The pantry is perhaps the most used and, simultaneously, most neglected part of the home. We rely on this space to hold all the staples for home cooking, snacks and lunchbox items, and breakfast options, along with who knows what lurking creepily in the back. The everyday essentials often get shoved into the front row leaving other, less used items thrust farther and farther into the abyss of the dreaded back of the pantry. How often do you come home from the store and quickly put away your groceries, inevitably covering up the already open packages of snacks or cereal or pasta? Ever felt the disappointment of thinking “I know I just bought evaporated milk,” only to discover that it expired when your youngest graduated kindergarten?
Creating a more organized pantry not only gives you piece of mind, but it's a healthier habit to follow if you want to create a kitchen that makes healthy living easy!
There are a few great ways to make your pantry more efficient and stop the cycle of throwing away forgotten items that could grow stale or moldy wasting money and introducing a possible health hazard into your home.
1. Keep Similar Items Together
Categorize the shelves in your pantry by type of food and uses. For example, keep all breakfast items in one area, snacks in another, canned food together (delineating between canned soups, vegetables, legumes, etc.), dry grains in another area (keep dry goods in a basket or bin since they are often in open boxes or bags).
Only keep one package of similar items open at one time. Store unopened backup items behind the open package so that you can keep a visual inventory of what you have in your pantry stock.
2. Keep Healthier Staples On-Hand
Store the following in air-tight containers so you have healthy whole ingredients on hand to make healthier meals from scratch; Dried beans and lentils, canned or boxed (boxed is preferred), no salt added, diced tomatoes, low sodium vegetable broth, whole grain or gluten-free pasta, who grains, nuts and seeds, as well as maple syrup, honey for natural sweetener choices and apple cider vinegar, olive oil and coconut oils for cooking.
3. Take Advantage of Online Healthy Recipes
Use the ill-fated pantry build-up that comes with the end of the holiday season to try out some new recipes using what you already have. There are so many amazing free recipes online that can help you be creative with your left overs.Simply Google “dinner using canned green beans and couscous” or “healthy ways to use canned pumpkin” to get some new ideas and avoid letting those common holiday items go to waste.
4. Observe and Take Inventory
With the ease of Amazon Prime and other grocery delivery services,sometimes more than one person in the household buys groceries.If this is the case in your household, double orders and unnecessary buying can easily accumulate in your pantry.It is also easy to get in the habit of buying the same items on grocery store runs but observe how these items build up in your pantry. If you often find yourself coming home with duplicate items that go unopened week after week, switch it up on your next trip to the store.
5. Feel Good
These simple ideas will increase the utility of this greatly relied-upon part of your home, save you money and lessen your food waste. Plus, when you ensure you have healthy food in your pantry when it comes time to cook, it makes preparing healthier meals a snap!
Any baby steps you can take to be more organized will save you money and stress so that you can focus on more important things, like enjoying life! Don't let overwhelm creep up on you, I'm here to help!
Jolene McGeehan is a specialist in home efficiency, tackling to-do lists and calming the chaos through home organization. www.homebyjolene.com