You want to organize your pantry so that it is efficient, looks fabulous, and is easy to keep in order.  Learn the five rules for pantry organization and the best way to organize a pantry and keep an organized pantry.

What’s the best way to organize a pantry? How do you decide where everything should go in your pantry? There are five rules or principles to pantry organization that you have to weigh and consider when organizing your particular pantry.  How you cook, what you cook, and the tools in your particular kitchen will dictate the best way to organize your pantry. These five principles or “rules” will give you a pantry customized to your particular needs— a bespoke pantry, if you will.  And a custom pantry is far better than telling you what should go exactly where, no? These are the five principles or “rules” to follow to get the best pantry possible.

Remember though, you have to balance each rule in deciding how they work in your particular pantry for your particular pantry items. Your tools, your life, your rules.

First Rule of Pantry Organization: Categorize “Like with Like”

This rule is about storing similar foods together. Group your stored pantry foods and tools in categories.  Baking items, spices, breakfast foods, pickles and preserves are stored in their own separate groups (“like with like”).  Snacks, dried pastas and beans, and vinegar and oils and salts are other categories you might consider.  Paper goods, canned fruits and vegetables, and soups should each have their own sections.

Serving dishes are grouped together, and then tableware such as cereal bowls and juice glasses in their own areas. Food wraps, food storage containers, and extra towels and sponges all get their own sections.

If you bake, consider keeping frequently used baking spices and sugars grouped in a small basket or tray so they are more easily carried to the counter for measuring and mixing.

Do you have room for a wrapping station, or a coffee station?  Keep everything you need for a cup of coffee or to wrap a present right at hand, from cups to spoons to scissors and tape. A cook book nook is another idea. If it’s important to you, set up an area devoted to it.

Second rule for the best way to organize a pantry: frequent use within easy reach and infrequent use further away

An important rule to planning an organized pantry is to store things so they are conveniently at hand, and to have a place for everything. Remember the old saying “a place for everything and everything in its place?  Getting to pantry organization in the first place and then keeping an organized pantry is far easier to do if you have a good place to store everything you frequently use.

What foods and tableware see every day use, weekly use, monthly, and once a year infrequent use?  Pantry items you use daily should be closest at hand and easily within reach.  Store items you don’t use a lot further back or up higher (even out of reach unless you use a step stool).  As a  example, we store a box of cookie cutters on a top shelf and canning jars in cellar because they are only used once a year or so. We haul out a step stool to get to these items.

An exception to this rule might be a pretty set of glasses or something you want to see every day, even if not used. Little things that give you joy should be kept in sight, if you have a little spot for them.

Lazy susans and turntables on shelves or built into cabinets can make things easier to get (and easier to put away).  Cabinets with pull-out drawers make storage more accessible at the back of cabinets.  Even with a pull-out drawer,  always tore the things you use most frequently to the front.  Doing so will make it that much easier to put things away and to get them out. And, we all know that putting things away is probably more than half the battle of keeping an organized pantry and kitchen.

Third rule of pantry organization: store heavy things low and lighter items higher

Third, even if you aren’t in an earthquake prone area, it doesn’t make sense to store heavy items on high shelves. Store heavy items on lower shelves so you aren’t spending energy lifting and lowering, or worse yet, toppling.

Save spots on higher shelves for lighter items. Tins of cookie cutters, fancy glass lemonade pitchers, a first aid kit and bulky extra paper towels are things we store on high shelves.  Use a sturdy step stool for access to high shelves.

Fourth rule of pantry organization: heat and food storage don’t mix

The fourth pantry organization rule to an ideally organized pantry:  knowing that food doesn’t store as well near heat.  The dishwasher, coffeemaker, and oven give off heat, as does the top of the fridge.

Keep spice drawers and racks away from the oven, the stove top, and the dishwasher. Drawers next to these appliances are best for utensils and cookware or dishes.

Store grains, crackers, cereals, coffee, and other foods in a cooler, air-tight (think jar or tin), preferably dark spot (in a cabinet versus on a counter) to extend their shelf life.

Fifth, select good containers and label them well

The fifth and final pantry organization rule is to have good containers and label them well.  Good jars or containers with labels are one of the best ways to organize the pantry. Food supplies will last longer and stay fresher in airtight containers than in boxes or bags. If you don’t already buy in bulk, consider repacking the foods you buy to keep them fresher.  An airtight container of cereal is going to stay tastier longer than that same cereal in a cardboard box.  A cereal box and a fold over waxed paper or plastic liner bag that may or may not close tightly.

It’s easy to transfer packaged foods to your own pantry containers (and doing so resolves quite a bit of clutter as well as makes your pantry even more visually appealing). Need calorie, ingredient, or cooking information? Snip sections of the box or package and put them right in the container on top.

The jar or container opening you choose for pantry storage should be large enough to fit a measuring cup for things like flour, sugar, and rice, and a measuring spoon for spices and things like baking powder.

Square containers will take up less space and make for more efficient storage in a cupboard.  Round containers are ideal for allowing more air circulation between containers (in a refrigerator, round containers are better).

Many people prefer glass over plastic.  This is a personal preference choice based on convenience, weight, breakability.  Acid foods stored in plastic can interact and may present a food safety issue.  Never store food in containers labeled “not for food storage.” They are likely to contain lead or other non-food-safe chemicals.

Are you ready to organize?

Now you know the best way to organize a pantry! In summary, the five rules for pantry organization are ) categorize and store “like with like,” 2) store frequently used things close at hand, 3) store heavy items lower, lighter items higher,  4) avoid heat in storing food, and 5) get good containers and label them well!

If you are already organized and ready to deep clean your pantry, check out our post on Deep Cleaning The Pantry.

If you have particular questions about pantry organization, feel free to ask us in the comments below!