How to Organize Your Pantry

Featured Pro: Carter Oosterhouse
Category: Home Decor
Time: 3:28


CARTER OOSTERHOUSE: Hey, I’m Carter Oosterhouse, and this is your GMC Trade Secret.

Now, I’m going to show you some ways to organize your pantry so everything is where you need it when preparing a meal.

SAM TALBOT: I’m Sam Talbot. And when you’re done here, check out my Trade Secret about what essential items you’re going to need in your pantry.

CARTER: All right. So in order to organize your pantry, the first thing you need to do is clear everything out of your pantry. And you’ll probably be surprised by some of the stuff that you do find. I know I will be.

All right. It looks like everything’s out. So with the shelves cleared, you want to give them a quick cleaning before organizing and restocking.

Now, the key to keeping an organized pantry is not just stacking items neatly, but organizing them into groups of similar items. Now, grouping items together will help you keep an inventory of what you have on hand and also make them easier to access next time you’re making a meal.

All right. So I have all my canned goods on this side. Now we’ll move over to the dry goods. Now, for my baking items, right below.

So now I’m going to put my jams and my salsas right up front on the door. I absolutely love my jams and my salsas, so I want that readily available.

Now, some people put their spices right next to the burner or even in a cabinet above. Well, I like to actually put them in the pantry, out of harm’s way, because what can happen is the heat can actually alter the taste from these spices. Now they’re still readily available and easily accessible, but definitely out of the way.

All right. So now what I’m going to do is I’m going to put the grains right underneath the spices, but still on the front door. And you can see I’ve put these grains in a mason jar, so that way I can have a visual when I open this door to what I’m looking for.

You can also do the same thing with other items like cereals, sugar, salt, pasta. It makes it a lot easier to find.

Now I’m putting the oils and vinegars in the back, because I don’t use them as often. I’m also going to put drinks in the back as well, because I usually have those stocked in the refrigerator by the case. And then when I need to get them, I’ll still be able to, but they’re tucked away in the back of the pantry.

Now, on the other side, in the back, I’m going to put some of my preserves and my pickled items, because again, they last so long, I just want to put them right to the back so they’re kind of out of the way.

All right. So what I’m doing now is putting these label holders on the pantry. So that way, when I come into the pantry, I know where everything is at. I know where to take from and where to place. But the cool thing about this is that these are all interchangeable. So if I want to put something else on this shelf, well, I’ll just change the label out.

So as you organize your pantry, you’ll be able to keep food fresh by knowing what is on your shelves and cycling through it properly. Do yourself a favor and organize and label your pantry so it works for you.

I’m Carter Oosterhouse, and that’s your GMC Trade Secret.