Organizing the Pantry

Happy Thursday! Did you think I forgot? I was busy - organizing my pantry for this post!! lol. Better late then never, right?

If you are just joining us, we have been getting organized using Jennifer Ford Berry's Organize Now book.

It has some great info and tips on organizing various parts of our life and home. You can see past posts here:

Week 1 about Organizing Your Mind and Life Vision HERE,

Week 2 about Organizing Your Priorities HERE,

Week 3 about Organizing Your Schedule HERE

Week 4 about Organizing Your Cleaning Schedule HERE.

Week 5 about Organizing Your Personal Information HERE. 

Week 6 about Organizing Your Finances HERE. 

      Week 7 about Organizing Your Bill-paying System HERE.

        Week 8 about Organizing Your Receipts and Taxes HERE. 

Week 9 about Organizing Your Files HERE

                               Week 10 about Organizing your Magazines and Newspapers HERE.
                                               Week 11 about Organizing Your Email HERE
                                                Week 12 about Organizing Your Mail HERE
                                         Week 13 about Organizing Your Child's Toys HERE.

Week 14 about Organizing Your Crafts HERE.

Week 15 about Organizing Your Photographs HERE.

Week 16 about Organizing Your Purse or Wallet HERE. 

 Week 17 about Organizing Your Vehicle HERE.

                                                  Week 18 about Organizing Your Pet HERE.

Week 19 about Organizing Your Books, CDs and DVDs HERE.

Week 20 about Organizing Your Entryway or Mudroom HERE.

                           Week 21 about Organizing Your Family Room or Living Room HERE.

Week 22 about Organizing Your Kitchen Countertops HERE.

Week 23 about Organizing the Kitchen Cabinets HERE.

This week we are organizing the pantry.

I don't know about you, but in my house the pantry can get pretty messy pretty fast. And it is so easy for things to get pushed to the back and forgotten about. Here are some good goals and tips that Jennifer has for keeping the pantry organized. As always, I only highlight some of her points. For more detail you can take a look at her Organize Now book.

This Week's Goals:

1. Take everything out so you can see what you have. (this tip is from me. It's how I did it and I found it helpful). Throw out anything that is stale, expired, etc. Donate food that is still good and unopened that you don't want.

2. Consolidate opened packages of the same item such as cereal, chips, etc.

3. Organize by zone. ie. baking, snack foods, meal ingredients, etc.

4. When you bring groceries home, put new items in the back so you use the older items first.

5. If you have tall shelves, get a step stool so you have easy access.

Tips:

1. Buy, buy, buy when items you use are on sale! (don't buy things you don't use just because they are on sale!)

2. Keep things visible. If they are hidden you will end up buying them again and again.

Like a true procrastinator, I didn't get to organizing my pantry until today! My 3 year old helped and it was fun to do together. He helped me take everything out and put it on the island and table so we could see what we had. We threw some things out that were stale or expired.

Here is the before picture. It is pretty unorganized and full!!

    
And here are some after pictures

This is something that my MIL gave us when we got married to keep plastic grocery bags in. We have it hanging in the pantry.

And I mentioned last week how we hung a rack on the inside of the pantry door for our  supplements. :)

 Cute story: While my 3 year old was helping, he suddenly disappeared to another room and told me he needed to organize his toys. After I was done with the pantry I came to check and this is what I found.

 I guess I inspired him when I took everything out of the pantry and put it on the table! :)

How is your organizing going? How do you organize your pantry?

Thanks for reading! Have a great rest of your day!

Rebecca