Our pantry really encompasses all spaces where food is stored this including cupboards, fridge, and the freezer. These spaces should include our staples i.e. the go-to ingredients for all the dishes on our weekly menu. Before becoming a professional organiser, I had a career in retail buying, where I learned a lot about visual merchandising and its importance for optimising the consumer experience. In the realm of home organising, many of the same principles apply. Essentially, we can recreate shoppable spaces within our own homes, including our pantry!
If you apply this method, everyday use of the space can become satisfying, from packing away the groceries to selecting ingredients for our new favorite recipe. How good does that sound? As you glance towards your current pantry, the question springing to mind might be, “but how?”. So here are a few steps you can take towards a Pantry space you can ’shop from’.
Remove everything
When it comes to reorganising any space, it’s important to start with a blank canvas. Much the same as re-merchandising a space within a store. This will allow you to gain a clear perspective on the space and get creative.
Categorise your ingredients
Start by grouping ‘like items’ together. This is something that you’ll often see in stores. For example, spreads, oils, cereals, etc. Storing items by category means you’ll know exactly where to look for the thing that you need, organising 101!
Discard old items
Discard old items and anything that is unlikely to get used. Be realistic, if there is an item that has never been used and the expiration date is coming up, best to just throw it out. Remember, if this is your pantry ‘shop’, do you want to give space to items with a low return?
Plan out your space
Deciding what will go where depends a lot on how often you plan to use it. So it’s best to think in terms of accessibility. Frequently used categories such as cereals or spreads will go in the most accessible spaces (e.g shelves between waist and eye level), and the most infrequently used things might get relegated to the top shelf. As an example, if you’re someone who rarely ever bakes, do you really need those cake ingredients taking up prime real estate in your pantry?
Spruce it up
There are many ways you can make your pantry look even more delicious. I highly recommend the addition of some practical organising products such as turntables for oils and spreads, and deep pull-out baskets to hold individual categories. You can also create a more stylish pantry by decanting dried ingredients into airtight containers.
Label it
Just like the shelves in the grocery store, add some labels to any baskets or key locations within your pantry. This is will help keep everyone in your home accountable for putting things back.
