Organize Your Pantry on a Budget

Do you know what happens when your pantry is not organized?

You end up with 3 jars of chili powder and 0 jars of cumin on Taco Tuesday.

Not that I know from experience or anything. Ahem. I will give you simple tricks you must try to organize your pantry on a budget. It is doable as well as necessary for your sanity. You can’t cook if you don’t have a well stocked pantry and know where it all is. It takes way too much time if you have to go on a treasure hunt each night when it is time to cook dinner. And as we have learned we can keep a clean organized pantry in just 15 minutes a day.

A Place for Everything

First of all, you need a specific place for everything. It doesn’t have to be fancy and does not require that you spend a ton of money on things to organize your pantry. For example, I use whatever small baskets or plastic totes/boxes I have. You don’t need a fancy spice rack or turn table. Because there are many tricks to organizing your pantry on a budget there is almost no need to spend money.

I use anything I can find. The trick to organizing is having a place for everything to keep the mess at bay. Small items that look cluttered when spread out look organized and neat when contained. I use a small plastic tote for my spices. I can see through the sides to read labels. Also, many of my spice bottles have labels on the lids which means I only need to see the top of them to locate the one I need. For the bottles that don’t have their lids labeled, garage sale stickers with the name written in work great. These are simple tricks you must try to organize your pantry on a budget.

Group Like Items Together

Another great tip is to put all bread ties, chip clips and anything similar in a container to keep them together. I put my food coloring, yeast packets, sprinkles and other small baking items in a small Ziploc container. Leaving the lid off will allow you to fill it more and will eliminate the frustration of opening and closing the lid each time you need something.

Consequently, grouping like items together is a simple way to organize the things in your pantry. Make sure to arrange things in an orderly way for a neat look. I put my soup broths in rows rather than all mixed up. This method makes them easy to spot at a glance. Keep one kind of broth in each row so that you are able to see at a glance what you have. You don’t want to search for items while you are cooking. It makes the process more drawn out and frustrating. An organized pantry makes it easy for anyone who cooks to find the necessary ingredients because they are clearly visible. If you must explain where to find each ingredient you might as well do the cooking yourself for all of the time spent.

Here are more simple tricks you must try to organize your pantry on a budget. Your savvy tip is to use a clear shoe organizer that hangs over the door to create more space. If you have a small pantry as I had in my previous kitchen, it is a great way to create space. I kept spices, twist ties, small trash bags and small bags of gluten free flour in mine. It’s inexpensive and it works.