Get A Soup Can Rack

If you are a big canned goods person then you should definitely look into getting a soup can rack. These things are awesome! They range in price from around $10 to $40 depending on the size and durability. This is at the top of my list when it comes to pantry shelves. Canned food storage can be a pain because you can only stack them so high, but with a soup can rack you can get your cans stacked in 3 or more rows. Plus, you can organize your canned goods by type such as veggies, beans, tuna, spaghetti-o’s and so on.

Get A Spice Rack

If the spice rack is going in your pantry area then you most likely don’t need anything fancy. There are tons of spice racks available so you’re going to find something that suits you. You can get a simple round spice rack that holds a good amount of spices, you can get a drawer spice organizer which can sit neatly tucked on a pantry shelf or you can install a door mounted spice rack. These typically work best if you current pantry shelving sits back a little as the door mount spice rack may bump the shelves. You could also install these on a wall if you don’t want them a part of your pantry. If you do a lot of cooking and don’t want to be in and out of your pantry id say go with a mobile spice rack or the drawer organizer so that you can bring them with you. Either way getting some sort of spice organizer will help alleviate a lot of clutter in your pantry.

Under Shelf Basket

I love under shelf baskets. How these things work is they simply hook onto the shelving that you already have and you can store items like foil, freezer bags, pasta such as spaghetti and you can use them to store goodies, like candies, and other items you want quick access too. This type of pantry shelving will also give you more space in your pantry for other items.

Install Your Own Pantry Shelving

If you aren’t renting and you’re looking to make a more permanent change to your pantry shelves, then you may want to consider installing permanent shelving. If you have a tall area that isn’t being occupied by tall items then splitting that in half with a new shelf will give you tons more room to put things. It’s cheap, it’s easy and it will last a long time.

Stacking Shelves

If you don’t own the place you’re living you can get some stacking shelves for your pantry in place of installing your own. You can purchase an adjustable shelf that you can lengthen or shorten to suit your needs and the size of your cabinet or you can buy a fixed width shelf. Again, these are perfect for larger openings of your pantry where you’re looking to get more room.

Once you’ve got the right pantry shelves for your pantry, now you can take some time to get everything organized. When you do this, be sure to check expiration dates on all your foods and toss out anything that’s expired. If you come across anything that you know you won’t use any time soon and its unopened see if you can’t donate it to a food bank.

Some food can be kept in outside the fridge. And you must be aware of which food needs to be refrigerated.  Poultry, cooked seafood, and meat left over shouldn’t be left in room temperature for more than two hours. Doing so can spawn bacteria in the food, which is the cause of possible illness.

Store food safely. Food that can be left outside the fridge should be stored in food storage containers. These are clear plastic containers with lids that have several shapes and sizes for you to choose from. These are great for cereals, bread or cookies. Food storage containers can also be used for meat. Keep a certain size of meat per container, so you don’t have to thaw meat again when you don’t use the whole cut. You can also use these containers for any food that needs to be stored in the fridge, but you don’t use the lid. Foods such as leftovers are better left uncovered to prevent moisture from forming. You would also want to use shallow containers for faster cooling of the food.
Wrapped foods should be wrapped tightly. Try to take as much air as possible out of sealable bags, and choose the smallest container for your food if you are using plastic containers.

Refrain from crowding your fridge. Food, in a sense, needs room to breathe. A fridge with too many food and containers inside will block the air circulation, limiting the cooling process.

Know when to throw food out. Food may look and smell okay but it doesn’t mean that it’s still safe to eat. Chicken, pasta or tuna can be kept for up to a few days while fish, cooked or uncooked should be thrown out after two days. If you’re not sure about a certain food, especially if it’s starting to taste or smell funny, just throw it out right away.

A fantastic way to keep everything organized so that you know how long your food has been in there is to buy plastic food storage containers that you can write on.  If you cannot write on them, use a simple piece of clear or white tape and place it on the top of the lid.  Write what it is and the date you cooked it so that you can easily identify how long it has been in there.

We know that saving food, especially left over ones is not only a great way to save time but money as well.  Using good containers too store your food not only helps you keep an organized refrigerator, but it also helps ensures your safety.  We need to put the safety of our family first. The money you get to save on food would never be enough to pay off hospital bills. So always remember safety first, saving after.

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Whether you are going for simple to store just a few things or need a complete kitchen center to help clear off counters, an over the sink shelf is a great inexpensive organizing solution.

Organizing Recipes On Your Computer – Create a folder called recipes.  Within that folder create sub-folders that you label by category. I find it’s easier to label them with simple words like meats, vegetarian, appetizers, pastas, breakfast, low cholesterol, low sodium, deserts, gluten free recipes etc.  It all depends on what foods you typically eat and what your preferences are.  Then, save the document in its designated folder and label it something that you can clearly find and identify for example: Moms Toad In The Hole.

Organizing Recipes Online – I have two ways that I organize my recipes online.  The first one is using bookmarks on my web browser. I set this up no different than how I set up a folder on my computer.  I create my recipe folder in my bookmarks and all the sub-folder with the various categories and when I stumble across a recipe online I save it to the appropriate folder. I make sure to label it in a way that is easy to identify.

The second way I store my recipes online is a website and iphone application or iPad application called Big Oven. With big oven you can store your favorite recipes as well as browse new ones.  They have great features like “try soon” as well as a leftover wizard that will tell you what you can make out of your leftovers.  It’s a great way iphone or ipad accessory to keep you organized.

Organizing Recipes Hard Copy – The best way that I have found to keep all my recipes in one location is using a 3 ring binder.  That way you can add to and remove at your convenience.  If you write your recipe in a notebook its permanently there and if you run out of room you have to start another book. Here is how I set mine up

• Organize all your recipes into categories, just like you would if you were doing this on a computer

• Get a new 3 ring binder and some tab dividers that you can label yourself.  Write each of the sections that you have onto a new tab divider

• Buy some clear sleeve inserts for the 3 ring binder. This will help keep the recipe in good condition and should you need to take it out of the binder it adds a layer of protection

• Insert your recipes into the clear sleeves and file them in the correct category they belong in

If you want to find your recipes at a glance you can always create an index.  You can put an 8×11 piece of paper at the front of the binder and write the name of each recipe that is in each section or you can create the list on your computer and as you add some new recipes, update your sheet and print it out.  This way you don’t have to continually skim through the entire section to find what you’re looking for.  This is also great if you have no idea what you want for dinner and need to see a big list for ideas.

You can also create an index for recipes that you like in your cookbooks or ones that are stored on your computer.  Quickly right down the recipe you enjoy, write the name of the cook book it is in as well as the page and now you can quickly pull that book and get to cooking. Same thing with your recipes on your computer. Write down the name of the recipe and the folder it is stored in.

If you come across a lot of recipes that you would like to try soon, create a try soon section within your computer folders or recipe binder. If you get a lot of recommended recipes from friends create a section labeled recommended.  So now, as you come across recipes in a magazine you can rip them out of the magazine and insert them into your binder.  If you come across a recipe online, you can either print a hard copy for your binder or save it on your computer.

Once you have set up your recipe organization it will be so much easier going forward to find all the recipes you enjoy.   Then you can start to brag to all of your friends telling them “this is how I organize my recipes” and you will sound like an organizing guru.

What you want to do is:

• Group specific items together as much as possible and determine where each group of items will go.   You will want to group things like spices, oils and baking supplies and if you use them often store them in an easily accessible location in your pantry.  If you have a lot of spices you may want to look at some spice racks that you can put in your pantry to help keep them all in one location, like a 3 tier wall mounted spice rack.
• You will want to group all of your canned goods and sauces together.  These generally require more room because you usually have a lot more of these items on hand.
• If you have kids or just like to munch throughout the day, then you most likely have snacks in your pantry. Put these in a spot thats about eye level where you can quickly grab a snack without rummaging through everything.

The easiest thing is to take a look around your pantry and quickly identify the items you have and write down on a piece of paper what groups you will need so you can map out where each one will go. This will save you a lot of time rearranging the items because you find yourself not having enough room for a specific group.

If you have a hard time remembering where the groups go or have a large family that will be in and out of your pantry often you may want to consider labeling the sections of your pantry.  This will help everyone put things away in the right spot and save you a lot of frustration.  This doesn’t have to be anything fancy or permanent.  Just a simple label maker will do the trick or even some masking tape and a marker.  Once you and your family are used to the new layout of your pantry cabinet you can remove the labels.

Every pantry cabinet is going to be different and so you will need to experiment with the best layout for your pantry.  Try installing some pantry shelving especially If you need to divide a larger shelf into sections, measure and cut some particle board to make dividers or use a piece of tape to divide the shelf in half.   Once your pantry is all nice and organized it will save you a lot of time and frustration trying to find what you need and you can check another “to do” off of your home organization check list.  If you do not have a pantry cabinet in your kitchen,  visit a few online retailers to check out the various types of pantry cabinets that will work in your kitchen.  You may find that this is what you needed to help keep your kitchen organized.