tips for organizing your pantry?

**Sara Noel** · 12-14-2007, 12:23 PM

I was watching tv and they were organizing cabinets. Mine are getting pretty stuffed. I purged a ton a few months ago, but think I could organize more.

I saw some neat organizing tips on this show. Nothing brilliant, but methods I don't currently have in place and haven't thought about in a while.

One example, they had mug hooks in the cabinets to make more room for plates.

So my question is do you have any pantry or cabinet organization tips to share?

**mommy4ever** · 12-14-2007, 12:50 PM

Hooks can be nice, but lots of mugs won't hang from them

I use a pantry for most of my dishes. I got tired of 2 kids using "I can't reach" as an excuse to not help with putting dishes away, etc. So I fixed their red wagon, moved their treats out of the reach..lol. and put the plates, lunch containers, bowls saucers and mixing bowls in those cabinets. I don't ever hear I can't reach when they are looking for something to eat, and they can't use that excuse to not help in the kitchen.

**AmyBoz** · 12-14-2007, 01:28 PM

I have those "steps" on which I put my soup and vegetable cans. It helps me to see what I have there and it also saves some room. (and it looks prettier than having them all just stacked.)

**lottaLove** · 12-14-2007, 04:32 PM

We have many many baskets. I put all of our cans in large shallow basket on the bottom shelf, then i can pull that out when i need something instead of hunching over rummaging in there. I have all of my cooking utensils in baskets 2 baskets in a drawer, it just makes them look nice and neat. I have small shallow baskets for all of my tea (theyre the individually wrapped ones), for "frequently used" small utensils such as the can opener and vegetable peeler. We have a basket for saran wraps and plastic baggies, and all of my bulk foods (rice, sugar, beans, etc.) that I get from the bulk food store stored in baskets as well. We also have a metal spice rack with magnetic spice containers screwed to the back of the pantry door.

**forHISglory** · 12-15-2007, 01:11 PM

Hi, I shop at Aldi's, and they have chili spice mixes and gravey mixes in these compartmented boxes. Since we are welcome to take the boxes, I took a couple of these boxes and spray painted them with enamal paint to match my kitchen. I store mix packets in them, and they are so easy to sort thru. I spray paint boxes for all sorts of storage; I have them in my office to use as files, etc. I paint boxes to use for Christmas storage. I find that the boxes are stronger with the paint, and they are more waterproof or oil proof.

Another thing I did was get gallon sized glass jars from a restuarant (they were pickle jars, mayo jars, etc.). The restuarant was throwing them away. After I cleaned them and let them sit to get the smells out, I filled them with pasta. I have about 8 of these jars on one of my countertops, each with a different type of pasta. In addition, I spray painted the lids to match my kitchen colors. I also found a smaller glass jar that I use for tea bags.

Finally for my dishes, I got plastic coated wire racks at Walmart and use them to stack dishes on. I also use a different shape for my glasses, so that I can put glasses both on the rack and under the rack. I just hate having to move some dishes to get to others, so this solved that problem.

**MarshHen** · 12-15-2007, 03:26 PM

To save space in my kitchen drawers, I found a cool looking ceramic flower pot at a yard sale for $1 eight years ago I brought it home, cleaned it up and I store my larger cooking utensil's I use most in it on my countertop close to my stove. Everyone comments on how nice it looks and wants one, LOL. I didn't plan it when I picked out the tile backsplash for my kitchen, but the flower pot matches it so well, that it looks like I picked out the tile to compliment it.