• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Cookin Canuck
  • Recipe Index
  • 30 Minute Meals
  • Cooking 101
  • Instant Pot Recipes
  • About
  • Subscribe
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Recipes
  • Quick&Easy
  • Instant Pot
  • About
  • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Recipes
    • Quick&Easy
    • Instant Pot
    • About
    • Subscribe
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
  • ×

    Home » How-to

    How to: Organize Your Pantry

    Published: Jan 23, 2013 · Modified: Mar 30, 2021 by Dara · This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. · 430 Comments

    96Shares

    Is it time to organize your pantry? Here are plenty of tips and links to helpful products to make your pantry beautiful and functional.
    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    When you are trying to put dinner on the table quickly, or you're putting together your kids' lunch boxes on a busy morning, the last thing you should have to do is rummage through the pantry to find that bag of rice you "just saw the other day...I swear". That's how things were starting to go in our house, and my husband and I knew it was time for a serious pantry reorganization. Not to mention the fact that the dingy shelves needed a couple of new coats of paint so they didn't look as though we had just rubbed dirt all over them. Yeah, awesome.

    Before Pictures:

    Be kind! I cringed as I looked through these photos. While we had some basic organizing drawers and containers (thanks to my mum's efforts several years ago), I managed to let everything become horribly disorganized. Packages of dried beans were tucked in random places, half-eaten packages of crackers lay behind boxes of cereal and the shelves...well, the shelves had seen better days.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    We are a cereal family and, inevitably, there are three to four types of cereal or oats open at one time. Behind these boxes are a couple of large bags of cereal, held together with clips.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    And then the spices. For someone who likes to use a lot of spices in her food, I certainly had a lousy way of organizing my spices. Even though they were contained in this cardboard box, the lip of the box didn't allow me to see the label. I can't even count the number of times that I had to pick up 4 to 5 spice bottles before finding the one I needed.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    My husband eats a lot of raw nuts throughout the day and pasta is in the regular dinner rotation for our family. Those spaces in our pantry were in dire need of an intervention!

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    In come the OXO organizational tools:

    I feel like these OXO Good Grips POP Containers should be wearing little red capes and a big "S" emblazoned across the front. They are truly the super heroes of kitchen organization.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    After Pictures:

    Let the clouds open and the angels sing their songs of rejoice! After a weekend of kitchen chaos, the pantry is done.

    My husband, the trooper that he is, painted the shelves in a clean, crisp white and the back and side walls in a cornflower blue. My heart does a little dance of joy every time I open the pantry doors.

    As I put the food into containers, onto the turntables, and arranged everything on the shelves, I found out through trial and error what worked the best for easy access to the pantry items.

    Here are my tips:

    1. Think of the little guys:

    We used to store the cereals, snack foods and the boys' special treat boxes (they each have a box so there is no bickering over, "No, that's MY candy cane.") on one of the tops shelves. Not only were the containers difficult for me to reach and refill, but the boys had to drag over the barstools and precariously balance to reach the snack foods.

    Now, the crackers, granola bars, cereals, dried fruit and graham crackers are front on center, right at their eye level. Also, we dedicated a spot for their lunch boxes so that they can empty them and put them away themselves when they come home from school. They're rather thrilled with their new level of independence, and my husband and I are happy to cross one thing off of our daily "to do" lists.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    2. Put "high frequency" items front and center:

    When preparing meals, I find myself constantly reaching for the cooking spray, olive oil, vinegars and spices. Weeknight meal preparation can be crazy enough without having to spend precious minutes searching for the balsamic vinegar or the bag of rice. If you use it often, make it easy to find.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    3. Teach your spices the ABCs

    Are you going to think I've lost my mind if I tell you that I alphabetize my spices? Trust me, you want to do this. There's something comforting about knowing that the chili powder is going to be nestled between the cardamom and cumin. This little bit of organization overboard-ness (yeah, I know that's not a word) will save you endless moments of frustration. For this, I used the OXO 16-inch turntable.

    4. Put similar items together

    Just as we feel most comfortable when we are with are closest friends, pantry organization works best when the cereal is beside the other cereals, the rice and other grains are sequestered to their own corner, and the nuts and dried fruits are huddled together.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    5. Delegate with your grains

    This is a trick I've used for quite awhile, and it was certainly going to be a part of this pantry re-vamp. If you're driving home from a late meeting and you need your significant other to put on a pot of rice, you can make a quick call (when you're at a red light, of course) to ask him or her to get things rolling. Not only will the rice be easy to find (see point #4), but the cooking directions will be clearly labeled on the front of the container. No need to dictate directions while you're trying to navigate a tricky left turn. The OXO POP containers work perfectly for grains!

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    6. Turn, baby, turn

    Lazy Susans, like the one seen above (OXO Stainless Steel Lazy Susan) and the one that's holding the spices (OXO 16-inch turntable) are a great way to organize bottles that like to topple. The stainless steel turntable, as well as the Stainless Steel Utensil Holder sit right beside my stovetop, for easy access to items and tools that I use frequently.

    How to: Organize Your Pantry by Cookin' Canuck #organization #pantry #kitchen

    Disclosure: This post is sponsored by OXO, and the tools in this post and those for the giveaway are provided by them. I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

    Signature

    96Shares
    « Grated Cauliflower Salad Recipe with Peppers, Carrots & Capers
    Hot Rum & Ginger Tea Toddy Recipe »

    Want more easy, healthy recipes?

    Subscribe to get the recipes sent straight to your inbox.

      We won't send you spam. Unsubscribe at any time.

      Reader Interactions

      Comments

      1. Elizabeth

        July 24, 2016 at 8:18 am

        I love Oxo containers.

        Reply
      2. Anne

        April 23, 2015 at 10:14 am

        Love this and will be using your tips to organize my pantry, however, I do have one question. I don't see any canned goods in the finished picture. How would you organize those? Just stack on together? Thanks!

        Reply
        • Dara

          April 23, 2015 at 2:06 pm

          Hi Anne, I typically stack my cans and organize in rows by type (beans, tomatoes, etc.) However, there are also some great can organizers available, such as this one. I hope that helps!

          Reply
      3. Kathy Daniel

        April 15, 2015 at 10:47 am

        I love the lazy susan,s .Life is lovley with an organized. Pantry. Love it oxo.

        Reply
      4. Valarie

        April 09, 2015 at 3:26 pm

        I have a label-maker that I have been itching to use and now I have the perfect project to incorporate such a tool. There are a lot of great ideas here that I intend to steal 😉

        Reply
      « Older Comments

      Leave a Reply Cancel reply

      Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

      Recipe Rating




      Primary Sidebar

      • Facebook
      • Instagram
      • Pinterest
      • Twitter
      Photo of Dara Michalski.

      Hi there! Welcome to Cookin' Canuck.

      I'm Dara, a Canadian living in the U.S. and sharing my favorite healthy recipes. My cooking motto is that healthy eating never needs to be boring!

      More about me →

      Popular

      • Strawberry Nice Cream
      • Lemon Orzo Salad
      • Sautéed Corn, Zucchini & Blistered Tomatoes Recipe
      • Grilled Halloumi Cheese Recipe

      Footer

      ↑ back to top

      About

      • Meet Dara
      • Contact
      • Work With Me
      • FAQ
      • Privacy Policy

      Newsletter

      • Sign Up! for emails and updates

      Recipes

      • All Recipes
      • Main Dishes
      • Instant Pot Recipes
      • 30-Minute Meals

      I am a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for me to earn fees by linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.

      Copyright © 2022 Cookin' Canuck