How to fill your pantry like a pro

From cupboards to freezer, implementing a new system could make your space work harder for you

In most homes, the kitchen gets seriously heavy use, yet rarely do we stop to consider why we’ve organised them in the way that we have, or whether they are still serving our needs. Whatever the type of lifestyle you leave, one thing is for sure: when you wake up to an organised kitchen, the rest of your day will flow a little better. And it’s not all about space: even in a small kitchen, a good organisation system can have a significant impact on the way the room functions. So what could we all be doing to make our kitchens work better for us, and turn poorly functioning rooms into spaces that simplify our lives?  
Hands up if you are guilty of buying every ingredient in the pantry section of your favourite cookbook, assuming that a cupboard packed full of food will simplify your life? Kendra Adachi, host of the Lazy Genius podcast, warns not to stock up in this way: “For some folks, storage is an issue, skills are limited, or shopping rhythms don’t lend themselves to ‘stocking up’,” she says. Instead, she suggests people start by naming the foods they like to cook, buying those foods as often as they need them and ignoring what other people say is important: “‘Essential pantry staples’ means nothing if something is not essential to you.”
And how should we organise the food we already have? “Starting with organisation is going in the wrong order,” says Adachi. “Instead, you first name what matters about the particular storage space. Is it access? Aesthetics? Using older items first? Second, you essentialise: remove the items you do not need or things that can be stored somewhere else. Then you organise. Now that you know what matters and have removed what’s in the way, you can more easily and accurately find storage solutions that work for you.”
Lolly season is here, our evening aperitif requires ice, and for the freezer to work for us, we need to clear some space. Kate Hall, who has written an entire book, The Full Freezer, all about freezer organisation and preventing waste, says that we should start by making sure there are not lots of ice packs hogging room. She also suggests taking food out of bulky packaging: “As soon as a bag or box is open, I will move [the contents] into a freezer bag.” Hall likes Ikea’s Istad bags: “You can write across the top of the bag what it is, when you froze it, when you bought it or the best-before date.” She then creates a sort of filing-cabinet system, standing the bags on their side and grouping different types of food together in labelled drawers.
Another trick she uses is to freeze loose items – fruit for snacking on for example – flat on a tray (she likes the shallow iDesign trays and tops them with reusable parchment) before decanting the food into labelled bags and adding it to the filing system. To be barbecue-ready, she suggests flat-freezing burgers in this way or even butterflying a chicken and freezing it flat in a freezer bag: “It will take up so much less space and defrost so much faster.”
The organisational element is key, she points out, as is keeping it tidy: “The important thing is having the structure in place. Because the drawers are labelled [she uses vinyl labels from The Label Lady], and because the system is there, it’s really quick for me to have a reset.” 
We all have that one kitchen cupboard that we are fearful to open, or a drawer of doom where a stuck spatula is preventing it ever closing properly. Professional organiser Jenn Jordan (@orjenise) says that this problem arises because many of us unpack kitchens in a hurry, perhaps on the day we move into a house, and then never consider moving anything around again.
The result is that our kitchens are often not functioning as well as they could. She says she always advises her clients to spend 5–10 minutes looking at their kitchens and considering what does and does not work. “You want your kitchen to flow really well. You want your tea near your kettle. You don’t want to be doing a tour of the kitchen every time you make a cup of tea. It sounds really obvious, but so many people don’t do that.”
She encourages clients to think about “premium space” in the same way that supermarket brands pay to be at eye level. “You want your premium shelves to be stuff you are using all the time.” So plates and mugs go on the premium spots. Spiralizers (she hates these as they have multiple parts and are often barely used) get relegated to the corner cupboard that is awkward to get into. And don’t store plates at floor level: “Over the course of years, it’s an unnecessary pain that you don’t need.”
A final tip? “Don’t over-containerise. It can lead to more clutter.” Although it’s tempting to get basket and storage bin-happy, she says we should only use tubs where we need to, for spices for example. “I only put a container in if it is going to wrangle everything together and make it make sense.”
If you’ve already decluttered your kitchen but find you are still lacking space, certified KonMari consultant Sue Spencer has a quick win. Spend just five minutes simply moving the cupboard shelves around, or using shelf risers (basically moveable shelves) to divide taller cupboards, and you’ll be surprised by how much more you can fit in with your “bespoke” shelf positioning. “I quite often go into homes and find there is a lot of void, dead space above things in shelves,” she explains. “You’ll have one layer of mugs and then a massive gap and then a shelf.”
To use the space efficiently, group taller items, such as cereal boxes and large decanters, on the top shelf, so that when you reach up you can easily reach the bottom of the container. Spencer also advises using standalone shelves inside cupboards (try Ikea or Dunelm) to separate things like plates and bowls: “If you stack everything one on top of the other in the cupboard, yes you are making use of that height, but you are making it really difficult to get stuff out.”
Spencer says that the majority of kitchen cupboards from companies such as Wickes, Ikea and Howdens are standard sizes, so it is easy to pick up a new shelf or have one cut to size if you need to: “I had a client with one of those horrible corner cupboards at the bottom. It was great for bulk storage but you couldn’t get to anything. We just got [a shelf] put in and all of a sudden it made so much more use of the space. 
She also suggests storing pans and baking trays vertically – especially if you have deep undercounter pan drawers – like a filing system, and using pan dividers. “Storing anything vertically, whether it is paper or things in the kitchen, really helps make better use of the space. Your kitchen has got to work for you 365 days a year, whether you like cooking or not.”
Joseph Joseph’s new Space cookware range includes non-stick pots and pans with ingenious folding handles – stack vertically for ultimate space-saving effect. From £85 for a frying pan.
The new Wonder Oven from Our Place, £195, is a dinky countertop oven that can air-fry, bake, roast, toast, grill and reheat, and comes in a choice of colours.
Kitchen Aid has a new Go Cordless range of small, rechargeable wireless appliances – including a chopper, a blender and mixer – which all use the same small rechargeable battery.  Make your smoothie on the table, keep the counterspace free, and put everything away afterwards with no messy cables. From £179 with battery or from £149 without battery.
Perfect for meal-prepping, Igluu sells reusable, stackable containers in a variety of shapes and sizes: 10 plastic containers cost £12.95, or 10 glass dishes cost £39.95: these can be used to cook, store and serve the food, saving on precious cupboard space.
Containerise with caution, but when you’ve worked out what really does need to be gathered, A place for Everything has some superb solutions, including these stackable pantry baskets, £19, where, crucially, you can see exactly what is inside.
Anyone else find that herbs always seem to get lost at the bottom of the vegetable bin? This Cole and Mason fresh herb keeper, £20, which fits neatly into the fridge door, could be the perfect solution.
A simple but effective little solution, this handy organiser, £11, clips onto the cupboard shelf to hold foil, cling film or freezer bags.
If you are someone who prefers to store things flat, this Procook foldable grater, £26, will save cupboard or drawer space.
Lacking room for mugs? If you can’t add an extra shelf into your cupboard, introduce a removable wire one instead, such as this extendable one from Lakeland, £10.99.
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