Spring Decluttering: Perfect Pantry

A perfect pantry is the last stop on our spring decluttering tour. My deliberate use of the word ‘perfect’ may conjure up a vision of a huge walk-in pantry. It’s outfitted with painstakingly-curated shelves on which matching labeled bins share space with glass canisters full of decanted cereal, pasta and grains. Everything is color-coordinated.

That’s not what this blog is about, and that’s not what I mean by perfect. As we all know – it’s rude to be that perfect! When I say ‘perfect pantry’ I mean perfectly functional. A pantry in which you can see your food supplies and access them easily. A pantry that is easy to keep stocked and hard to mess up. In short, a pantry that works hard for you. This missive focuses on the things you need to and the things you should avoid to achieve a perfectly functional pantry. One that works perfectly for you.

Step One: Radical Honesty

The first thing you need to do to achieve your perfect pantry is practice radical honesty. Radical honesty is an important skill in decluttering and the pantry is an ideal place to practice it! I should note that your pantry may consist of a cabinet or two. Your pantry items may live across multiple areas in your kitchen. Or you may have the afore-mentioned walk-in variety. I really don’t care how much space you have or how it is configured; radical honesty is required to achieve perfection.

Radical honesty is the practice of being honest (in this case with yourself) regardless of what that honesty leads to. What we have to be honest about when decluttering dry goods is whether we are actually going to use them in the future. What I see most when I’m working in pantries with clients is food that

1. Is not visible and thus forgotten
2. Was purchased for something specific and only used once
3. Was left over from a previous food era

Radical honesty requires admitting that you are never going to use the canister of mulled cider spice that came in a Christmas basket 8 years ago. Nor are you going to use the Xanthum Gum you purchased in an eventually-aborted attempt at gluten-free baking. No one is going to eat the cinnamon-flavored applesauce that came in the variety pack you bought when your kid got their wisdom teeth out 5 years ago. The teeth and the kid have moved on.

For some folks letting go of ‘perfectly good’ food is really hard. And yet, you still need to do it. Don’t try to fool yourself into thinking you are eventually going to use that xanthum gum. You need that space for better functionality and aesthetics in your pantry.

Next: Discriminating Bulk Buying

Remember when your kids were young and life was chaotic and certain items flowed like water out of your perfect pantry? In my house it was Cliff Z bars, Goldfish crackers, Honey Nut Cheerios and Spaghetti. They were all high-velocity and in order to save money and multiple trips to the store I picked up the bulk versions at Costco and it was mostly great. Fast Forward a decade. The kids had mostly flown the coop, but for a while I was still bringing home pantry items from Costco. I wasn’t going as often, but it seemed appropriate to pick up the things we eat frequently while I was there. 

But here’s the thing, our life is different now and buying in bulk doesn’t work so well for pantry items. First of all, those bulk items take up a lot of space. The flats of soup cans, boxes of snack-packs or cases of flavored seltzers are all big space-eaters. This wasn’t an issue when we were going through the stuff quickly, but with only 2 of us in the house now it takes a long time to get through things. They just sit around in our ‘backstock’ area, often passing their freshness date in the process.

The other pain about buying in bulk is the unpackaging process. It’s a lot of work! When the house was full of kids it was worth the money saved to have to cut through plastic with a box-cutter or decant half of a huge bag of flour. But now, for me anyway, I value ease and convenience over saving a few dollars.I’m not saying buy nothing in bulk! Rather, I’m advocating for mindful shopping that supports your pursuit of a perfectly functional pantry – one that is easy to maintain. Only buy the things you go through quickly in your life now. The ones that are worth the extra space they take up and the extra effort to unpackage and decant should still be on your list. And speaking of decanting…

Discerning Decanting

Decanting is central to many a perfect pantry you see on your social media feed. In case you haven’t already figured it out, maintaining decanting takes a fair amount of effort. If you can’t keep up it can quickly devolve into a major clutter situation. I’ve gone deep on the subject of decanting in the past, but for the purposes of your perfectly functional pantry I’m boiling the subject down to 3 guiding principles:

1. Decant things with awkward packaging. The most obvious example is baking ingredients like flour and sugar, which are much easier to access from a canister than a bag.

2. Decant staples that you aren’t likely to change over time. Decanting works when you are consistent over time. So if you aren’t likely to change granola brands, pasta shapes or bean varieties then go for it!

3. Decant items that are highly visible on your countertops. If space or convenience necessitates keeping staples on your kitchen counters, they look much nicer and less cluttery if you decant them.  Coffee and tea, vitamin supplements, oil and vinegar are all excellent candidates for decanting!

Remember, we are striving for a perfectly functional pantry. So if you choose to decant something it should serve a functional purpose, vs. just doing it because it ‘looks nice.’ (Here are some decanting products I like if you’re considering taking the plunge)

As with all organizing projects, decluttering is the most important step in pursuit of a perfectly functional pantry. So really lean into that radical honesty. Use it to assess what makes sense for your life today in terms of bulk buying and decanting. When you find the right balance you’ll achieve the perfect pantry for you!