Organize Your Cabinets

I want the cabinets at this place to feel like another part of the home.  One that has received the necessary care and attention and not just an insignificant addition that in reality is so imperative to a kitchen.  When I can find everything I am looking for and when it just looks very nice in there, I am a happy gal.  I usually don't do much cooking, but I am one to randomly start baking at any given time (yeah, I love to bake and I do loads of it) so I want my baking essentials to be well kept.  Just because cabinets have doors does not mean there has to be a jumble of mess in there, not at all.  

Organize your pantry cabinets

The cleaner, organized and clutter free your cabinets are, the more you will feel inclined to keep them that way and to actually be proactive to cook (yup, ever since I have vowed to keep the inside of the cabinets in pristine conditions, I have found myself to feel all excited to prep something) ha, who would've thought?  I am really into Butternut Squash soups lately.  I will seek to share the recipe with you soon :)

Organized foods and spices may help motivate you to cook

Sometimes the rush or excitement I'm in to bake something, leaves me forgetting to shut those cabinet doors, revealing to the whole world (ok, ok, to whoever enters the kitchen) the complete chaos in them.  Not a cute sight, that's for sure.  Which is why I decided to do something about the food dumb that I, along with my family, have harbored there.

For this project you will simply need glass jars of all capacities (tall, short and wide) for all the different sized items in your pantry.  I got mine at target (check here).  So how did I manage to organize my cabinets...?  

Glass jars needed to help organized your cabinets

Empty that sucker

Begin by removing every single item in your cabinets.  

Empty your cabinet before organizing it

Don't be alarmed by the magnitude of stuff sitting on your kitchen counters, table, floor... or the random things you didn't even remember you had.  That's just part of the surprise.  Oh, and don't forget to realize how big your cabinets really are, it's incredible.

Clean & Sanitize

With a damp towel, start from top shelf to bottom, cleaning and clearing out any loose bits of, well, whatever is on the surface of your cabinets.  Make those food hoarders squeaky clean.  At last!! 

Sort & Discard

Since the cabinets are clean, worry about two piles (what to keep + what to toss).  With the variety of stuff I know you will find, it is best to get rid of anything you won't be using or that is expired as well as organize the items you will keep in categories (baking, spices, boxed goods etc) or in sections that will allow you later on in the process to reach for them quicker.

Pack In Jars

Here comes the fun part (at least for me it was).  Place each item inside a clear, glass jar, screw the cap on, et voila.  At this point you may label each jar but I decided to not do this as I can clearly see what's in each.

Cabinet items organized inside clear glass jars

Strategically Placed

Now that all your pantry essentials are inside their designated jars, it is time to store them.  This is why it is important to clean your cabinets before everything else, so that you can quickly put the jars in them without worries.  

Organizing the cabinet

It is also important that you put all the most used items up front and the least used ones towards the back.  It will only save you time in the end, specially when you just want to prepare a quick, simple dish in minutes.

Place the most used items up front when organizing your cabinet

That's it.  With the help of some very useful glass jars I was able to organize my pantry cabinet.  I wish you could have seen the before pictures, but I forgot to capture them.  Well, just thank me from sparing you from the horrific mess you would have seen.  Since I was on an organizing spree, I went ahead and tackled the cabinet where plates, cups, mugs and bowls are kept, too.    

You can organize your glassware and cups in a similar manner

Some items I decided to keep in the containers they come in because I either didn't have a small/big enough jar or it was just more practical to keep them there (example: Spices and pasta). 

What do you do to organize your cabinets ?