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How to Organize Your Pantry

Organized Pantry with Food Items Stored in Glass ContainersKeeping an organized pantry in your Smith Mountain Lake rental home can be quite a challenge for most of us. Keep things fresh and neat by keeping them in order and in their designated places around the house. To make certain that your food supply is fresh and easy to access, keep track of these simple pantry organization tips.

1. Create a System

Most people approach pantry organization with a relatively simple system: grouping similar items together. This isn’t the only good way to organize your pantry, though. Group together items that you often use, such as pasta noodles and sauce or baking essentials. There are, however, other methods to grouping pantry items.

You could also group all of your frequently used items in an easy-to-reach spot! You can also set up zones or stations inside your pantry, grouping your items according to their function, or according to the time of day, they generally get used. Examples of this might be a coffee station, a bin with after-school snacks, or a shelf for breakfast. Regardless, you should know best what system to use because it should show your everyday routine in the pantry.

2. Rotate Your Storage

Rotation of food items should be done regularly — this is often overlooked in pantry organizations. It really shouldn’t be too alarming when food items are stashed all the way in the back and then forgotten for months. This is a very common scenario for most people! To prevent throwing out expired food, it’s essential to develop a first-in, first-out system for your pantry items. When restocking each shelf, place new items behind older items. Make sure to always check the expiration dates and set aside any of those that are already expired. This allows you to keep your pantry safe and fresh!

3. Choose Proper Storage Containers

Choose the ones that aren’t necessarily just expensive, but are good at keeping your food fresh. Storage containers allow you to make sure that each item is stored properly in your pantry. Not all of your items will be canned food — others will have to be removed from packaging and stored in other airtight containers to keep them as fresh as possible.

To ensure long-term freshness, decant flour and other grain-based food items by taking them out of the bags they come in and placing them in glass or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. There’s a reason why flour, cake mix, and other original items are transferred out of their original bags — the bags could be hiding insect eggs and other problems. Imagine discovering that your pantry is infested with bugs!

Another thing to take note of is the set of rules that guide the grouping of pantry items. There are foods that shouldn’t be stored close to others. Make it a point to separate onions and potatoes in your pantry. If you don’t, the onions’ strong odor can permeate the potatoes and cause them to spoil faster.

Lastly, in your search for storage containers, remember to look for ones that fit the shelves in your pantry, but, more importantly, ones that give you easy access to their contents. When it comes to storing rice, for example, mason jars are the usual choice for many. However, because of its narrow mouth, scooping the contents is difficult. Label your containers accordingly so that you don’t lose track of what’s inside, as well as the content’s expiration date. Using removable labels will make it more convenient for you to update your container whenever the need arises.

4. Size Matters

Finally, don’t forget to leave room in your pantry for bigger items, too. Don’t let all the smaller items like spice jars take up all the space! Smaller shelving or trays can be used to separate these items from each other. If possible, create some taller spaces for cereal boxes, bottles, or other tall or oddly-shaped items.

Ultimately, using just a few simple steps, you can make your pantry one that’s organized and filled with a food supply that is certainly fresh.

Are you in the market for a new Smith Mountain Lake rental home? Real Property Management Cairn can help! Contact us online or check out our rental home listings today.

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