Having a well-stocked and organized pantry is a great way to stay on track with your healthy eating goals, and keep your budget in check too! That’s because being able to quickly identify what’s in your pantry will help you to avoid buying in excess. And we all know, this not only wastes space, but usually results in wasted money too when we have to toss out items that expire due to them getting “lost in the disorganized crowd.”
Another benefit of a well-organized pantry is that it helps save time by making it so much easier to quickly locate items needed for a recipe. And it’s especially easy to find what you’re looking for when your food staples are stored in glass, which is why I personally use and recommend the quality glass storage products at MightyNest. Plus I appreciate their generous spirit!
Did you know that MightyNest donates 15% from every order to the school of your choice. Isn’t that awesome! Not only are they passionate about helping families live healthier, they’re also committed to helping our local schools too!
My Favorite Tips & Tricks to Makeover Any Pantry!
Okay, before I share my favorite pantry makeover tips and tricks, I have to be honest! Lest you think my pantry is always an organizational masterpiece, let me show you what it looked like before I decided enough is enough already … it’s time for some serious spring cleaning and reorganization!
Yikes! Just look at that jumbled mess (embarrassed blushing happening here)! It’s no wonder I couldn’t find anything! Sadly, I discovered that I had more than one bag of the same kind of dried fruits open; over a dozen cans of coconut milk spread out in various locations; and unfortunately I had to toss several bags of nuts that were stale from not being properly sealed. Boo, I hate wasting food!
If you can relate to my disorganized dilemma above, I want to encourage you that it only takes a little bit of time and a few handy storage containers to transform your pantry into a well-organized and well-stocked haven of real foods.
Below are the beautiful results (can you hear me breathing a sigh of relief) after I spent a little time reorganizing my pantry using some of my favorites glass food storage containers from MightyNest.
So what’s the best way to get started with your own pantry makeover?
1) First, pull out everything in your pantry and take inventory. Be sure to toss out anything that’s expired. (P.S. This is also a good time to get rid of those secret stashes of unhealthy foods – just sayin’!)
2) Transfer packaged foods such as nuts, flours, dried fruits, shredded coconut, chocolate chips, etc. into airtight storage containers to ensure freshness and also maximize storage space in your pantry.
When it comes to food storage, nothing beats glass storage containers! They’re the perfect eco-friendly solution because they are …
- Safe – glass doesn’t leach harmful chemicals.
- Easy to clean – glass is nonporous so food particles, oils and odors are easily washed away.
- Cost effective – glass does not discolor or trap odors, so it can be used over and over again for safe food storage.
- Versatile – glass food containers come in a variety of sizes and shapes making it easy to find a safe solution for all of your food storage needs.
As you can see, I absolutely adore Kilner jars for storing grain-free flour. They have a nice wide-mouth top, which makes it easy to scoop out what you need. Best of all, their super-tight seal and lock-down clip ensures that ingredients are kept airtight, which is especially important for keeping flour fresh.
Speaking of which, I recommend storing about a 1-2 week supply of grain-free flour in your pantry so you have it on hand ready to go. The remainder should be stored in an airtight container in the fridge or freezer. It’s important that your flour is room temperature before using it for baking, as cold flour can negatively impact the outcome of baking recipes.
When it comes to storing nuts, dried fruits, shredded coconut, chocolate chips and other real food pantry staples, I highly recommend removing them from their packages and storing them in a glass container fitted with an airtight lid.
I’ve found that most foods stay fresher, and therefore last much longer when stored in glass. Simax glass containers are one of my favorites because they’re lightweight and have an easy-on, easy-off lid. Plus, they’re vertical so they make use of height, rather than taking up valuable “floor space” in your pantry.
3) Reorganize with Rhyme & Reason. To make it easier to quickly locate items in your pantry, I recommend grouping pantry items by type, such as baking staples, canned goods, nuts, condiments, etc. By placing items together by category, it will make it much easier to keep your pantry orderly and quickly find what you’re looking for.
4) Small pantry? Consider using your countertops. It not only saves space in your pantry, but it’s also convenient to relocate the staples that you use most often to your kitchen countertops. You may also wish to invest in a raised shelf since they make use of vertical space, which will allow you to store more items in a small area on your counter.
5) No pantry? No problem! Some kitchens don’t have pantries. If that’s your challenge, be encouraged. You can still use the tips above to organize your cabinet space and countertops to make the most efficient use of the space you have available. You may also want to shop yard sales for a kitchen buffet that can be used to free-up extra cabinet space for use as a pantry.
P.S. I don’t use fancy stickers to label my glass storage containers. They make it difficult to wash since the labels peel off and leave a sticky residue. Instead, I use a sharpie. That’s right. It’s simple, cost-effective and can easily be removed from glass with just a touch of lemon essential oil.
What are your favorite ways to keep your pantry well organized? Please share your tips & tricks in the comments below!
Please Note: This giveaway ended on April 7, 2015. Congrats to Mary C! Our lucky giveaway winner! Yep, this awesome giveaway was sponsored by Mighty Nest. But remember y’all, I only share my honest opinions about the products and brands that I personally use and enjoy!
Would love to win these
Good luck, Lisa! 🙂
I was given several dozen ball and mason canning jars in the quart size. We store all our nuts snacks granola dried fruit etc in them. The kids can see all the I options when they open the cabinet and they are easy to open.
That’s a wonderful idea, Lisa! And helps kids to make healthy choices! Thank you so much for taking the time to share your great idea! 🙂
I love your site .thanks
You are so kind! Thank you for leaving a kind note! What a blessing you are! 🙂
Pinterest kept telling me it couldn’t fetch the picture 🙁
Thanks for letting me know. I’ve alerted MightyNest so we can see about fixing that. 🙂 Apologies for the inconvenience!
Thanks for the tips on organizing a pantry!! Mine is fairly well organized right now, but I have to be creative with space as I don’t have a real pantry. I noticed you said you ended up tossing some nuts because they were stale. Did you know you can toast them in the oven and get rid of the stale taste? It’s a way to prevent throwing out food! 🙂
Thanks, Linda. Your tip is a fantastic one. Definitely appreciate you taking the time to share with this excellent advice! 🙂
Entered! Fingers and toes crossed! Thanks so much. Viveca
You are so welcome! Keep up the great work with animals! You are a blessing! 🙂
Excited about the giveaway!
Good luck, Greta!
Your pantry looks amazing now! I’m so inspired to dig through all the bags I have.
I always thought nuts, and nut flours especially, needed to be refrigerated or frozen…? It would actually free up a good amount of space in my refrigerator and freezer if I moved them to the pantry. Do you have any thoughts on this? We go through them kinda slowly so for now to be safe I keep my coconut products (except oils), almond flour, and bulk nuts in the deep freezer. I keep small amounts of shredded coconut plus seeds and nuts in the fridge for ease of use since the deep freeze is in the garage. 🙂
Yikes! How did I miss your paragraph on nut flours the first time? I think I was TOO wow’ by the pictures. 😉
At Whitney, no worries! LOL! 🙂 I’m glad this post has inspired you. I should also note that I only keep about a two week supply of nuts and coconut out too. The rest stay in the freezer for the exact reasons you know about. 🙂 Good luck on winning! Thanks for your sweet note!
I love the before and after pictures of your pantry! This is very motivating to me to work on my own. These new storage containers look amazing!
Thanks, Karen! This is kinda silly, but I kept opening my pantry just to look inside the past two days. LOL! It feels to good to have it organized. 🙂 I know you’re going to really feel great when you get yours in order too!
O’MGosh Kelly, you just made me laugh! I just purged my small stand alone pantry (don’t have a built in otherwise, just my cabinets, and a larger storeroom in the basement) a couple of weeks ago. Got rid of expired stuff and the things I no longer use, then cleaned it from top to bottom and reorganized. Didn’t use glass containers, but it was so neat, that I found myself peeking every so often, I was so pleased with the results. I even left it open a few times so that others in the house could admire my work! haha -Angie
LOL! Sounds like we both like to revel in our accomplishments. hee hee!! 🙂
I need to give my pantry a through cleaning, it’s starting to overflow! My best tip would be to give it a good once over at least once a month to see what’s being used and what needs to be replaced.
That is an excellent tip, Sylvie! It would definitely save me a lot of time in the long run (and money) to take your wise advice! 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note!
These would be wonderful to win. I use assorted glass jars left over from food products like peanutbutter, pickles and salad dressings to store dried fruit in as well as for other needs. These look wonderful.
Wonderful idea! I love using recycled jars too! Thank you for taking the time to leave a kind note! Good luck! Blessings, Kelly 🙂
Thanks for the tip about the Sharpies, I didn’t know that! I always feel like I need to label certain things because sometimes I’m the only one who knows what is in them…although if it’s something not obvious, I cut out a part of the original package label and stick that in a jar so I won’t have to guess. but it would be nice to have something easier to see, too.
You are so welcome. And funny, because I used to do the same thing (cut the labels out). 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note!
Your pantry looks beautiful.
I love jars. But my husband has banned me from saving any more. Haha.
That’s interesting about the Sharpie. I usually write on a small piece of paper and stick it to the jar with a piece of scotch tape. Or just write directly on the tape. It sticks but doesn’t leave a sticky residue.
Thanks for your tips.
Blessings!
Hi, Julie! I have that same issue – too many jars! It’s hard to let go of them, isn’t it. So glad you’ve got a great system that works for you! That is definitely the key. Thanks for taking the time to leave a kind note! 🙂
I try to use glass jars. I even use my canning jars. I hate plastic. I could really benefit from this so that my canning jars can be used for their original purpose. Love the tips and ideas
Thanks for taking time to leave a kind note, Cathy! I wish you good luck! It will be exciting to hear back from MightyNest about the winner! 🙂
this would be such a wonderful blessing to win!!!
Best of luck to you!
This is awesome! Fingers crossed 🙂
Would love a pantry like that! Haven’t heard of the Simax glass containers before. I have used mostly canning jars since that’s what I had. I accidentally figured out the Sharpie trick a few years back. You are the first person I have come across to mention it. However my essential oils are too precious to waste. The scrubby side of a Scotch Brite heavy duty sponges take the sharpie off with ease using just water, but even a dish rag and dish soap will frequently take off the sharpie as well without too much problem.
I hear you about the EOs. LOL! Thanks so much for sharing! Good luck on the giveaway! Appreciate you taking the time to leave a kind note! 🙂
I love to use vintage glassware, i.e., Pyrex, Anchor Hocking, etc., along with vintage large glass jars, to store food items in pantry and cabinets.
Your pantry sounds gorgeous! Vintage glassware is a favorite! 🙂
Hey! I love this article. I’m looking forward to implementing the ideas for my pantry. When will the winner for the contest be announced?
The giveaway runs through April 7, since this giveaway is courtesy of MightyNest, they will select and contact the winner directly. So they will most likely let me know the winner’s name sometime around April 8-9 so I can post it here and we congratulate the winner. 🙂 Good luck!
Oh the anticipation!! 🙂
LOL! I know. This is a long wait!!! 🙂
I really would love to win!