Organized Pantry

Not too long ago, we had a mouse in our pantry. I needed an excuse to clean out and reorganize the pantry anyway. So I jumped on this project one night after Baby Doc went to bed.

During our home remodel, we put in a very large pantry. It’s huge. And awesome. And easy to get filled up with stuff that (1) has been around so long we won’t eat it anymore and (2) doesn’t belong in the pantry. I’m really liking the way it is set up now, so I’m hoping that will be incentive enough to keep it looking (close to) this way!

Right on the back wall is the cereal section. I’m a big breakfast eater, so it’s important to me that the breakfast stuff is front-and-center, so to speak. On the next shelf is a collection of things like soup, tuna fish, and peanut butter. They… sort of… go together… but it seemed to make sense to me when I set it up.

Below that is the “whole grains” shelf – beans, rice, quinoa, grits, etc. (Yes, I know beans aren’t a grain. I don’t think grits are, either.) I’ll also keep broths and stocks on the right side of this shelf. Looks like I need to restock that section! The next shelf down has my (too-large) collection of oils and vinegars and Farmer Doc’s (too-large) collection of fry mixes. (You’ll see why in just a minute…) The bottom shelf is home to maple syrup (just the real stuff for me, thanks!), honey, jellies, and Baby Doc’s formula.

High up on the left wall is the snack section, and the extra-plastic-stuff section.

Then there are two shelves of baking supplies – things like flour, sugar, brown sugar, and salt live on this shelf.

Corn meal, sorghum, baking mixes, pancake mixes, and other odds-and-ends for baking are on the bottom shelf. Our bulk drinks and gallon bottles of vinegar live on the floor.

The top of the right wall is home to dog treats for Sadie, random drink mixes, canned vegetables, and paper plates and disposable baking dishes.

Then there is a shelf for pastas, and our countertop deep fryer. Yep, you read that right. A deep fryer that sits right on the counter. Hence all that fry mix in the other photo. This deep fryer was a wedding present, of all things. It is a wonderful, terrible thing to have in the house…

The bottom shelf has pasta sauces, canned tomatoes, and a selection of our canned produce from our garden.

Finally, the floor. This tends to be the place where I throw all the bigger things that don’t quite have their own home. Right now, it’s our extra drinks, extra cat food, and empty storage containers. With all the cats in this house, cat hair collects on all the floors, even here where the door is shut all the time. So we try to keep the floors relatively picked up. (It doesn’t always work.)

Is your pantry organized? Or is it a hot mess? Would having an organized pantry help you with meal planning? (It sure does for me!)