Organizing the Pantry

Ever since I started monthly meal planning and only having one big shopping day at the grocery store, my pantry has really grown.  It was a small space to start with, so it really needed some organizing.  My pantry is located on a couple of shelves in my laundry room.  There are no doors on it so I have some curtains hanging on a shower rod to conceal the mess:)  Here is a picture of it before:

The first thing I did was empty off the shelves, trying to place items in like categories.  Once that was done, I looked at the categories I had created to see if I could condense them into about four or five categories.  Here are the ones I came up with:

• Condiments
• Mixes
• Snacks
• Canned Goods

Next, I had to find some baskets, bins, etc. to hold the different items.  I was hoping to not spend any money on this project so I hunted all over the house looking for extra containers.  What I found that worked kind of surprised me - diaper boxes!  They fit perfectly on the shelves and the food items fit perfectly in them.  To hide the fact that they were diaper boxes, I covered them with scrapbook paper and created some labels for each one.  I did find one basket and decided to put snacks in.  

Here is the finished pantry:

I was able to put all of the food items on the bottom shelf and my weekly meal bins on the top.  We eat at least four nightly meals at home.  To help make meal time easier during the week, on Sunday's I put all the items needed for each meal together in a bin.  This includes items from the pantry, the recipe, and any spices needed.  When it is time to cook, I pull the bin from the pantry and have everything I need at my finger tips without having to make multiple trips to the pantry for items I forgot.