Your pantry is a sacred space. Keep it orderly and organized with these 10 best pantry organization ideas, so you can easily access all the ingredients for your daily meals. An immaculate pantry leads to easy food preparation and less stress for cleaning clutter. Learn more here to make it even easier.

1. Go Through Everything and Purge Your Pantry

Ready to take stock of your pantry? Start by pulling out all the contents and sorting them into categories. Don’t forget about those expiration dates. Anything expired can be gently shown the door. But no need for perfectly good food to go to waste.

Unlocking the contents of your pantry starts with the purge. This is the key to easier categorizing when storing your food, but that's just the beginning. Once everything is neatly organized and in its place, put the rest of these helpful tips to work for more efficient organization. Don't forget that order means effortless access—it pays to get creative with organization and planning.

2. Separate Your Pantry Into Zones

You can turn your pantry into an organized culinary paradise with a little organization and effort. Transform it by divvying up the contents. Designate areas for different items: baking stuff, canned goods to keep on hand for quick eats, herbs and spices that make meals unique, plus snacks so good they'll disappear in no time. Whatever works best; it's yours to customize however you see fit.

3. Make More Shelf Space

If you are looking for a simple and effective pantry organization solution that adds stacking to a common open space, you may need shelf risers. Put one on each of your shelves to instantly double the storage capacity in your pantry.

4. Use Hanging Baskets

Maximize your pantry space with hanging baskets. They come in all shapes and sizes so that you can find the perfect fit for wire shelves or solid shelves (just install some hooks). Use them to store produce and small, packaged items—making it easy to keep track of everything.

5. Use Bins for Small Pantry Items

Pantries don't have to feel cramped and cluttered anymore. With a little organization, you can store all of your herbs, spices, and baking ingredients (like cake mixes or food coloring) in small bins or baskets. This makes it easier to find what you need for any recipe without the hassle of pulling everything down off the shelves. Just pull out the bin your ingredient is in, and voila. You'll be on track with whatever culinary masterpiece awaits.

6. Lazy Susans for Pantry Corners

For those pesky pantry corners that don't have any room, the Lazy Susan is your best friend. Load it up with all shapes and sizes of items, from big ol' baking mixes to small spices like cinnamon. You'll be able to save time by spinning 'til you get what you need without having to rifle through cluttering piles.

7. Avoid Round Storage Containers

When organizing your pantry, use the power of squares and rectangles. Round objects are inevitable when storing canned goods, but switch it up by using more interesting shapes for other items. With rectangular containers, you can stack easily—making more innovative use of all that precious storage space.

8. Hooks and Pant Hangers

Tackle cluttered corners with the help of hooks and pant hangers. Hang towels or kitchen aprons, stow away brooms and mops, and use pant hangers to store chip bags.

9. Shoe Organizers Are for More Than Just Shoes

For all your kitchen organizational needs, try using a shoe organizer. Its clear plastic pockets are perfect for keeping those small pantry items like baking supplies and snacks—think pudding cups and granola bars—nice and neat. 

10. Label Everything

Labeling your pantry is key. Keep track of all the different ingredients with clear labels, so you never have to worry about accidentally putting salt in pancakes instead of sugar. Don't let confusion reign; label it and save yourself from a nasty surprise later.

Good Pantry Organization Is the Key to a Happy Kitchen

If you want to enhance your kitchen experience, whether it's a brand new construction or an upgrade to the pre-existing space, take this list of ideas and find which ones fit just right. With creativity comes joy; don't be afraid to let yourself experiment with different storage solutions and designs. Take that pantry from “blah” to “ah,” and make every grocery trip and meal prep a breeze.