Pantry ReDeux Series
Pantry ReDeux Series
Organizing our life & health one shelf at a time
Happy New Year! Covid-19’s resurgence got you down? It’s ok—and understandable.
As the new year gets underway, we at The Well are introducing a new series called “Pantry ReDeux”. It’s a judgment-free food column where I take a peek into readers’ pantries and provide simple suggestions to improve organization and food selections which will hopefully inspire delicious, nutritious meals and snacks. I like to think of it as The Home Edit meets The RD.
The new year is the perfect time to do an assessment of the often overlooked pantry and refrigerator. By focusing on our environmental setup, we can change how we make food choices throughout the day. I’m working to improve here myself, and I’ll share a peek into my pantry and refrigerator in an upcoming issue.
Let’s take a peek into our first pantry that I call the Tall and Narrow.
The Tall and Narrow is a pantry that I’ve had in a few places I’ve lived and I’m betting that you have as well. As described, it is tall but narrow and oftentimes pantry items get lost in the back of these cavernous spaces.
Check out a few photos of the space before it was reorganized. Food choices abound, but it is difficult to see what is actually available.
There are a few completely free ways to make these spaces work better for planning meals. Here are my tips for this space.
Put most frequently used items at eye-level: It’s human-nature, the easier it is to access something, the more frequently it will be used and eaten. When thinking about organizing your pantry and refrigerator, make it easily accessible, the items you want to include more of in your diet. Put other items that you use less frequently in harder-to-reach spaces, the lowest and highest level. In this pantry, the baking items were all moved to the lower shelf. Staples used to make meals as well as snacks were moved to the more central shelves.
Unpackage snack items to reduce food waste: Unpacking items makes it easier to see when you need to purchase more of that particular item and encourages you to use/eat what you have available. Ultimately, I think this can help reduce food waste. How many times have you opened a package to only eat a little of it and then it goes stale? Increasing visibility is helpful for many different reasons, but saving space and reducing food waste might be two of the most important reasons.
Use containers to categorize: Categorizing items in your pantry and refrigerator helps with meal planning. If you use a plate-style method to plan meals, which is typically focused on produce, grains, protein and fat, it is easy to see what food options you have to fill those categories on your plate. In this pantry, categories were created using containers that were already available, but you can purchase items that make organizing a tall and narrow pantry a lot easier.
After implementing a few simple tips, these are a few after pictures of the tall and narrow pantry project.
Risers weren’t available but are perfect for creating more visibility for canned items in a pantry.
Discover a few of my favorite items for helping to improve visibility and organizing in tall and narrow spaces:
Risers: If you have a limited income and can only afford to choose one thing to purchase, I would suggest risers. These are great for spices and all those canned items in the pantry. You can actually see what you have available and therefore will readily know when you need to replace items. There are some great items available on amazon, like these spice risers and these risers for canned items.
Divided Lazy Susan: Slightly pricey (some can be close to $30.00) but worth the investment, the divided lazy Susan will allow you to easily access condiments, oils, or snacks. My favorite are these from the container store.
Narrow Pantry Bins: Narrow pantry bins are perfect for a tall and narrow pantry. They provide you with the ability to categorize food items easily and will fit the space. If you don’t have the budget to purchase narrow containers, simply use what you have available. For this pantry leftover takeout containers were used to organize snacks and other items.
For this organized tall and narrow pantry space, $0 were spent in improving the space and it took about 45 minutes. The simple tips were implemented to create a space where items were categorized—meal and snack staples were placed within eye-level and containers (that were available at the home) helped to categorize food items.
Simple changes can make a difference. Are you planning to organize your pantry and refrigerator in 2022? We would love to hear how you plan to change those spaces to make them work better for creating some delicious meals throughout the new year.
If you would like to submit your pantry or refrigerator for some free tips, your personal information will remain completely anonymous. Just contact me at alison@flourishmyhealth.com and I’ll let you know what I need to provide some expert tips in my next newsletter issue.
This content was originally published in The Well, sign-up for Free so you don’t miss an issue.