6 Ways To Tidy Your Pantry In 10 Minutes

Sometimes we don't have time for a full cleanup and overhaul of our kitchen storage, but still, the smallest effort can make the largest difference, especially when it comes to your pantry. Here are six things to do tonight that will only take you 10 minutes. When you're done, you'll be amazed, impressed and left wondering why you didn't do them sooner!

1. Face All Your Labels Out: It's hard to be able to tell what you have if you can't see the labels. Face them all out, stacking like items on top of each other for extra visibility.

2. Group Similar Items and Flavors Together: In our pantry we have a soup section, an Asian section, a Latin America and so forth. It's an easy way to hop into your pantry and grab what you need for an entire meal without digging through assorted shelves looking for that last ingredient that seems to be hiding from you!

3. Wipe Down the Shelves: It seems like such a basic thought, but when was the last time you did it? Use a damp rag and wipe up the dust and debris that falls so easily in the pantry. There's usually a light coating of flour (even if that's not where you keep said flour) and other dust that falls from grains. A clean cabinet is a happy one!

4. Check Expiration Dates: Although most of your canned goods should all still be in date, open packages might not have the same luxury. Check anything with a clip, binder or tie for sure!

5. Make a Meal List: Post-it notes can be used outside of the home office. When straightening your goods, make a quick list of meals that can be made from the supplies in your pantry. That way when you come home half fried from work and take out is calling your name, all you have to do is open the door and surely there will be something that can be made in a jiff!

6. Re-Stack Dishware: If your pantry has your food and dishware sharing spaces, make sure the bowls have been wiped out from dust, the plates straightened and your cake plate put back in the right spot once and for all. It's amazing how fast Pyrex can get unruly!

Do you have a quick tidying tip to add to the list? Let us know in the comments below!

Related: 10 Pantry Staples Not To Be Caught Without

Image: Flickr member plind licensed for use by Creative Commons

---

If Youre Not Using It, Get Rid of It: Ten Ways to Declutter and ... Welcome to The Simple Dollar! If this is your first time visiting the site, read my story and my key simple ideas for improving your finances and your life. 10 tips for keeping your desk clean and tidy A messy desk is a sign of creativity and imagination. This is the excuse I gave myself for the mountain of papers, knickknacks, and San Pellegrino bottles normally ... 31 Ways to Use a Mason Jar in Your Kitchen I have a bit of a love affair with mason jars. They are sturdy, they come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes, they can often be found inexpensively, and best of all? Ketchup: Shine Your Copper - iVillage.com: Health, Beauty ... 30 Ways to Clean Naturally Skip harsh cleaning productsyour pantry already has everything you need to keep a tidy home (32 Photos) How to make a computer faster: 6 ways to speed up your PC How to make a computer faster: 6 ways to speed up your PC. By following a few simple guidelines, you can maintain your computer, help increase your PC speed, and help ... 6 Ways To Organize Your Pantry - Zesty Cook Food made simple ... Happy Friday to you! I am writing this post in advance as Im not taking my laptop to my mini vacation in Toronto for the U2 concert. I will fill you in on Monday ... A Mouse in the Pantry Living on the wild side of food ... Well, last time I checked in here I was beginning this brilliant plan to bring you picture after picture, and word after word of ... 10 Simple Ways to Clean Up Your Diet Simple Homemade Thanks for visiting Simple Homemade. If you subscribe to the blog via RSS feed or via email, you'll get helpful tips for DIY living sent straight to you, for free ... Out with the Old: 25 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter Out with the Old: 25 Ways to Clean Out the Clutter What to keep, toss, or donate in order to clean the clutter out of your house. This Wednesday: Nine tips for giving yourself an energy boost in ... Every Wednesday is Tip Day. This Wednesday: Nine tips for giving yourself an energy boost in the next TEN MINUTES. Its hard to feel happy when youre dragging ...

10 Inspiring Small-Space Pantries Small Space Living

Pantry Reorganization

Most cooks appreciate every scrap of storage space allotted to their kitchen, big or small, urban or suburban. Some of us let the kitchen spill out into other spaces in the home (remember how David Lebovitz keeps his ice cream maker under the bed?). I recaptured an inefficient coat closet and turned it into a cheery little pantry one of my all-time most useful kitchen projects! Packing all your kitchen goods together in a pantry like this can really streamline your organizing and post-grocery shopping routine. Here are ten more inspiring examples of pantries, each with a takeaway for small spaces.

Not all of these pantries are tiny, and not all of them are in especially small kitchens. But I chose them because I thought each had something interesting to demonstrate for small kitchens and pantries too.

TOP ROW
1 Pantry Reorganization - Eleven Magnolia Lane. There's so much to love about this pantry re-do. It uses a large cupboard as a more organized pantry (a cupboard like this can be inexpensively added a spare corner, even in a rental). I like how she uses a big basket on the bottom shelf to corral opened bags of chips and crackers.
2 Tiny Pantry in DIY Blogger House - The House of Smiths. This is one of my favorite little pantries. What could have been a narrow, inconvenient closet is made into a lovely feature of the kitchen with a glass door, good lighting, and pretty storage containers.
3 Perfectly Imperfect Closet Pantry - Perfectly Imperfect. Lots and lots of kitchens (even small ones) have a closet like this nearby. This is a great example of how to organize a closet effectively.
4 DIY Canned Storage - Classy Clutter. What an amazing project! This can storage pull-out is built from simple materials and slides into that narrow, otherwise useless space next to the fridge!
5 Storage by the Door - Better Homes & Gardens. I like how these shallow shelves fill a wall near a door. Entryways and enclosed lean-to stoops adjacent to the kitchen often have unused wall space that can hold shelves like these.

BOTTOM ROW
6 Robin's Egg Pantry Makeover - Cup of Mai. The takeaway from this bright little pantry closet is color! No matter how small your pantry is, you can give it a coat of color. A cheery, pretty color makes the pantry feel more special, makes it more fun to keep organized!
7 Glass Door Pantry - Southern Living. A pantry doesn't need to be an eyesore. Here, softly opaque glass doors and lighting inside make this small closet a source of gentle ambient light for the whole kitchen.
8 Hallway Pantry - Cote de Texas. This butler's pantry is in a perfectly enormous home, but it is such a smart idea I had to include it. Think about little pass-throughs and small hallways in your home. Is there a spare 6 inches to claim for shallow cabinet, maybe fronted with a skirt like this romantic example?
9 Library-Inspired Pantry - via Houzz. OK, this pantry is pretty fabulous (and spacious). The takeaway here (besides, once again, lighting!) is the lovely idea to cram in an extra shelf or two for books, maybe even between the studs.
10 Pull-Out Cabinet - Ellentuck Interiors via Houzz. If you don't have a closet to repurpose, make your own pull-out cabinet! The pull-out units in IKEA's AKURUM line are quite reasonably priced. If you nudge your fridge over a foot perhaps you can squeeze one in!

How have you found ways to squeeze in some extra pantry space in your own kitchen?

More Smart Storage: Kitchen Storage Between the Studs: 5 Examples of Smart Recessed Cabinets

(Images: 1. Christy of Eleven Magnolia Lane; 2. Shelley Smith of The House of Smiths; 3. Shaunna of Perfectly Imperfect; 4. Mallory of Classy Clutter; 5. Better Homes & Gardens; 6. Mai of Cup of Mai; 7. Southern Living via The Inspired Room; 8. Cote de Texas; 9. Design Babylon via Houzz; 10. Ellentuck Interiors via Houzz)

---

Roundup: 8 DIY Small Space Garden Ideas Curbly DIY Design ... I don't have the greenest of thumbs, but with spring in full force where I live, I am eager to get outside and play in the dirt. Not all of us have a lot of land to ... 5 Tips for Living in a Small Space Embrace your space! Money ... The following is a guest post from Emily of Our Frugal Happy Life: This summer, we (suddenly) downsized from a four-bedroom, one-bathroom house to a two-bedroom, two ... DECORATING SMALL SPACES AND APARTMENT DESIGN Here are some of the brilliant photos of kitchens organized with pantry storage jars. Clear glass and mason jars are great when it comes to storing food like pastas ... Small Space Solutions: IKEA's Idea-Packed Videos Apartment Therapy I'm not sure how I missed these making it on to YouTube earlier this year, but it was a fun discovery yesterday evening that I'm happy to pass on - there is a "Small ... Look! Small Space Living...In a Garbage Truck Apartment Therapy This is impressive-looking. I can't believe how much of a real kitchen feel is in such a small space. However, I'd also like to see the bathroom. Small Space Solution: Benches - The Inspired Room Country Living. Need more space? How about using less furniture! Benches are the perfect solution. I dont think you can have too many benches, you can move them ... My Rules for Living Comfortably in a Small Space My pal, Brenda, recently moved into a little house. Correction: an older little house. She is facing many of the same problems that I have coped with for years: not ... Fabulous in Four-hundred Square Feet Decorating a small space on ... Decorating a small space on a small budget. (by Bonnie) ... First Happy New Year! I have a good feeling about 2011. I cant tell you how much I ... Small House? Solutions for More Space and a small space linky ... BHG. Small Space Living. This image from Better Homes & Gardens is one of my favorite small rooms. Not only do I love how this room looks, I love how it functions. Small space homeschooling Simple Homeschool Written by contributor Renee Tougas of FIMBY This past winter our family lived in a two bedroom, 750 square foot cabin in a rural river valley. Today, I am writing ...