Keeping an organized pantry in your Hoffman Estates rental home can quite seem like a really difficult task. It is imperative to figure out where everything should go and how to keep things fresh and tidy over weeks (and years) of use. To ensure that your food supply is fresh and very easy to access, apply these simple pantry organization tips.
1. Create a System
Many people approach pantry organization with a fairly manageable system: grouping similar items together. Despite that this is an acceptable approach, it’s not actually the only approach to organize a pantry. Take into consideration placing items that you constantly use together with one another, such as pasta noodles, and sauce or baking essentials. But remember, there are other approaches to group your pantry items.
Try to take time to think about how often certain things are used, and place consistently used items in the easy-to-reach spots. Another option would be to delineate zones or stations in your pantry, grouping food items according to function or the time of day they are repeatedly used. Examples of this can be a coffee station, a bin with after-school snacks, or a shelf for breakfast. Heedless of what system you use, it should reflect your routines and how you use your pantry every day.
2. Rotate Your Storage
One often unconsidered strategy to pantry organization is a regularly kept rotation of food items. It is all too typical for food items to get shoved behind others and forgotten, or for purchased items to sit unused for months at a time. To refrain from throwing out expired food, it’s significant to develop a first-in, first-out system for your pantry items. When you are restocking each shelf, include new items behind older items. Thereupon, make it a point to take the time to consistently check the expiration dates of your pantry items and clean out anything that has expired. In this manner, you can secure that your pantry food items stay fresh and ready for use.
3. Choose Proper Storage Containers
It doesn’t necessarily have to be ultra-expensive or nice and pretty (although it can be), but really, among the best ways to keep food fresh in your pantry is to be certain that each item is stored properly. As distinguished from canned food items, which can be easily stacked neatly right out of your grocery bags, other food items require to be removed from the original packaging and stored in airtight containers.
To be certain to keep long-term freshness, decant flour, and other grain-based food items by taking them out of the bags they come in and placing them in glass or plastic containers with tight-fitting lids. The reason you shouldn’t store flour, cake mix, or similar items in their original bags is that not only will it go stale relatively quickly but on top of that the bags could be hiding insect eggs and other bad or nasty problems. The last thing you want is to eventually discover that your pantry is infested with bugs!
It’s additionally relevant to abide by a few simple rules with reference to grouping your pantry items. Certain foods shouldn’t be stored beside other foods. If you place both onions and potatoes in your pantry, you should take care to separate them. If you don’t, the onions’ strong odor can permeate the potatoes and bring them to spoil faster.
One last thing, when having storage containers for your pantry, it’s relevant to pick containers that not only fit your shelves but as a matter of fact, also make you track and access the contents rapidly. Mason jars might appear like the right option for storing rice and other items, however, the jar’s narrow mouth can make scooping difficult. Indeed, select containers that you can label with the name of the contents and the expiration date. Think about investing in removable labels to swiftly update each container’s information each time you refill it.
4. Size Matters
One final matter, as you organize your pantry, it’s vital to not only corral small items, the same with spice jars, in an orderly fashion but definitely to make room for bigger items also. Set out adding smaller shelving or trays to keep little things together and neat. Ideally, set up some taller spaces for cereal boxes, bottles, or other tall or oddly-shaped items.
Conclusively, with a little resourcefulness and some careful planning, you can bring about a tidy and functional pantry designed to help you really keep your food supply fresh and ready for use.
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