I know it’s time to reorganize our pantry shelves when the kids, my husband, and even I find myself opening the door, looking at a full set of shelves, and thinking, We don’t have anything good to eat. Really, a pantry is not that much different than the grocery store shelves and we need to display things in a pretty, organized fashion in order to make our inventory move. Otherwise we’ll be stuck with items that are out of date and undesireable. Ulitmately, this costs money and sending us back to the store to spend more.
Here are 5 easy steps to getting your pantry open for business again.

1. Dedicate some time. I recommend doing this when no one is around and your kitchen is already clean. You’ll need lots of counter space and few interuptions. Nothing’s worse than “helpers” on this project.

2. Take it all out. Remove every single item from every single check. Try to group like items together on your countertop to save time when you put it all back together. Wipe down each shelf with warm soapy water and then pat them dry with a towel if needed. My daughter spilled a whole box of quinoa in our pantry once and I had to use our vacuum attachment to get them all. (FYI…quinoa is a small bead-sized grain that is incredibly hard to pick up.)

3. Toss it. Sadly, you’ll find items on your shelves that have expired or weren’t stored properly (thanks to small hands that don’t like to properly close packaging or use clips). Remove what you can’t use and add items to your grocery list to replace those items you have discarded.

4. Restore order. Now you’re ready to put it all away in an orderly fashion. I try to dedicate a shelf to similar items such as spices and oil, grains and pastas, canned items, and snacks.

5. Use logic. I put the lesser-used items on top and keep the snack foods (healthy ones only) on the bottom pantry shelf for the kids to access easily. They know this is their zone to pilfer from during snack time with independence.

Question: What items do you always have in your pantry?