Go, Get Organized!: Organization Tips from “The Closet Divas”Since our...

Go, Get Organized!: Organization Tips from “The Closet Divas”Since our...: "Organization Tips from “The Closet Divas”Since our focus this month is the pantry area, I am offering five tips that I generally follow. The..."

Organization Tips from “The Closet Divas”

Since our focus this month is the pantry area, I am offering five tips that I generally follow. These will help you get your pantry better organized and keep it maintained over time. These tips will work no matter the size of your pantry or storage cupboards.

1.       Sort items in your pantry by categories by grouping all like items together such as dry goods, sauces, specialty foods, and even your cleaning products. From there create sub-groups like placing all your tomato items in one area and from there organize them by crushed, sauce, puree, etc. Follow this exercise with soups, canned veggies and fruits, and so on.

2.       Store items you use the most at eye level.

3.       Store small or like items in wire baskets or clear plastic containers. This can work for miscellaneous teas or spice packages, even packages of pastas or beans. These items will stay contained and you can simply pull out the container and get what you need without disturbing other items stored around them.

4.       FIFO first in, first out this is a universal method of keeping your pantry items current. Place new items behind the ones currently stored. You may have to move things around a bit, but you will always be using food, ingredients or even dry good or cleaning products that are not out of date. In fact this method can help you sort through your supplies and cull out those that are out-of-date.

5.       De-clutter! This is the main purpose for organizing your pantry or cupboards and the perfect opportunity to purging all those items taking up valuable space. We all purchase on impulse or for that special, need-to-try, recipe and then those items are never used again. There is no better time to set aside items to donate to local food pantries, such as the Alaska Food Bank or Bean’s Café.

Here is an extra tip for those of you who have deep reach-in pantry shelving like me. The five tips mentioned above will work just as they are intended by installing portable, pull- or roll-out shelving or drawers. This is a fairly simple install. Plus there is a wide variety available; so finding a solution to meet your needs will be fairly easy.