Whether you have a small cupboard or a walk in pantry, it needs to be clean, well-stocked, and organized. Then all the ingredients you need to put together a meal are at your fingertips. Meal preparation becomes easy whether you are a planner or a procrastinator.
Keeping only healthy foods on hand will enable you to be more diligent to eat well. If junk food is in the house, you are certainly more likely to eat it. So, go ahead and clean it out now.
When you have your pantry organized with everything in nice, clear containers with labels, it not only looks appealing, but it is much easier to see what you have and maintain it.
Before you begin to give your pantry a makeover, you need to assess your situation and see what you will need. Go ahead and look at what you have in your pantry now and ask yourself these questions:
- What do I like about my pantry? Is it the right size? Do I already have some containers or baskets that I like?
- What do I want to change about my pantry? The color? Shelves? Location? Now might be a good time to put a new coat of paint, new wallpaper, or new shelving in the pantry.
- What style do I like? Country, traditional, or contemporary? This will influence the types of containers you use and the overall look of your pantry.
- What quantities do I like to keep on hand? Is my family large or small? Do I want to buy some items in bulk? You will need to buy containers that accommodate your needs
The containers you store your food in is important. You should use transparent containers, so you are able to maintain the freshness of your ingredients. They should be easy for you to open and have an airtight seal to keep out unwanted visitors and moisture that will cause food to spoil.
Baskets are nice to use for root vegetables, such as potatoes, onions, or winter squash. Use rectangular sizes that fit on your shelves. You can fill baskets with small miscellaneous items so that everything looks neat and tidy. Take measurements of your shelves, so you know what size baskets to purchase.
Where to Purchase Containers
Glass (or plastic) containers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. I prefer wide mouth containers for ease of use. I picked up many of my glass jars at garage sales and thrift stores. For inexpensive gallon glass jars, a friend of mine saved the pickle jars that were being thrown away at her church’s picnic. They work great for the bigger quantities I store in my pantry.
Stores like Ikea, Crate and Barrel, Bed Bath and Beyond,and Target carry a wide selection of food storage jars. Pick a style that you like, making sure it is easy for you to open and close. Even wide mouth Mason jars work well and come in various sizes.
There is more information I would love to share with you about how I set up my pantry and kitchen with healthy food preparation in mind. Because it is more than would fit in a blog post, I put together a 20 page eBook for you. It contains a checklist of healthy foods to stock in your pantry, labels for your jars, sections on kitchen equipment and organization, and more helpful information on setting up a healthy kitchen. Request a free copy of the eBook, Kitchen Makeover, below.
This post is linked to: Thirty Handmade Days
Great post, filled with many wonderful ideas to makeover my pantry. Thanks for the inspiration. ;o) Smiles, Paula
I REALLY love this!!! I hope to be able to organize my kitchen like this!!
Okay, that pantry makes me swoon! Gorgeous!!
Stopping by from the Strut Your Stuff Link Party! http://queenofsavings.com
Great post with lots of great ideas and tips! Hope you have a wonderful week end and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday.
Come Back Soon!
Miz Helen
I will not be compeltely happy until that mess of a pantry is organized! You are totally right! Good containers make all the difference. I keep cleaning it up and it keeps getting messed up because I don't have a place for EVERYTHING. With all that I spend on food these days, the containers get shoved to the bottom of the list. THanks for this great post!
I found your blog via the "Your Green Resource" link-up today. I think that pantry looks fabulous…and my dad and I are both into eating "real food" Now I have to eat gluten free for health reasons, but he can eat whatever he wants, as long as it's real food 🙂 🙂 Have a great weekend. Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks for sharing! I'm trying to get my pantry organized so I can cook more easily. Very frustrating to know you've bought that ingredient but now you have no idea where it is!! 🙂
I signed up for the Kitchen and Pantry Makeover free ebook but all I received was an email stating I had subscribed to your newsletter.
I just looked into it, and you should have gotten it. I doublechecked the sign up boxes on my site, and they worked fine for me. Try it again and if you have a problem, I will email you the link.
I'm a big organization buf!! It's like eye candy for me. All of it!!
Thank you for sharing this week on AFW! Be sure to check back next week for reader favorites and hostess picks.
Be Well,
–AFW Hostesses
This post is linked to:
Thanks for linking your great post to FAT TUESDAY. This was very interesting! Hope to see you next week!
Be sure to visit RealFoodForager.com on Sunday for Sunday Snippets – your post from Fat Tuesday may be featured there!
http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-february-28-2012/
Oh how I wish my pantry looked like that.
Beautiful and very inspiring! I had to redo my closet pantry when we first moved into this home, as I got a moth infestation in a box of dried fruit I had stored in there. I put everything in air tight jars and use Food Saver sealer now to vacuum all my mason jars for long term, rancid-free storage. Evidently you don't live in earthquake country…. all my jars have to be stored on a rack or strapped to the wall, just in case….. we live in California!
Thanks for the ebook, i want to give it to a friend who is just getting started with her kids on ND diet.
What a great idea to use a Food Saver to vacuum seal your jars! I need to try that.
Oh, I didn’t even think about jars and earthquakes. I live in Georgia and am thankful we don’t have to worry about those! Glad you are enjoying the eBook. Thanks!!
Beautiful Pantry! 🙂
Thanks! It was designed to go with our log house and to have an old fashioned look. Glad you like it!
It must make your day go better to walk into such an organized pantry–and besides being organized, it really looks pretty! I'm going to take a look at my pantry and see if I can use some of your tips. Thanks, Gail
Thank you. I should have taken a “before” photo to show you how bad it was! It does just make you feel so much better when everything is organized.
This post is linked to: