Amazing Food and Pantry Hacks for Clean and Tidy Storage

A pantry is arguably your busiest household zone. It may be a cabinet, closet, or walk-in food storage. Chances are every person in your household accesses it daily.

With a fresh January upon us let’s talk about easy, simple, and FREE pantry hacks that will help you maximize your food and kitchen storage.

Designate Shelves

One of the best, most efficient, and sustainable ways to have an organized pantry is to designate shelves for items.

Maison De Pax's spice storage drawer — Rachel’s kitchen oozes beauty within order. A tidy tiered spice drawer shows the beauty of function and organization. Nestled cleverly near her cooking station Rachel can easily reach for what she needs to create healthy and savory meals for her family.
| Credit: Maison de Pax Instagram, Web |

Canned goods, spices, pastas, breads, baking items, snacks… all of these are typically found in an American pantry. Designate certain areas within the pantry shelves to house these items. When storing new items always place the same things in the same area, week after week, month after month.

Lindsay’s simple pantry shows us the power of less is more. Here she combines utility and storage in the same space beautifully. Her coffee station is nestled away with cookbooks and other typical pantry items. Storing pieces similar in color and allowing white space between her elements creates a calm esthetic welcoming anyone to their cup of coffee.
| Credit: Woods and Ivory Instagram, Web |

Make sure and teach your kiddos how your pantry system works and functions best. It will help sustain your systems for the long run. Your household will learn the flow of your panty and they’ll know where to find things.

Have a Place for Pantry Extras

No matter the pantry organization you have it’s likely you’ll be storing extra amounts of certain items. Having a designated place for extras, or back stock, helps keep your daily pantry cleaner and less cluttered.

Angie’s growing family needs ample daily food storage. More than a typical cabinet. The beauty and ease of simple bins on top of the fridge keeps snacks orderly and within mom’s reach to feed her growing little ones.
| Credit: Ruffled Nest Decor Instagram |

Consider storing back stock items in these ways:

The back of a deep shelf (create two layers of food and grab from the front layer first)
Buy an inexpensive book shelf and set it up in an out-of-site dry place in your home. Examples are: a basement, mudroom, under the stairs closet, extra space in a garage or large laundry room.
Use tins, or decorative baskets on top of your fridge or on the counter for things like kids snacks, bread, or vitamins.

Pantry Organization & Presentation

I love a beautifully styled storage space. One where form meets function in beautiful design and an efficient system. Read about our recent master closet organization project here.

Michelle’s tidy pantry shows the power of simple containers with playful labeling. Buying matching containers overtime ultimately leads to a beautiful orderly system, especially if you have a very visible pantry when the door is opened.
| Credit: Blue Bonnet Home Instagram, Web |

Sometimes though, we need to build up to having multiple storage containers that fit and match.

If having matching containers or baskets is your goal but you are tight on budget try these ideas:

Check your local Dollar Tree
Check discount area at places like Target
Go picking at a vintage market or antique store, or even garage sale. Be creative with the containers you choose!
Buy one bin at a time across several weeks or months to off set the cost over time.

Organization for Free

You can still have a very organized pantry without pretty containers. Organization itself is always be free!

Just use the boxes your bought-in-bulk items come in. As an example, have your ever bought Raman noodle packs? The box they come in is perfect for pantry storage. Other boxes can be laid on their side and you can rip the front flaps off the box and use it as a shelf. See below for a visual.

In my overflow pantry, that is out of sight and used less frequently, boxes stacked efficiently creates smart needed shelving for no cost.

Every time you go to the grocery store or your local wholesaler (think Costco or Sams) you have the chance to get free storage bins for your pantry. Just ask for and grab extra boxes with minimal labeling on the outside.

Efficient clutter-free storage is within your grasp. Starting small with a food category such as spices or baking items can help you begin the task of refreshing your pantry storage. Hopefully these ideas can help you on your journey.

With hope for you and your intentional home,

Thank you to Rachel, Lindsay, Angie and Michelle for giving PDH permission to share their beautiful food storage systems with our community of intentional home seekers! Each of these creators and home decor guru’s are seeking peace and beauty with intention in their own spaces. I hope you’ll take a few minutes to go check out their journeys.