Building a Pantry, Step 4: Keep your Food Storage Organized

I think that food storage and organization are two of the biggest obstacles to home cooks. Many of us are limited on space and it can be hard to know where things actually belong. When items get pushed aside and lost, it can be very discouraging especially if you only notice it once the item has gone bad or doesn't make sense anymore. While I cant personally arrange everyone’s refrigerator and pantries (as much as I would love to!) I offer two tips from my time in restaurants and grocery stores:

1. FIFO

First

Out

When you put your groceries away taking the time to make sure that you are putting new items literally behind older or open items of the same will save you time and money. If you have open boxes of cereal but you just open the cabinet and put new ones in, the older ones will get gross and stale. This is true for almost everything you buy. Before you put it away, check if you already have some, and organize it so you grab the most perishable items first.

It is totally fine for your food storage to get disorganized over time!

Group like items together, with the ones that have a shorter shelf life in front

Make a plan for anything that will go bad soon. We will juice these lemons and carrots to freeze.

Our top shelf is strictly left overs and things that should be cooked or eaten ASAP

2. A dedicated spot for items that should be eaten first, and open communication about it

For me, this is literally the top shelf in our fridge and that is where we put leftover, and anything else that will soon spoil. When someone opens the fridge they know to look there before they open something new for a snack or meal. I also post a note on the fridge when I cook something or make something I want others to eat.