Organizing your pantry Part 2: creating zones

I hope you enjoyed part 1 of the #uncomplicate your pantry series. My goal is to give you the steps and tips for creating a beautifully organized and uncomplicated pantry. 

Did you toss all of your expired packaged food? After you finish this series, you won’t have that much to toss again. Ever!

Part 2 is all about creating zones for the contents of your pantry. What does it mean to "create zones?" Think about grocery shopping and how each aisle is organized by category of food. You will create categories of food in your pantry based on how you eat.

Zones = Categories
However, zones are customized for you. For example, in the store, peanut butter and bread are usually sold on separate aisles but you typically use them together. I've created a zone for nut butters and spreads, sometimes containing it with a basket or bin or placed the jars on their own lazy susan. And labeled it, of course.

No more searching multiple shelves or cabinets for the foods that go together.  When you store like or foods that go together, you create a zone. 

Here are some examples of zones you might have:

• Breakfast foods

• Pasta

• Grains & Legumes

• Canned food

• Meal starters

• Sauces & Condiments

• Chips

• Crackers

• Kids' snacks

• Adult snacks (usually stored on a higher shelf and contain yummy dark chocolate 😉)

• Snack or Protein Bars

• Peanut butter, bread, & spreads

• Drinks like bottled water or canned drinks

• Paper products

• Baking supplies

• Birthday supplies

• Smoothie ingredients

• Oils & Vinegars

Think about the zones you have and start to group the like items together. As you do this, you might realize you’ve got some zones that require more space. Don’t worry, we’ll attack that when we talk about products. For now, I just want you to group like items together and mentally “pencil in” your zones in your pantry.

This exercise is for you to identify the zones for your household. If you don't bake, you don't need a "baking supplies" zone. If you've got a household with food allergies or sensitivities, creating zones for specific food types would be helpful.

The goal here is to create the zones that work for you so that cooking and shopping are easier, less complicated for you. The fewer places you have to look for foods, the better your life will be.

Once you've identified and mapped out your zones by grouping like items together, you can relax and mark this off your list. You’ll probably notice a need for some containers like baskets or bins or even cabinet shelves that might be necessary.

Stay tuned for more on that!