Keeping a calm kitchen: Five tips to achieve a peaceful pantry

As we all spend more time at home, practicing self isolation, it’s important to keep busy, productive and stimulated!

Whether you have a large, walk-in pantry or a tiny dedicated space for your food items, it is easy for either space to get disorganised, quickly. We’ve done the research for you and found these 5 clever, space-saving storage tips that will have your pantry Instagram-worthy in no time!

1. Take everything out and dispose of out of date items:

Ensure you have a clear kitchen bench space to empty all your items, and are able to see everything easily. Once your pantry is emptied give your shelves a good wipe down.

Now sort through what you have. Check expiry dates and throw out anything overdue. At this point, you can start writing up a shopping list of the things you’ve culled and still need, so you’re not without the essentials.

2. Invest in clear containers and a labeller:

This storage trick is super helpful for bulk items like oats and cereals, pasta, grains, legumes and nuts. Clear containers allow you to see easily when you’re due to stock up. The neat labels mean you know exactly what you’re working with, so you’re not wasting time figuring out if you’ve got plain or self raising flour!

3. Sort items into categories:

Now that everything is easily recognisable, group what you have into categories. For example, put your baking goods together, spices and seasoning together, grains together, cans, bottles and jars together and so on. This will allow you to know which part of the pantry holds certain things (like where your teas are!), and will become second nature, allowing you to move swiftly around your pantry.

4. Make use of household items to give your pantry more storage space:

Think, pencil holders, small crates and racks, seeing what you have around the house to help shelve or divide items can be a smart and inexpensive way to add even more storage to your pantry. If everything has a special place or holder, it’ll be less likely to get disorganised as quickly.

5. Assess and review your pantry on a weekly basis:

This does not need to be a long, time-consuming task. By doing a simple assessment of your pantry each week, will mean it wont have a chance to get very messy. If you make it part of your weekly routine, chores, or something you do before a grocery shop, the inventory will be a quick and easy process. This will also help you see what you need and what you already have, so you can avoid buying multiples of the same thing!