There are distractions all around: the sun is shining, the farmers' markets are much more exciting, and spring fever is encroaching. But before giving into all that, take some time to create a neat and tidy pantry. You'll thank us later, we promise!
This week Food 52 published a piece on achieving "pantry zen." This elusive state is most easily reached with their five simple steps:
1. Keep Like With Like: While this sounds completely intuitive, I bet if you take a peek into your pantry, you may be breaking this rule. It becomes really tough to find certain ingredients if your flours are mixed in with your nuts and your extracts. Divide and conquer!
2. Consider What You Use and How Often: Keep items that you use frequently at easy reach and push less common things towards the back.
3. Use Food-Grade Airtight Containers: Not only do they look nicer and more uniform, but your dried goods will remain fresh for a longer period of time. Win, win!
4. Label and Date Things: I buy most of my dried goods and spices in bulk because they're fresher and I can control the amounts I bring home. The downside to this, if you're not organized, is little bags of unmarked grains. Soon, if you're anything like me, you're staring down a bag wondering if it's farro or wheat berries and cursing your laziness.
5. Keep track: Stay in the know with what you're almost out of and what's starting to reach its expiration date. This way you'll remember to pick it up while you're at the store instead of reaching for an empty bottle when you're in the middle of a recipe.
Related: Do It Now! Reorganize Your Pantry This Weekend
(Image: Faith Durand)
How to Bake a Potato: Three Easy Methods
How To Cook Tender, Chewy Wheat Berries on the Stovetop
Good Food to Share 
The Big Book of Small, Cool Spaces 
Apartment Therapy Presents 
The Eight-Step Home Cure 
Straw Mat from The ...
10 No-Fail Decor Tricks & Tips for Small Spaces
Beth's Romantic & Retro Residence
hmm i have such trouble finding the right containers to store things like noodles... any tips?
one of the most frustrating pantry staples to find an appropriate container for are thick rice noodles, like the ones used for pad thai, because they're kind of bent.... any suggestions, wise Kitchn readers?
Thanks for the reinforcement. I just spent 20 or so minutes going through my big freezer--found four things that are too old to eat, another half dozen that will be lunches in the next week, and cleaned up and reorganized the rest. I also updated the freezer inventory so that I now know what is there and what needs to be used or replenished as the case may be.
I use the tallest IKEA "SLOM" glass jars with wire flip-top lid for dry pasta.
@Kariwk
A freezer inventory is a good idea. Mine (side-by-side) has mostly fixed shelves and the place that would be easiest to view is taken up by the ice-maker. So things are always being shoved to the back and I forget what's there, even though I dutifully label everything. I try to do a shelf for fruit, shelf for veggies, shelf for meat, etc., but then I buy some ice cream or have a party and the organization is shot to hell. If having a full freezer means electricity usage is kept down, I should be paying next to nothing to run this Energy Star contraption.
Any suggestions on where to keep the inventory so it won't be too hard to update?
Thanks.
I think a freezer inventory is best kept as close to the freezer as possible so it is handy when you are looking in the freezer or adding stuff to it. Mine is on the side of the fridge by way of a magnet.
I keep it on the door of the freezer. Basically, I make a list of everything in it and how many, then I do up a graph--each item's name/size then a single slash for each number of the thing. Then, when I take something out, I simply put another slash through by hand--the X means the thing is no longer there.
So an example would be:
Chicken broth (qt.) XX / /
would be that there were four quarts of broth, and I've used two.
After I did this a few times, the list became pretty standard , but I always allow a few lines to add things that may be unusual.
We've been using this for around 20 years now and overall it is the easiest system I have found. About twice a year (like this week), I go through and do a sweep to check the inventory, make sure anything that was lost gets taken care of, etc. And I always know what I have in the freezer.
I used to do something similar with my pantry, but now I can see it all easily so I don't.
Hope this helps.
I've been having trouble finding good spice jars. Any tips?
#zandrsn - I used to buy spice jars at Ikea (glass ones that come in a pack of four) until I found a shop that sells canning jars in sizes from tiny to extra large. That way you can match all your spice jars with larger ones for flour, pasta, lentils etc.
Opinion check on freezer inventory-- when you find a soup or stew that is too old to eat, do you defrost it to salvage the tupperware or just toss the whole thing? I have a couple of soups that are from 2009... but I'm not sure if there's an easy way to save the storage containers.
Cooklyn,
I defrost and reclaim. If I'm not going to eat it, I just leave it out overnight to defrost and then clean it up in the morning.
Cooklyn,
Since I'm eliminating plastic for storing food (don't want to eat chemicals!!!), if I find anything too old to eat in the freezer, I just toss it, container and all. By using glass containers, it's also easier to see what's in them when they're frozen. Chalkboard paint on the jar sides or lids is also great for labelling, both contents and date frozen!