Pantry Makeover: See What We Used (And Try Out Decanting? Genius!)

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Hey y'all, Lilly here! I've been helping Laurie & the PPP team out and wanted to show you a fun project we tackled this fall (but are just now getting around to sharing with you!) Since it's the beginning of January and Pantry Organization was the first task in this year's 2023 Home Planner, we decided it was the perfect time to share. Take a peek! 

BEFORE

Laurie recently let me loose in her pantry to give it a total makeover. I LOVE to organize things and just couldn't wait to get my hands on this project! She found that the organizing style used for her last pantry just wasn't cutting it for this one. The only guideline Laurie had was to use bins she could see in.

 

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(Note from Laurie: I've had baskets before that look ahhh-mazing, but it drove our family crazy and things that weren't seen didn't get used! I LOVE the idea of beautiful Pinterested baskets, but in real life they just don't work for our family.)

First thing I did of course was take everything out (phew there was a lot!) and wipe down all the shelves.

YIKES. 

I measured the shelves out and headed off to Target where I found these awesome wire baskets. I spaced out the baskets to make sure it would all work. I repurposed the spice racks that Laurie had just replaced in her spice cabinet and used them for her canned goods and any oils and jars.

One of the biggest issues I find when organizing pantry's is how messy bags always look! So all nuts and raisins went into old mason jars she had around and I got uniformed lids from Amazon and just wrote the expiration dates on top with and erasable marker.

All the plasticware went into these great little trays I found at Target (Bottom right shelf). Best part is they have multiple different sizes and they were only $2 and depending on the size came in packs 2, 3 or 4.

• Small Tray
• Medium Tray
• Large Tray
• Long Tray 

*One other housekeeping thing I did was number any item Laurie had more than one of so she would know what to use first as well as when she was running low on something and should restock.

Pasta got put into the oxo containers she already had and cereal was put into these great Cereal Keeper Containers I found at Sam's Club in a pack of 3.

Laurie already had been storing flour and sugars in these glass jars. I don't know where she originally got hers but I was pleasantly surprised that Target has 64oz glass jars for $6 and the a 128oz glass jar for only $10 that I ended up using for our snack size chip bags.

I feel like corners are always hard to figure out how to best use that space and I really like what we ended up with! I used Lazy Susan's  for her pasta jars and seasoning packets and like I already mentioned a big glass jar for individual snack bags.

Chips and snack bars were put into OXO Jars Laurie already had and I divided the rest into different baskets, one for snack foods, breakfast foods, baking supplies, grains, and baking utensils. The 5 woven baskets at the bottom I've got to admit I was so pleased with! I found them at Target and decided to designate a basket for the extra paper towels, one for grocery bags, another for pitchers, one for all the bottles, and the last for her longer saran wraps, aluminum foil, and paper plates that didn't fit in the basket.

The last section of her pantry is devoted to all her cooking gadgets, there's a basket for lunch boxes, another for linen napkins, one for spare candles/miscellaneous items.

Some tips to keep in mind when starting your own pantry organization:

• Number multiples in a ‘First in First Out' fashion so you are more likely not to run in to expired items
• I tend to put my more yummy munchy items out of direct eyesight so I have to seek it out to find it
• Unpackage what you can if  it will be used up fair
• Set up some snacks “grab and go” style
• Consider “decanting” your food – decanting is taking your groceries out of packaging to store in a air-tight container, and is a great way to save space in your pantry. By getting rid of excess packaging as you put your groceries away all at once, you'll save yourself both time and space in your pantry.

Looking for more Home Organizing Ideas? Check out a few of our favorites, and leave a comment with your pantry organizing tips. We'd love to hear what's working for you!