A well-organized pantry lets you find what you need quickly, cuts down on food waste, and avoids avalanches of poorly stacked dry goods falling down around you. But the ideal setup doesn’t necessarily look like the hyperstylized, celestial-homemaker fever dreams you may have scrolled past on Instagram.
“People get really excited about the nice-looking bins and containers they see online, then buy them without any planning,” Katrina Green, a professional organizer and former board member of the National Association of Black Professional Organizers (NABPO), said in a phone interview. “You have to first consider what you and your household need in a pantry system, as well as what your pantry can accommodate.”
Whether you’re working with a single shelf or a whole walk-in, this step-by-step process will help you organize your pantry—and, just as importantly, keep it organized—so that it works for you.
Start by emptying out your shelves
Move your pantry’s contents onto a nearby counter or table. (If you’re already feeling overwhelmed, it’s fine to begin by tackling just a portion of your pantry, said senior editor Marguerite Preston, who heads Wirecutter’s kitchen team.)
Take stock of everything you have—including items you don’t need. Set aside the following items to toss or give away:
- any near-empty containers of stuff you seldom use
- items that are near or past their expiration dates (a good indication that you’re not using some things often enough to justify keeping or restocking them)
- anything you didn’t remember you even had in your pantry
Organize items by theme, not size
Grouping together items of similar size and shape may maximize space, but it won’t help you quickly find what you need when you need it. Instead of placing, say, all 14-ounce cans or 18-ounce jars together, sort your foodstuffs into themed categories, Naeemah Ford Goldson, a professional organizer and NABPO founder, said in a phone interview. (Goldson previously spoke with Wirecutter for our guide to closet organization.)
Some of these categories will be obvious, including:
- snacks
- baking supplies
- drinks and drink mixes
- condiments and spreads
- oils, vinegars, broths, and other cooking liquids
Other categories may be more conceptual. For example, if you frequently make spaghetti and meatballs for dinner, Goldson said, you may want to group together those ingredients (pasta, canned tomatoes, bread crumbs, and so on).
If you’re having trouble figuring out how to categorize everything, think about how foodstuffs are grouped in a grocery store’s aisles, and then use that as a guide. “In a grocery store, things aren’t in identical containers—but because everything has a place and like items are together, it still looks neat and organized,” Goldson said.