This Is Exactly How To Create The Pinteresty Pantry Of Your Wildest Dreams
by The Candidly Team
Everything in sans-serif labeled jars.
Matching, minimalist containers.
A sea of neutrals and “clean” lines.
But is this dream reserved only for Khloe K and her hundreds if not thousands of beige, beautiful, perfectly stacked cookies in glass jars larger than our torsos?
No.
This dream is for all of us. Because we have Shira Gill. Hi, Shira. You know Shira, yes? Shira Gill, writer of upcoming must-read book Minimalista, that’s now available for pre-order, has helped us organize our closets. Our tupperware drawers. Our lives.
Today, with her help, we tackle the pantry. And we take the first step towards living the minimalist, decanted life we were meant to live.
Let’s do this.
1. First, what's the single greatest pantry organization hack that you know?
Adjust your pantry shelves! Figure out what you want to store where, and adjust the shelves up or down to accommodate your specific jars, bins, baskets, appliances, etc.
2. What’s one step we can all do today to make our pantry look even a fraction better?
The number one thing you can do to achieve the Pinterest pantry look is to ditch as much packaging as possible. Staring at heaps of plastic or cardboard does not a curated pantry make.
You can start small by decanting your baking staples into clear glass jars and adding simple labels so you don’t mix up all of the white powders. You can also group items together into broad categories and contain them in stylish labeled bins or baskets — i.e. “snacks” or “soups and stocks.”
Uniform bins and baskets will create a cohesive and streamlined look even if the contents are dumped inside instead of artfully arranged.
3. Do we have to decant everything we buy? And if so, how do we do it consistently without losing our minds?
Decanting every single pantry item you own can feel like a daunting task. Instead, try choosing a few categories that feel useful to have decanted and also realistic to maintain, like sugar, flour, and coffee beans.
Shopping from bulk bins can help make it a more efficient and less wasteful process -- some natural grocery stores allow you to bring your own jars to refill on site.
It’s also helpful to label your jars in broad categories (nuts, crackers, treats) so you don’t have to create new labels every time you come home from the store.
4. What if we don't have huge Kardashian-sized pantries? Any tips/hacks?
Relocate seasonal or occasional use items, bulky appliances, etc, to create more space for the daily-use staples.
I love a turntable for making it easy to access staples in tight corners -- also great for storing oils, vinegars, and dressings.
Use the back of your pantry doors — an over-the-door pantry organizer can help provide storage for spices, sauces, and canned goods.
Set up the tallest items in the back and shortest in the front so you can see what you’ve got at a glance
Create an “odds and ends” bin so you can hide away anything that doesn’t elegantly decant into a jar.
Deep handled bins can serve as “drawers” and help maximize space in a small but deep pantry.
Shop your pantry. The biggest issue I come across is losing track of what you own simply because you own more pantry staples than you can keep up with. If you shop your own pantry before running out to the store you will have less to manage and keep up with, and will also ensure you reduce food waste.
5. What are 5 clear steps to organizing our pantries?
Clarify and plan: Before you roll up your sleeves and get down to business, you’ll want to clarify your specific goals and determine which items you want to make more accessible, eat more or less of etc. Having a specific vision of how your dream pantry would look, feel, and function will help inform how you set it up.
Start Fresh: This is one of those projects where you really need to start fresh and do a complete overhaul. As you unload the contents of your pantry, do your best to group items by type — a pile for canned goods, another for sauces and marinades, another for breakfast cereals and snacks — you get the picture.
Edit: Make sure you’re only stocked with foods you actually eat— this is a good time to take stock of all the things you bought on a whim that you never tried, or had a single bite of and forgot about. As you review, you’ll need to decide which items you want to keep, and which items need to be recycled, composed, donated, or tossed. Pro Tip: to prevent food waste, dump contents like stale crackers and expired baked goods into your green bin or compost bin, and recycle any hard plastics, glass and metal containers. Typically the only items that actually have to go in the landfill are soft plastics.
Organize: Group all of your non-perishable items in big, broad categories — you can even picture how your local market does this as inspiration. Consider the categories that intuitively make sense to you. Common categories include: baking essentials, cooking essentials, canned goods, sauces + marinades, snacks + treats , pasta + grains, coffee + tea, and beverages.
Set up + Style: Contain your broad categories together in clearly labeled bins or baskets — i.e. all of your sauces and marinades can be corralled into one labeled bin so you can locate them at a glance. You can maximize space and keep snacks, grains, and baked goods fresher longer by ditching packaging and decanting the contents into airtight jars. Use a label maker to label your jars, or order custom labels for a more elevated look. Make sure to set up your pantry essentials by type and usage with frequent-use items at arm’s reach, and occasional or seasonal items on the harder to reach shelves, or even stored behind your bins or baskets. Finishing touches: You can line your jars and canned items up in neat rows like a supermarket and make sure all bins and baskets are neatly tucked in with labels facing you.
One of the hardest parts of this process is just knowing what type of organizing product to use for which products. So, here are Shira’s exact solutions for every one of our trickiest pantry items:
1. Pasta
Shira prefers tall jars with bamboo lids, like these ones from Amazon.
2. Cereal
Shira uses these easy pour, airtight cereal dispensers from The Container Store.
3. Bags, Paper Goods, Boxes, and Cartons
Every pantry inspo photo shows organized rows of little bags or boxes or cartons, which are always shown in a uniform size. In real life, nothing is EVER a uniform size. So Shira corrals all her little bags, paper goods, odd-sized boxes, and cartons into a large bin with handles, and suggests we “line them up from smallest to largest in the back so you can see what you’ve got.”
4. Random Jars and Bottles
According to Shira, a turntable is ideal for “storing oils, vinegars, and dressings,” and works especially well in tight spaces and pantry corners.
5. Cans & Small Jars
Shira recommends a tiered shelf, like this one, for cans, small jars, and spices.
6. Baking Goods
These ceramic jars are ideal for all the powders— sugar, salt, flour. Shira recommends adding labels so we don’t mix them up.
7. Packets
For those of us that have spent a year collecting ketchup packets from getting takeout 15 times a week, which are currently overflowing in all our junk drawers, Shira suggests storing them in an over-the-door rack, like this one. Out of sight, out of mind.
BONUS— These are Shira’s favorite chic, affordable, and functional pantry items in every category:
1. Spice Labels
Oh well, whaddya know? These happen to be our favorites, too.
2. Glass Jars
Glass jars, eco-friendly bamboo lids, and $50 for a pack of 9. Decanting = solved.
3. Spice Rack
This spice rack is EXPANDABLE, and will go nicely with the aforementioned labels.
4. Chip Clips
These are stainless steel, so they’re durable enough to not shatter into a million pieces if you accidentally drop them on the ground (unlike very plastic clip we’ve tried). And blessedly, they don’t come in a hideous array of colors.
5. Basket
These double as functional storage, and cute, decorative fruit baskets.
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We have to eat.
