils.
• Vinegar, everyone that YOU use.
• Most popular spices YOU use.
• Broths and Soups.
• Healthy Snacks.
• Dog/Cat Food and treats.
• Chocolate.
• The food you dehydrated.
• The food you canned or pressure canned.

Final Word 

You may need to buy a few essential items, such as a lazy Susan, and various food storage containers in different sizes to store different ingredients and packages. However, these purchases are worth considering, considering how good your pantry will look, how fresh things will stay, and how easily you’ll find whatever you need. May God Bless this world, Linda

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