Pantry Organizing: Time and Food Saving Storage Tips

I had stopped sharing my organizing posts as I felt people would think of me as an over obsessive woman suffering from OCD who has nothing better to do in life.

To my surprise I have been getting requests to share my organizing tips ever so often. I bump into people I barely know who say that they read the blog and that my organizing posts are their favorites. Ever since I have shared my freezer and refrigerator posts I have been getting requests to post how I organize the rest of my kitchen and pantry.

Today I will be sharing one of my pantry cabinets that is above the stove. Here I stock ingredients used for breakfast and Zayb's tiffin and snacks.

I have 3 sections in the cabinet. In the middle section which I find the prettiest I have these glass airtight containers that I mainly use for vermicelli, oats, muesli, pasta etc. This is the section which is easiest to reach and hence I stock stuff that I need more often in here.
 

In the next section I keep stuff that I use to make an evening snack for Zayb. I don't use this that often as my nanny usually prepares something fresh like parathas, porridges etc.
 

 

The first section is where I stock all my dal and spice extras

 

This is what the cabinet looks like from the outside.

Tips on organizing the pantry:
When organizing the pantry sort out your food stuff and ingredients based on frequency of use and also by category.

The items you use most regularly should be most easily accessible and preferably in clear containers so that you don't have to open various containers before you find what you are looking for.

Also categorizing the items storing them in shelves assigned to particular categories helps tremendously. E.g. if I am looking for cereal I know I will find it in my breakfast section.

Store items that have a shorter shelf life in glass or clear containers. This way you can see when something is going bad.

Use steel for items that have longer shelf life and will stay in the containers longer without being used much like pulses, spices etc. By doing this you are limiting the contact of these items with plastic containers. When items are kept longer in plastic containers they get contaminated with cargenogens from the containers.

This is how I organize my pantry. I'd love to see and share your systems as well. Please do share your ideas and thought on my email or in the comments block.

xoxoxox,
Z