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What is a pantry?

According to Merriam Webster, a pantry is a seemingly innocent noun. Its’ definition is: “a room or closet used for storage (as of provisions) or from which food is brought to the table”. So what if you don’t have a pantry? What if your kitchen is too small for such a luxury?

I have a bad case “pantry envy”.  It’s a real thing. If I visit you and you have a dedicated pantry no doubt you’ll catch me opening it up to check it out. In fact, I won’t try to hide the fact that I’m doing it. This isn’t so I can judge you on how you keep organized, but rather so I can openly gawk at your space. Ultimately, standing in awe of space that I’ve only ever dreamed of.

So what do you do when you don’t have a pantry? You make the best of it. And once you’re finished you take a photo because without a doubt your husband will get it back to where it once was in no time flat and you’ll need to do it again. Just saying.

How To Organize a “Cabinet Sized Pantry”

I have one small cabinet that I use as our main pantry for food. So I need to be extremely dedicated to keeping it neat and organized if I want to find anything at all. Therefore, letting it go and assuming that my husband would stay on board with my organization was a mistake. Recently I needed to take another shot at organizing this space, and I think I’ve got it!

• Use Dollar Store bins. They keep items such as dressing mixes, gravies, and soup packets in order very easily.

• Keep items you use the most at the bottom where they can be reached more easily.
• Find a Lazy Susan that works with your cabinet. My shelves are fixed, so it makes organizing them even more of a challenge.
• Use a canned food organizer to optimize your space.
• Dedicate an area to baking supplies.
• Store items such as coffee, cereals, etc in a dedicated spot. You’ll lose other storage space, but ultimately wouldn’t you need to store these items anyway? Here’s mine:

• Dedicate shelves to certain items. For example, I keep snacks on the top shelf, sides on the bottom, and canned goods in the middle.
• Use pantry bins to organized starches such as pasta, rice, and other grains.

Finally, do a big clean out and donate what you don’t need to the local food pantry and throw out any items that have expired.

My finished “pantry” cabinet is above.  It has stayed that way for quite some time now.  I think my husband enjoys being able to find things when he needs them!

Read more about how I organize my small kitchen here!

xoxo –

JJ