5 Brilliant Tips for Organizing All of Your Snacks, According to a Pro
Mark your calendar: The 94th Academy Awards are coming March 27. That means you have 26 days to catch up on (or even rewatch!) all of those Oscar movie contenders. And that means you’re gonna want to load up on snacks. What’s the point of watching a movie (The Power of the Dog! King Richard!) if you’re not going to be snacking along? Of course, we have plenty of suggestions for tasty treats.
In anticipation of all of that munching, we’ve also been eyeing ways to add pizzazz to our snack organizational systems, too. So, when we came across a TikTok video posted by Texas-based professional organizer Kim Longoria Bruce of Organizing Spaces by Kim, we were inspired. Turns out, she’s an expert at creating grab-and-go snack stations. We asked her to help us get started, and she gave us five practical tips on how to organize a snack station. Here are the winning ways she does it.
1. Measure before you buy a single organizer.
Whether it’s a dedicated drawer or a shelf, you should always measure the space you want to use before beginning to organize. “Most of the time, people will go out and buy bins and baskets, and then they come home and try to make them fit,” Bruce says. “They might buy just one basket, but maybe your space really could use six.”
Before you even go shopping for that cute organizing bin, you have to create a plan first, Bruce says. Once you measure, it’s a lot easier to go online and shop for an organizer with the dimensions that will actually fit your space.
2. Don’t skip the bins or baskets.
While you may be tempted to skip the bins and baskets altogether, Kim says that’s a mistake — these tools are instrumental as dividers. “This way you are able to group like items, with one bin filled with crackers, for example, and another filled with cookies,” she says. Her favorite handy organizers? The Container Store’s Like-It Modular Drawer Organizers, which come in a number of widths and depths.
3. Create zones with labels.
Assign each basket or bin a type of snack. This is where custom labels can really come in handy, Kim says. “I make all of my own labels,” she says, explaining that she loves her Brother P-Touch Cube Plus.
As you create zones, keep it simple. “Think about the upkeep,” Bruce says. “Are you going to be able to maintain whatever zones you decide on?” Be sure not to create anything that is too confusing, so other household members know exactly where things go when restocking, she says.
4. Shop for the space you have.
People often buy too many snacks on their grocery trips, Kim says. Once you set up your snack area, you have to see that as the boundary of where all of your snacks will go, she explains. “I know you want to make that big Costco run, but where are you going to put it all? You have to stop yourself from overbuying because you won’t have the room to store the extra stuff,” she says. Bottom line: “Shop for the space that you have, not for the space you think you have.”
5. Only decant your most popular items.
Don’t feel the pressure to decant snack items just to have an Instagram-worthy station, Kim says. “Again, it goes back to maintenance. If you use it often, then let’s decant,” she says, pointing out that the bonus of decanting is that you can easily see if you are running low. “But I only recommend doing it, if you can keep up with it.” Just remember to write the expiration date on a Post-it or a sticker, and place it on the bottom of your tightly sealed container.
Do you have a snack station in your kitchen? Tell us your tips in the comments below.