One of my many strategies for an optimal food plan in a fast-paced world is ORGANIZATION.

There are many places in the kitchen, that when organized, can enhance your productivity and speed in the kitchen OR they can deter your focus and slow you down.

One example is the pantry.

How to Organize your Pantry: The Why

Your speed of food preparation doubles when you can easily access the stuff you need. Follow this simple 7 step guide on how to organize your pantry for high performance in the kitchen.

The styles and ways to organize your pantry are endless.

How to Organize your Pantry in 7 Simple Steps

#1 Pull everything out of the current pantry

It’s going to get worse before it gets better here! Pull everything out of the pantry and begin by throwing away anything that is expired or no longer fits in your food plan.

You can also create a donation bag and take it to a local food bank in your area.

#2 Create piles of similar items labeled with a Post-It Note that you will later put in a bin.

Here are some pile/bin label ideas:

  • Nuts and dried fruit
  • Grains
  • Baking
  • Grab ‘N Go
  • Tea and coffee
  • Plasticware
  • Herbs and vitamins
  • Water bottles
  • Food storage
  • Canned goods
  • Bars
  • Smoothie stuff
  • Fruit snacks
  • Crunchy stuff
  • Breakfast items
  • Kid-specific (Create a bind for each child with their name on it and fill it up with their allotted snacks for the day. This gives them an opportunity to plan and spread out there snacking as well as feeding a sense of control over their food choices.)

#3 Measure the width, length, and height of the shelves and then go shopping

You need these number so you can go out to Target, the Dollar Store, Walmart, or The Container Store and choose bins that will fit your specific area. The cost for this makeover all depends on pantry size and how fancy you want to get with the bins. (The bins above were about $6 each from The Container Store.)

Things to keep in mind so you only have to shop once…

  1. Do you want to be able to see through the bins?
  2. Do you want lids?
  3. Do you want a smooth bottom like plastic so items sit nicely versus woven basket bottoms?
  4. Do you want shelf liner?
  5. Will the bins slide in and out easily?

Note: Get plenty of bins and shelf liner so you don’t have to stop mid-way through the project.

#4 Clean up the pantry!

Vacuum, wipe down all the shelves and thoroughly get the area clean and ready for its new look and function.

#5 Carefully lay down shelf liner (optional)

This certainly isn’t required, but it looks so cute and clean when you choose to do it. You might need an extra set of hands to help with this because shelf liner is super sticky and a little tricky to manage.

#6 Put all food and food items into their new bins and back in the pantry

If you have children, enroll them in helping with this part and talk about your new pantry and how everyone is going to keep it organized and clean.

#7 Take a picture of your pantry makeover an share it with me over on Instagram!

We’d love to see what you create using these 7 simple steps on how to organize your pantry! Mention me @5D_Athlete and use the tag #cppantrymakeover.

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