Practical Ways to Organise Your Pantry

Having a well organised pantry is the key to having calm week night dinners. If you frequently find yourself elbowing your child out of the way to stick your head in the cupboard to look for a tin of beans you ‘know is there somewhere!’, then you might need a bit of help.

On top of this, Shanghai summers can be muggy. The humidity hits not only on us but also in our pantry’s. Have your favourite chocolate smelted or are your hard candies stuck together? Have you ever faced an invasion of fruit flies or unknown insects that take over your dry goods? We feel you.

To get started, you’re going to need to invest in some sturdy glass containers. They are practical yet easy to find (save the photo above and taobao image search it). Get ready to start categorising and labelling your items!

Dry Goods

Dry good are easy to store and generally aesthetically pleasing when stored in nice glass jars. This means you can put them in your pantry or have them on open shelves. Transfer all dry items like white rice,brown rice, beans, lentils and nuts into glass containers with good rubber seals. This will prolong the life of your food, provide an easy access, and will keep out any unwanted creepy crawlies!

Flour

Want to make a baking session fun and exciting from the start? Flours can be messy when baking with kids and loved ones. Neatly stored flour cuts the mess while ensuring your fun time. Scooping flour out of your glass container with your favorite golden measuring cup will make you look professional just like what we’ve seen on cooking shows. Another tip, when the weather is humid, make sure to store them in the refrigerator.

Breadcrumbs

When it is time to make your favourite pork chop, meatball or Snitzel, it surely requires good quality breadcrumbs. Often seen in supermarkets, breadcrumbs are sold in a plastic bag. If you wish to keep it in its bag, make sure to keep in a refrigerator after opening and remember to seal it with food clipper. To enhance the beauty of your kitchen, place it beside dry grains in a clear container. Voila, looks fantastic!

Sugar

Sugar is a necessary ingredient used in baking and cooking needed on a daily basis. Therefore, it is important to store sugar properly, unless you want ants marching in from every direction to feed on your sugar. Exposure to humid weather also develops sugar into icky clumps. So, it is crucial to store in an air tight container and place it in dry cool place. 

Chocolates

Saving some chocolate bar for yourself during your kid naps, or just an escape for a couple of minutes to a pantry to have a heavenly sweet treat for yourself? Sometimes when you open a chocolate, but you find out its all soft and lost its crunch.That is not what we are after. We all get it, summer is hot. Before putting it into the refrigerator, wrap it with clear film which protects from other odours. Furthermore, it is not advised to leave them under direct light, especially under sunlight (unless you want Fondue).

Tips

Here are some pro tips we can offer you to make your pantry more organised.

Create separate baskets around your kitchen to store different things. In a separate basket you could place items like food colourings and cookie cutters which are not used every day and place them in one corner.

Keep the kids snacks in a small basket, so that they can reach them easily without hassle.

There are also times when kids and even adults would like to have a bite or two of their snacks. As a result, we are left with unfinished granola bars or fruit snacks. It is ideal to put them into another separate basket.

Voila! A Spotless Pantry