How to Declutter Your Pantry

Having a tidy pantry saves both time and money. It saves time because you're not looking for that elusive can of black beans. It saves money because you can rotate your food and know what you have, rather than buying multiples of everything. The organized pantry also can help save you money because you will rotate your stock and therefore not have a lot of expired food that will just be thrown away. With all of this in mind, let's get started!

First, inventory what you have. Get rid of expired food, but keep that which is within date. If you have several cans or boxes of one thing that are still within date, but you know that you are not going to use before they expire within a couple of months, donate the extras to a food drive or local homeless shelter. Especially with this economy, they appreciate the extra donations.

Next, for a week or two, keep track of the canned and boxed foods that you purchase and then make sure you always have those on hand. It's important not to just keep replacing things that you do not eat or buying things that you think that you should have in your pantry, but only use about half of. If you have a small pantry or a small family, it does not make sense to buy the 10 lb bag of rice unless you will eat it all. It will sit in your pantry and attract pests. Some items that it makes sense to have in your pantry are cereals, pastas, jarred sauces, cooking oils, pudding and/or gelatin mixes, canned tomatoes, and whatever canned veggies you eat. From those few things, you can pull together a meal in a pinch without having to go to the grocery store.

Figure out what way you want to organize. You can organize alphabetically if you so choose, or you can group things together that go together for a meal, such as putting the spaghetti sauce jars next to the spaghetti noodles. Put items that are used all of the time within your vision line and put items that you don't use as often up higher. Try to keep food off of the floor. If you have very deep shelves, put little used things behind the often used things, but don't forget about them! Put little signs that stick up in the front of them, much like a file system. You can group food items together in containers and label them too. Put the veggies together, the fruit together, the sauces together. That way you know where everything is. If you need more space but don't want the leaning tower of cans, you can buy pantry consolidators or even just get extra racks at your local department store that have legs that sit on the shelf but are elevated to hold extra stuff. They are similar to racks that go into lockers. Put labels in front of each item so everyone knows where to find them and where they go.

Then, consider what type of system for rotation you want to use. There are places that sell pantry rotation systems. If you have the space and you're serious about what you store, this may not be a bad option. In general, most people don't need one of those. Instead, put the can of green beans that's expiring first in the front and the can of green beans with the furthest away expiration date in the back. Next time you need a can of green beans, grab the one in front. Then when you purchase green beans again, move the row of green bean cans up and put the newly purchased ones behind. This ensures that you have a constantly rotated stock of dry goods. It is the way that the grocery stores do it.

Hopefully, this tips will have you on your way to a clean and organized pantry. The less cluttered your life is, the more in control you can be.