Hey Cuties,
Since moving I have been trying to get my home together. Outside of the decorating part I also needed to put some organizational systems in place. In particular, the areas that my kids utilize within common areas. Hence the need for this pantry organization. I’ve not watched Marie Kondo’s, Tidying Up, on but I imagine she would be proud.
Let’s talk Pantry Organization
In my old home, I had a very traditional pantry style closet with shelves. In my new home, we don’t have a pantry per see we have additional cabinet space [Two tall cabinets on the left.] that is to be utilized as a pantry. I have a teenager and a 7-year-old, and no matter how much I fuss and how much they know better they don’t always do better. They open the cabinets, take stuff and rarely actually put it back in its rightful space. So I decided to help them help themselves.
While strolling my local Ikea I fell in love with their VARIERA box, they come in two sizes. The [left] bigger version is $4.50 and is 13 1/4 x 9 1/2 ” the smaller [right] is $2.79 9 1/2 x 6 3/4 “. I immediately grabbed five of them to get the “pantry” in order. Once I got started there was no turning back. Because I made this purchase on a whim I didn’t have a plan for what would go in the containers or what size I would need. I decided to start with what I had and go from there.
When you open up the bottom half of the pantry this is what you see. This alone brings me joy, it is neat, it is organized and I don’t have a ton boxes in a variety of sizes fighting for space. My kids will have a box in here with one item left in it. WHY LORD!
Disclaimer: I don’t want to hear any lip about how unhealthy this pantry is, the healthy food doesn’t live in the pantry, get over yourself. My children take lunch to school every day. We are also approaching summer and they will pack lunch for summer camp. This new system helps streamline this process. Bonus: It easily allows me to see what we are low on and out of when I make my grocery list. I swap the snacks out so I did not label the containers. If you are more consistent then you should label them.
After emptying the contents of every single box and put them into a container. I shop at Costco a lot so I tend to buy these items in bulk. I have two containers of Pop-Tarts because the Man-Child likes one kind, and LittleCuteLips likes another. What you can’t see from this picture is that I write letters on the Pop-Tart package so the kids know which is which.
Dumping the Capri Suns into a container makes it easier for LittleCuteLips to keep them stocked in the refrigerator. When I come home from grocery shopping this set up makes it easier for the kids to put the food away. They don’t have to ask questions or upset my OCD. They simply put them in their respective container.
Some times fit perfectly into the smaller container if I have an abundance of them I put them inside two small containers. I place them on the shelf in a row to keep things nice and tidy.
Some items take up the entire container and others don’t. So I combine them to maximize my space. Some items I purchase on a regular basis and others are a one time purchase.
Play around with the fit of things and see what works best for you. There are a million and one ways of organizing your pantry. This is just what I picked.
How do you organize your pantry? Chat with me in the comment below or FB, IG or Twitter.
Girl you had me with bins. I love the bins system we have in our kids playroom so moving that to the pantry is a strong possibility.
Yes! Girl I’m trying to take over the entire house with organizational systems.
This is great! Now can you come to my house and implement it for me? I’m a mess. LOL.
Monique, I totally would. I love creating organizational systems.
You are so organized Mimi! I don’t have space for a pantry but I like how easy you’ve made it for your kids to make their lunches.
I try, that helps keep the chaos down.
I organize my pantry and with these kids it looks a hot mess in about 48 hours they always looking for stuff or put stuff back in the wrong places. I need to make them pay for that and maybe they will stop
Charging them will make a change real fast. lol
Yay to all the organized snacks! I want to come to your house. I did something similiar with some bins foe my daughter to reach in from her assigned shelf and pack her snacks.
Come on over. This system helps the 7 year old. She can pull down anything she can’t see or reach.
This is a great idea especially if you have children. It is easy for them to grab an item vs. rummaging to find which flavor the like and like you mentioned you can easily see when you need to restock items. Congrats on the new home 🙂
Thanks, yes it has made life easy for both of us.
Wow, that looks great. Easy to replenish when you run out of these too!
Yes, and when we are out of something and I want to change it up it makes it easy to do.
Seriously loving how your pantry basically looks like a corner store. Ya’ll are stocked! And oh so organized.
Yes, but cheaper because the Container Store charges too much sometimes. We are ready for summer.