My Organized Pantry Reveal

Anyone else binge watching The Home Edit on Netflix and wanting to contain everything in your house? Yep, I’ve been fully influenced by them.

But let me temper my excitement before I go out and spend hundreds of dollars “containing” all my junk with the prettiest of things from The Container Store. I think their system is beautiful, I think it turns a space into something of miracles, and I’d LOVE to have my whole house as organized as them. HOWEVER, that’s not realistic. 1. I have three littles ones (and one big one!) that have never and will never keep that system going. 2. The above mentioned “big one” would shred every bank/credit card instantly if I spent what was necessary in containers. 3. I just don’t know that every space in your house has to be so perfect. Life is messy and I sometimes relish in that chaos.

But one area I knew I would see instant benefit and could quite possibly save me money in the long-run was in my pantry. Guys, it wasn’t pretty.

Things shoved in every imaginable free space, no real rhyme or reason where they were placed except that “they fit,” and I was buying double and sometimes triple of a product because I simply couldn’t find it. I can’t count the amount of times that I went to the store, came home, and realized I was out of something else because there was a teensy, tiny bit left and it was put back in the pantry. And can we talk about how boxes and chip bags never seem to get closed?! Stale, stale, stale.

This space needed help, and a pandemic binge show like The Home Edit, gave me all the motivation I needed to get my butt in gear and organize this space.

It seems monumental, insurmountable, tedious, and a pain. I went through those feelings and more. But please let me tell you, I am thrilled with my pantry. I feel like we are buying smarter and I feel like we are throwing away far less food than we used to.

Try it. You will not be disappointed!

So here we go. A full rundown of just how I took my pantry from that mess above to this…

First step: Pull every single thing out of my pantry and group…and be completely grossed out at how many items you have that are expired…

Second step: Measure your space (height between shelves, depth of shelves, width of each space). I am such a visual person that I had to sketch out the space and mark the measurements. I didn’t want to purchase containers and baskets, and them not fit where I want them.

Third Step: Determine what containers you will need based on your groupings. This is where I busted out my Post-It notes to start marking what I wanted contained and where I wanted it to be in the pantry. This helped me immensely with deciding what size I needed to purchase.

Fourth Step: After purchasing containers, I started dumping everything into its own container and filling that pantry back up. I was shocked to see how much more SPACE I had! No more boxes that were barely full taking up so much room on my shelves. No more cans that I couldn’t see in the back of the shelf. No more opened bags laying on top of each other.

The funny thing about this process. I never dreamed that this would not only open up space in my pantry, but it also took my baking cannisters off my counter and freed up space in my cabinets. I never dreamed that I would be able to fit some of our small appliances in this space! Edit and contain it…and ta-da! I’ve got more room that I ever imagined!

So here’s the rundown of just what I purchased to contain everything in my pantry. And a big plus: Not a single thing was from The Container Store and cost our entire monthly budget on plastic bins. 🙂

Better Homes & Gardens Flip Tite Storage Containers – Walmart

I searched all over for a stackable, air-tight container that was easy to open and close for my little ones, looked good, and had great reviews.

16 cup containers: Used for cereal, chips, crackers, pasta, marshmallows, and cookies

11.5 cup containers: Used for cereal, rice, and rolled oats

6.5 cup containers: Used for hot chocolate packets, dog treats, bread crumbs, and pecans

4.5 cup containers: Used for kid’s snacks, chocolate milk mix, panko, and walnuts.

Bellemain 4 Piece Airtight Acrylic Canister Set – Amazon

This is a great set for an even greater price. I snagged this 4-piece set for $29 on Amazon and used it to fit my sugar, flour, powdered sugar, and brown sugar. I love that they’re acrylic, so when I’m baking with my littles ones, I don’t have to worry about these slipping off the counter and shattering. Plus, they’re lightweight so I could place them on a higher shelf and I don’t have to fear the sheer weight of these pulling them down on me.

Copco 15″ Non-Skid 3-Tier Organizer – Amazon

$9 and now I can officially see every single can that I have in my pantry. I can even stack two cans on top of each other on the back row, and it still fits! This does run in a 10″ option, as well.

Room Essentials Basket Weave Baskets

These baskets are so cost-efficient and I love their use in a pantry. Easy to clean and do a great job of hiding things like plastic cups and liquor bottles that we just don’t use very often. They have a lot of different sizes in these and they all cost under $8!

5.5″ x 6″ x 14″ Rectangular Basket: Used for drink mixes and straws, dinner items, breakfast bars, applesauce pouches, and kid’s snack bags.

11″ x 13″ x 16″ Rectangular Basket: Used for liquor bottles and plastic drinkware

5″ x 11″ x 14″ Rectangular Basket: Used for bread – one loaf fits perfectly lengthwise in this basket, with enough room for my tortillas and hamburger buns in there, too!

2- Pack Seville Classics Foldable Water Hyacinth Cube Storage Basket

It’s so rare to find water hyacinth baskets for less than $25. I scored BOTH baskets for $25 off Amazon!!

13″ x 13″ x 8″ baskets: Used for paper goods (paper plates, napkins) and all my food storage bags and food wrap (foil, wax paper, Saran Wrap, parchment paper)

I purchased these to hang slightly over the edge of the shelf so things like extra long foil could still be purchased and hang over the edge. It doesn’t line up perfectly and may bother some that it isn’t flush, but it works easily to pull the baskets out and see what is inside more so than if they fit perfectly under the shelf and I couldn’t see what they actually contain.

Pantry Labels

I love these script labels so much, and I love that you can purchase individual ones from the seller if you need something customized (i.e. my marshmallow label is on the way!). The set comes with 157 labels that I feel like are the perfect size for all of my different cannisters. Nothing was too big or felt like it was too small for the space. Plus they stick so well and seemingly blend in with the clear containers.

To finish off my little tour, I wanted to share my last find that I envisioned for the pantry, but found it functioned so much better in my cabinets.

Copco 9″ Lazy Susan Turntable

As I said before, I was able to move A LOT more into my pantry than I was before, making more room in my cabinets to make those spaces more functional, as well. As soon as these turntables came in, I immediately filled them with my dreaded mess of spices, oils, and vinegars. Whoa! I don’t have a before of this mess, (you’re welcome!) but let me tell you, these are game changers to my space. I can finally find what I’m looking for when I’m looking for it!

So The Home Edit, how’d I do? I edited, I contained, and I’m feeling so much happier in this space.

And I’m a little more motivated to tackle some of my more difficult places because I know just how good it feels when it’s complete. Happy Organizing, everyone!

xx Rachel

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