Remember back on Day 5 of the 7-day Meal Planning Kick Starter?
We talked about your pantry.
And how important it is for making healthy meals as easy as possible.
Back then I shared the top 10 essential pantry ingredients I recommend having at all times.
If you need a refresher, go back and have a quick read over here.
Today we’re going to go deeper into getting your pantry, fridge and freezer organized.
And keeping them that way.
So they support you.
And are a little source of joy in your kitchen.
Yes joy!
NOTE: When I refer to your pantry, I’m talking about your store cupboard as well as your fridge and freezer. I think of any ingredient that will keep for months in either of these storage spaces as a ‘pantry’ ingredient.
RESOURCES:
Plan B Meals Challenge
30-Day Simple Kitchen Reboot: Your Pantry, Fridge & Freezer
WHAT YOU’LL LEARN TODAY:
- A step-by-step guide to setting up and using your pantry
- How I organize my pantry
- 10 ways to simplify your pantry
- 3 common pantry mistakes + how to avoid them
A Step-by-Step Guide to Setting up and Using Your Pantry
Essentially this a a recap on the activity from Day 6 of the 7-day Meal Planning Kick Starter…
STEP 1. Choose 2 pantry recipes. Ideas here.
STEP 2. Buy the ingredients for those recipes.
STEP 3. Relax.
Remember next time you need a quick emergency meal, instead of resorting to pizza or eating out, you get to cook! How fun!
Just head home and whip up one of your delicious pantry dinners.
How I Organize My Pantry
1. Keep most-in-need-of-using items visible.
It’s so easy to forget what you have. So my first rule is to place anything that needs ‘eating up’ where you can’t miss seeing it each time you open the pantry / fridge / freezer door.
It’s a small thing but makes a HUGE difference to how much food I waste.
2. Keep like things together.
This is just how my brain works. I have separate places for my nuts, canned fish, spices, cheese, raw meats, fresh veg, prepped ingredients, my fermented veg and of course my kombucha!
3. Have a regular place for different ingredients.
This makes it easier to find what you’re looking for.
So I know that half used jar of curry paste will be in he fridge door instead of having to rummage around to find it.
4. Really look once a day.
My memory isn’t the greatest these days. So I have a good look in all parts of the fridge at least once a day.
And whenever I’m grabbing something from the freezer or pantry, I also have a good look in that area as well.
This way I remember what I have.
This gives me heaps more ideas for what to cook.
Plus I can move things that really need eating to a more visible position so I’m less likely to waste food. Win win!
5. Keep things covered.
The air in the fridge is really dry.
The number 1. cause of food spoilage is dehydration, especially for fresh produce.
So I keep all my fruit and veg in plastic bags either in the crisper or on the bottom shelf. It doesn’t look so pretty but really makes a difference to how long things last.
For leftovers and my prepped ingredients I use glass containers with plastic lids.
In the pantry, infestation is the biggest concern.
Again, keeping ingredients in sealed containers, jars or ziplock bags is the best preventative measure.
I love these IKEA canisters for my pantry.
10 Ways to Simplify Your Pantry
1. Question new additions
It can be easy to start exploring a new recipe or cuisine and add 5 different new ingredients to your pantry. While I’m all for creativity and authenticity, I always think carefully before investing in a new ingredient.
If I can get away with substituting something I already have, I do it.
For example if I’m cooking Thai, rather than buying palm sugar, I’d either skip the sugar all together or use stevia.
2. Get creative with new ingredients
If you decide it’s worth buying a new ingredient, challenge yourself to find at least 2 other recipes that will use that ingredient in the next 2 weeks.
Before you forget about it!
3. Automate your shopping list.
A pantry is only as helpful as the ingredients it stocks.
As we discussed in Day 4 of the Meal Planning Kick Starter, you need to develop the habit of maintaining an ongoing list for pantry and household items.
This way you’ll ‘automatically’ replenish pantry stock as needed.
4. Organize your pantry into groups of similar items.
As mentioned above, this saves time finding what you need.
5. Avoid the trap of deep shelves
There’s a saying ‘out of sight out of mind’ for a reason.
If you’re designing a pantry, make sure your shelves aren’t too deep so you have maximum visibility.
If a complete pantry redesign isn’t possible, consider investing in a few boxes so you can easily slide them out and have full view of all the contents.
6. Explore options for stocking your ‘fridge / freezer’ pantry
The marvel of modern refrigeration makes ‘pantry’ staples out of many different foods.
Think frozen veg, frozen fish, frozen meat, cheeses (especially parmesan, feta, halloumi and goats cheese), tofu, yoghurt, eggs, smoked fish, salami and other cured meats, cryovacced fresh meats, olives and sauces like miso paste, mayonnaise and pesto.
7. Freeze in small, easily accessible packages.
Dividing food into small packets before freezing makes it much quicker and easier to defrost as you need. It helps with portion control as well!
8. Label everything!
I have a marker in the kitchen. I label everything. Especially anything going into the freezer.
Just developing this one habit will completely change how you feel about your freezer organization.
9. Have a ‘use up the pantry’ project.
If you’re feeling a little broke. Or you know you’re going away for a while. Try eating from your pantry / fridge / freezer to have a little clear out.
Fun and economical!
10. Have a spring clean from time to time.
A clean pantry can be a thing of joy.
It’s also helpful to identify what you aren’t using to stop repeat purchase mistakes.
Or inspire you.
We’ve covered a lot today so don’t worry about the spring clean for now.
We’re going to delve into it in a future bonus lesson.
3 Common Pantry Mistakes + How to Avoid Them
Mistake 1. Running out of essential ingredients.
A pantry is only useful if it contains actual ingredients you can use for actual meals you love to cook and eat.
To avoid this, follow the actions from Day 4 of the Meal Planning Kick Starter. Essentially, find a shopping list system that works for you. And use it!
Mistake 2. Suffering from ‘pantry chaos’.
An overflowing pantry with things stuffed in willy-nilly, can be just as useless as an empty pantry.
And a lot more daunting.
Chaos is also unlikely to inspire you when you’re feeling tired and hungry.
To avoid pantry chaos, follow the principles I shared above.
Mistake 3. Letting items go past their use-by date.
Even long-living items eventually go bad.
To avoid this, when you put your shopping away rotate.
Add newly purchased items to the back use front items first.
Too easy.
SUMMARY:
Here’s what we covered:
- A step-by-step guide to setting up and using your pantry
- How I organize my pantry
- 10 ways to simplify your pantry
- 3 common pantry mistakes + how to avoid them
ACTIVITY
Today has been a big one!
Well done for making it this far.
STEP 1. Review everything you’ve learned today. Choose the 1 lesson which resonated with you most. And make a plan to implement that lesson.
STEP 2. Share in the comments below which lesson you’re going to action. And when.
Keep it simple (and fun) in the kitchen!
With love,
Jules x
Hi Jules, remember when I said that my kitchen was cluttered. Well the pantry is chaos, more so now because I had to make room for my friends stuff. I’m going to re organize it one shelf at a time.
Yes Leonie! One at a time 🙂
I like your idea # 9 – ‘use up the pantry’ project. I have a cabbage sitting in the fridge for over 3 weeks so I looked up all your recipes about cabbage and ended up with inexpensive meals but really delicious. In order to simplify things, I plan to buy 1 or 2 types of vegetable every week as the main ingredient to cook my meals. That way I don’t need to worry about food waste, save some money and not compromising my quality of life. Thank you Jules. I love your lessons.
Love it Ann! Especially the part about not compromising 🙂
The one lesson I’m going to action is to “really look once a day” at the fridge, freezer, and pantry. This will help me keep storage spaces organized in general and keep in-need-of-using items visible.
Yes it’s amazing what a difference it makes Mary – a good reminder for me too this week 😉
oh dear labeling – I fall short on that one every time! Plenty of mystery dinners in my life!
You can change that Gillian – just keep a marker in the kitchen (near your freezer) and commit to labelling eveything that goes in.
Although I guess if you enjoy the mystery dinners there’s no need to change 🙂
Jx
The freezer is hardest area to keep organized. While foods there can last for months it’s easy to overlook many of them. Three tasks I will do immediately. Make a list by category what’s in there and check off items when used. Bag together smaller, similar items like sausages, sauces, lunch meats etc. Spring clean last week of month monthly instead of waiting till vacations or in Florida, a hurricane.
Sounds like a plan Julie 🙂
I simplified and reorganized my pantry back in January, with a class I took. I have to say that except for a very few things I’ve had a hard time remembering where I put them, I feel joy every time I go to get something from my pantry because it’s now so easy to use. It is well worth the effort to simplify and organize your pantry! A couple of tips I can offer: I really like wide-mouth quart, pint, or half gallon mason jars for storage. I have invested in plastic lids for them which are much easier to use. The other thing I’ve done is to label the shelves with the various categories. My pantry is some open shelving (bamboo shoe racks) which allows me to stick labels in near the edges. I have a space on the top shelf labeled “this week” for staples I plan to use right away. My biggest problem, which I plan to tackle today, is my freezer. I generally keep it well organized, but my husband cooks half the time and he’s fine with stirring it up and/or putting things in wherever. This is a project I’ll need to do on a fairly regular basis to keep it in good shape.
Great tips here thanks Susan!