What if I told you that you could save money by organizing your pantry?
Inflation is here and everything we buy right now seems to cost more. Regardless of the cause we are all looking for ways to decrease our out-of-pocket expenses.
And food can accumulate, particularly following the COVID pandemic. It was eerie when I first ventured to a grocery store in April 2020 and found empty shelves. We are a generation that has learned worldwide that when food is scarce, storing extra can be helpful.
But that can also lead to simply having too much.
Using up what you have can help save money and will also help eliminate food waste, which has become a significant issue in America.
According to Recycle Track Systems (RTS), food takes up more space in U.S. landfills than anything else. Expired dairy products, produce bought with good intentions, and dry goods past their expiration dates tally up to 80 billion tons of food sent to landfills every year.
That feels particularly wasteful as food prices continue to rise. According to the Consumer Price Index, 2022 food-at-home prices in the U.S. are now predicted to increase between 11.0 and 12.0 percent. Food prices are expected to grow more slowly in 2023 but still to increase on average between 2.5 and 3.5 percent.
Pantry goods are by definition “shelf stable” meaning they can last a long time. In addition, those items are generally cheaper than perishables. So stocking up your pantry and knowing what you have literally helps save money.
For some, a pantry is a big walk-in affair with many shelves and drawers and lots of space. Some people keep overflow storage in another space in the house if their kitchen storage is limited, like a basement or laundry room. Some people have dedicated shelving in their kitchen that holds it all.
Whether you have a lot of space or a little, keeping it organized can help you save money and also provides an opportunity to help the environment and be sustainable too.
Ready to give it a try? Read on.
Keep the things you use the most where you can reach them easily
This is what I call keeping things in your “high value real estate”, or the space you can most easily reach. This works for any type of storage (think clothing, laundry items, even garage and attic storage) but your go-to items in your pantry should always be easy to access.
Keep the things you use all the time, like salt, pepper, and cooking oils, right near your food prep area. Store things you need less frequently, like canned goods, jars of sauces, and dry pasta, further away, higher up, or down low.
This principle is also a good way to see how much remains in your supply, which of course also implies you should keep like things together. Don’t store cans of diced tomatoes in more than one area, for example.
Do a "Pantry Challenge" for a week
Every once in a while, see if you can cook and eat only what you already have in your pantry for a week. You get creative when you "aren't allowed" to buy anything else at the store.
Choose a week where you only buy the necessary perishables (i.e. milk, bread, eggs) and then prepare a meal plan that will use up the things in your pantry.
This also works for the freezer. If you have a deep freeze, or even just a lot of things in your fridge freezer you haven't seen in while, pick a week to clear it out.
Keep a posted inventory
If a tree falls in the woods and no one hears it, does it make noise? If you can’t see the food in your pantry, does it exist?
Keeping an inventory list may feel tedious but I promise you it helps. And it doesn’t have to be exhaustive or extremely detailed.
Depending on the size, some pantries can be enormous which can feel overwhelming. But even the smallest pantry has an area in the back where things get lost. Keeping an inventory list close by (for example, on a white board posted by your long-term storage, or taped to the inside of a cupboard door) can help you see quickly what you have “in stock” and can also help when building the grocery list.
Hang a pen or dry erase marker narby so you never have to go searching for a writing utensil.
Organize items by food expiration dates
When you get new stock, pull the old items to the front and store the new underneath or behind. In this way your stock will rotate and nothing will end up sitting in the far back, never to be seen again.
As an aside, I used to lose produce in the produce drawer at the bottom of the refrigerator because I would forget it was in there. I have instituted a "keep it out on the open shelf" policy for things that will spoil more quickly, like a head of lettuce. I only keep staples like carrots and celery in the produce drawer because if I cannot see it, I can forget it is there.
Only buy things your family will eat
This feels self-evident but is worth saying.
There can be a lot of what I call "aspirational purchases" in life. These can be clothes in a size you don't wear, organizing bling to help you get organized, or foods you think you "should" be eating or that are popular.
Forget that. I am not saying never buy something new (variety is the spice of life!) but don't fall for marketing hype. Buy things your family will eat.
Also, because shelf-stable products have a longer shelf life, it can be tempting to stock up on items on sale or when you find coupons. But you can end up with things in your pantry that no one will eat and you don't know how to cook.
Save yourself money and buy only things you actually need and use.
Organizing Bling can be helpful
If you're a regular reader of my blogs, you know I never recommend purchasing organizing products until you know exactly what you need. My theory is that you buy clear acrylic containers, etc. hoping they will make you organized and then when it doesn't work, you then believe you can't get organized. Nonsense.
What you really need is a plan and targeted purchases. So I always tell my clients to hold off on buying anything until after we have worked together.
But there is no denying pantry organizing accessories can be helpful. Lazy Susans for spices, roller shelves in cabinets to see what’s hiding in the back, shelf dividers to keep like things together, tiered shelves to see what is behind, etc.
Measure your space and make a plan before you purchase, not after, and if it doesn't work don't get frustrated. Ask for help.
Let me know how it goes as you work to save yourself some money by organizing your pantry.
When you're ready to tackle your tough organization project, I am here to help you learn how.
Let's RETHINK organization together.
For more information, visit the RETHINK website today.
Mandy Thomas is a professional organizer fulfilling her lifelong passion for creating order out of chaos. She finds joy in helping people tackle their most overwhelming spaces and collections to create the optimal living space and enjoy their homes.
RETHINK organization is on a mission to help you develop long-term patterns of organization that you can maintain and feel good about long after our work together is done.
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