Deep Pantry Organization Made Simple

If the kitchen is the most important and used room in the house, the pantry is one of the most used and important items in that kitchen. The bigger the better right? Not always. Deep pantries are quite common but can pose a challenge for most of us. Learn some deep pantry organization tips and tricks that will make your life easier, cause less waste and save you money.

Decluttering That Deep Pantry

Before we start organizing, we need to clear out the junk. The same concept of clearing clutter in the rest of the house works here as well. You can read more in my article about clearing clutter stress and mess free.

Grab a garbage bag. I like to start at the top and work my way down so any crumbs or mess falling down is not falling into already clean shelves/drawers.

Go through each item, is it expired? Has it been left open so now stale? Are there one and a half rice cakes left in the package and haven’t been touched for months? Throw out any garbage you find.

The reason deep pantry organization is more crucial than their shallower counterparts is that they can act like a big black hole. Things go in there that you may never see again!

Getting all the garbage out will clear the way for the next step.

Create Zones In Your Pantry

I like to organize by zones, that way I can keep like items together. It makes it easier when looking for an item and for keeping track of your pantry inventory. Sit down with a pen and paper and think through your own life. Looking in your pantry at what you have there now will help you make realistic zones for what you actually need.

What works for one family does not work for another. Examples of zones – Baking, Cooking, Dry Pasta and Grains, Canned Goods, Snacks, Health Food Section, Kid snacks vs Mom or Dad snacks, Tea and Coffee Section, Cereals, Spices.

Pantry Zone Placement

Now that you know the zones you will need, think of the placement. Don’t bake very often? Put the baking zone in a more out of reach place. Kids snacks? Depending on the age of your kids you may or may not want them being able to reach the snack zone. What do I reach for the most in my pantry? Put that in the easiest to reach place.

Keep in mind items that may be placed behind other items and are not visible. I like to avoid this as much as possible. It is the danger of deep pantries and why they require so much organization. I keep my decorative baking basket with the sprinkles and food coloring behind my baking basket with the more regularly used stuff like the baking powder and soda, vanilla, chocolate chips etcetera.

To avoid the items at the back getting forgotten about completely, try to have those bins be taller than the ones in front blocking them.

At this point, you still haven’t even begun anything except removing the garbage and listing your zones.

When starting a new project we sometimes get so enthusiastic that we jump in before we are ready. Decluttering and organizing projects should help you. Not drain you and leave you with a giant mess. Be patient and you will have an organized pantry without getting overwhelmed.

Choosing The Right Organization Tools For Your Deep Pantry

Whether you have a deep pantry with shelving or drawers, you are going to need bins. Clear bins or not? Good question. In some cases, clear bins are preferable. In many cases it isn’t necessary.

The Clear VS Unclear Bin Debate

Pantry drawers versus pantry shelving is one item to take into account, and what is in the bins is the second item to take into consideration.

Item one: Because drawers pull out and for the most part you can look down into them, clear bins are not really necessary. In the drawers that are eye level or above, you will want to consider see through bins. Shelving in your pantry needs the clear bins more, unless on a low shelf that you can look right down into.

Item two: Do I want to see what is in the bins?

You are going to be labeling all your bins, so we are not worrying about knowing what is where. Personally, I don’t want to see my chocolate on display all the time. It makes me want to eat chocolate every time I open the pantry. If I have candy that I keep to give my kids on special occasions, they know it is up there in the bin, but out of sight, mostly out of mind.

Do I have personal items that I keep in my pantry that I don’t want on display for anyone using my pantry? Vitamins for specific health issues, or items for special dietary needs?

Bin Sizes

Measure how much space you have from the bottom of the shelf, or bottom of the drawer to the one above it. Now that you know how tall a bin can be, look at your zones to see which items need the tallest bin we can find, and which items need shallower bins.

Examples: If I have enough of an item to fill a bin then I can go pretty deep. Snack bags are a good example of this. I will want the tallest bin I can fit. If you keep your spices in the pantry, you will want a larger, shallower bin to keep them neat. And spices would be an area where I would want to go with a clear container.

Know Your Organization Style

Your bin selection should be a reflection of how you prefer things organized, and more importantly how well you can keep it that way.

I love the way things look when it is all perfectly micro organized, but I can’t keep it that way and then I get frustrated. I go for larger categories and bigger bins as much as possible. All snacks that kids are able to take whenever they want? In one bin – like pretzels, crackers. The more expensive snacks I get them for school or less healthy options go in another bin. All my pastas are in one bin, all beans and grains in another.

My baking stuff is spread among three baskets. One is for decorative items, like sprinkles and food coloring, the other two are for all my other baking products. I pull those bins out on the counter when I am baking and find what I need.

To find out more on what kind of organizer you are, Cas from Clutterbug has a quiz you can take to discover your personal organizing style.

Transferring To Containers

If you are looking for that Pinterest perfect or Insta-worthy pantry, you will be buying cute jars and containers and transferring all your food over. You will buy snacks based on their packaging colors so you can arrange in rainbow formation.

That is great, but not what I do here. I do like things to be aesthetically pleasing, but practical and simple are my main goal. With that in mind, any containers and mason jars I use are there because that is the most practical way to store those items.

My beans and grains come in bags, once I open them it can get a bit messy. Products that I use often have the honor of getting transferred to a large mason jar. For me those items are rice, popcorn kernels and white or mixed beans. Product that I use less often like split peas, lentils and chickpeas, stay in the beans and grains bin in their bags with a bag clip. I save space that way, and I don’t use those items often enough to give them the real estate required for their own container.

At the end of the day, I want my pantry to be organized and functional. If I can make something pretty without any extra effort and upkeep? Great, otherwise it is not for me.

Deep Pantry Tools Summary

When choosing all the bins and containers for your pantry organization project, measure your space and your bin and container capacity. Be as complicated or as uncomplicated as you like. If you want to just get a bunch of the same large and tall bins and label them, great. If you love transferring your food to pretty see through jars and you will keep it up, then do that.

I got two different sized bins when I was organizing my pantry, and used the containers I had already been using for my sugar, grains etc. It worked great, was very easy to keep up, and I didn’t overwhelm myself trying to work out perfect and exact measurements for every food item I might own.

Buy less instead of more to start.

As I mentioned, I bought two different sized bins when I began. I then used random baskets and even disposable plastic containers. Once I had a better feel for what was working and what wasn’t, I was able to slowly switch over to better solutions.

If you aren’t sure what you will need, use shoe boxes or large paper bags to start. The idea is to see how much space you need for the different groupings. This project is about saving money, I wouldn’t want you to throw good money away on organization tools that you don’t end up using.

When I realized I like to buy mini potato chip bags in bulk and there was no bin that would hold them, I designated a separate drawer in my kitchen to them.

The first bin I used to hold my tea and honey was too small. So after a month I switched it for one of the bigger bins.

I had been keeping flour in a Ziploc after I opened the bag. It was messy and annoying. I measured out the space it lived in and found a clear, sealed container that fit perfectly in the space on Amazon.

Once the initial organization is done, you can keep troubleshooting until everything is placed ideally.

Sorting Your Items

Now that you have a bunch of bins and containers to work with, lay them all out on the counter. Don’t label them yet.

Start taking things out of your pantry and sorting them one by one into a bin, keeping in mind what we discussed above.

The reason you don’t want to label them yet is because you will probably have to rearrange once you have sorted everything. The bin you used for pasta might be too small, the bin you wanted for jars was too big and things were falling over.

Deep Pantry Organization Bin And Container Placement

Once you have all your items in bins, start trying to place them based on your needs. Make sure the things you use often are easily accessible. You may need to switch items to different bins once you start placing things. If the cooking items bin only fits on a higher shelf, you need to put them in a bin that fits on a shelf you can reach easily.

Bins make it easier overall, since you can just take an entire bin down from a high shelf, use what you need and put it back. Even so, the key to maintaining an organized, tidy pantry, is how easy you make it. So most used stuff gets the best location. This is especially important to keep in mind when organizing a deep pantry.

Labels!

Whatever you do, do not skip this last step!

Unless you live alone, other people use that pantry. How frustrating to sort and place everything, and then have your family members tossing the chocolate in the pasta bin! Within a week everything will be all mixed up.

One of the most important tips I can give to anyone trying to maintain an organized household is labels. Even for the one doing the organizing. I organized the pantry, but when I am unpacking groceries, I don’t even need to stop to think. The label does my thinking for me and I just need to toss it where it belongs.

Decision making all day long can tire us out. Labels act like our morning and evening routines. They are successful because they have become habit and can be done without expending any thought and little effort. It is the difference between a house running like clockwork and a house running through constant struggle.

When I first did my pantry, I didn’t own a label maker. I cut out thin strips of white paper and wrote the categories on them, then taped them down with strong clear tape. Make do with what you have, you can always change that up later.

How An Organized Pantry Saves From Food And Money Waste

Deep pantry organization will keep you from buying things you don’t need and saves food items from disappearing until they are no longer edible.

I can tell at a glance what I need to pickup in the grocery store.

My snack bin is running low, or the pasta bin is completely empty. I don’t have food piled on top of each other getting lost and old.

It helps me see what my family eats more of and what they don’t touch.

The pantry is definitely a great place to start decluttering and organizing. It affects so many aspects of our day to day lives. Benefitting daily from a project like this is a great motivator to continue decluttering and organizing more places in your home.

Would love to see pictures of your new organized deep pantry space. Let us know when you are done and share a picture to inspire others!

Dalia’s Top Deep Pantry and Kitchen Organizers

Turntable / Lazy Susan / Turnstile

Plastic Free-Standing Stackable 3 Bottle Storage Holder Rack – Water, Wine, and Drink Organizer

Shelf Organizer Spice Bottle Rack Holder

Stackable Kitchen Cabinet – Maximize Deep Pantry Space