The Clever Parent’s Checklist to Creating an Organised Pantry

With food items here, there and everywhere, our pantries and lives can quickly become overcrowded, disorganised messes. Even worse, neglected pantries often cause food waste from buying the same things again and keeping expired stuff, eeewww!

Speaking from a lot of years of experience playing tetris with cans and packets, we’ve compiled our top tips for creating an organised pantry that’ll take you from wah to yah in just a few hours!

8 Top Tips for Creating an Organised Pantry

1. Keep older items at the front 

101. Resist the urge to push your older food items back to make way for new, exciting ingredients. Store newer items towards the back to encourage use of your older items first.

2. Shelf and pantry organisers are your friend

From turntables, to containers, to undershelf baskets and stacked shelves (so you can see those annoying cans in the back dark corner) shelf and pantry organisers help you to see what food you already have. Honestly, don’t skip these solutions!

3. Consider donating 

Just like with second hand toys that make their way to swap apps and people in need, consider donating unwanted food items that haven’t been used in 6 months. In-demand items such as canned goods, pasta, rice, and other non-perishable foods have a longer shelf life and are always needed for charity organisations. You can even take them to Coles who’ve partnered with SecondBite.

4. Keep seasonal items in storage

Many of us are guilty of leaving holiday trinkets in the pantry to avoid the hassle of getting out the storage boxes and organising accordingly. But the reality is that keeping seasonal items out of sight frees up space, helps you see what you have and doesn’t overcrowd items you use daily.

5. Minimise food waste 

Avoid having an unsightly, large bin that dominates the room and instead look into composting. Helping you reduce food waste while downsizing to a smaller bin at the same time, everyone wins with this eco-friendly parenting hack – it’s great for your garden too!

6. Invest in dividers 

Instead of stacking all of your pots and pans on top of each other, invest in dividers to help you see what you have. This makes sourcing your kitchen tools easier than ever, helping you save time while making your pantry look aesthetically pleasing. We love the Kmart office file dividers…hack!

7. Keep dry ingredients in clear containers 

Clear, airtight containers can help you clearly identify when your stock is running low. While you may still find yourself without your kiddo's favourite cereal on Saturday morning (good luck), the clear containers will hopefully make these blunders a thing of the past. We drool over Lock & Lock.

8. Group food by type 

It all starts out so promising – organised pantries, parent of the year badges in hand. Then chaos ensues. Random food items end up wherever there’s space making your pantry a disorganised mess. Resist the urge to overcrowd and instead group foods by type. Just like a grocery store, organise your pantries in a way that makes sense to you.

While some of us may never win awards for our organisational skills at home, the practical tips above can make creating a tidy pantry obtainable for everyone. From minimising food waste to decluttering with items you don’t need, organised pantries save you time, money and stress making time spent in the kitchen enjoyable again. Well, as fun as it can be with grumpy kiddos demanding cereal you don’t have!