Keep Your Pantry Organized This Holiday Season in Kitchener

As the holidays come round once again, making space in your pantry is a necessary chore for the incoming quantities of baking and cooking supplies. Making space in your pantry is more than just shuffling items around and stacking cans on top of one another. To efficiently organize your pantry, there are a few tips and storage solutions in Kitchener that will make your life easier this holiday season.

Out With the Old

Schedule an afternoon on your calendar and dedicate that time to organizing your pantry. If you haven’t addressed this task before, it won’t take too much of your time, but it’s best to plan. Handyman Connection can provide tips for more extensive renovations and models if you want to update or increase your current space.

Donate Unexpired

As you go through the items on your shelves, check the expiration date on all food. Separate food into categories: expired for the trash, unexpired that you will eat, and unexpired that you will donate. You know the food that you will not eat though it is unexpired. You can prevent food waste by donating it now and not waiting for it to expire. Save space on your shelf and donate canned goods to shelters or food donation organizations.

Trash Expired

You might be surprised to learn that many items have long since passed their expiration date. While food waste is a serious issue globally, it happens to the best of people if there is no transparent organization system in place. Cans and boxes often get shoved to the back when rooting for other items, even if you have a first in, first out strategy in place. Dispose of all expired goods.

Check Containers

If you already have storage containers in your pantry, now is the time to take them out and clean them thoroughly. If you notice signs of wear or detect holes or leaks in airtight seals, it is time to replace containers before pests can take advantage of the opportunity. If you have smaller children, consider keeping containers at height level for them to choose snacks. Keep items out of reach that you do not want them to access without parental guidance.

Replace Items

Often, pantries can become the place where people put something when there is no other place for it. This unruly placement is a sure-fire way to clutter your pantry and make necessary items hard to find when you need them. Take time to return lost items to their rightful places or, if they do not have a specific home, they may be disposed of if they are of no value.

In With the New

Reorganizing your pantry doesn’t have to be expensive. While storage solutions can be part of more significant home renovations in Kitchener, they can also simply be the purchase of different-sized bins that help maximize the space in your pantry.

Fresh Bins

Inexpensive plastic bins can be purchased and used in your pantry to organize items and save space. Another reason why people use storage bins is to prevent spoilage and keep out pests. Popular types of storage bins include those for:

• Cereal 
• Pet food
• Cookies 
• Cans 
• Spices
• Coffee
• Sugar
• Flour

New Racks

The professionals at Handyman Connection can work with you to redesign parts of your pantry to include more or different shelving to suit your needs better. You may benefit from adding racks, shelves, or more open storage to add canned goods or smaller spice jars. The addition of drawers helps keep waste bins covered so that smells are contained; pets and pests are less likely to invade your pantry if your bin is adequately secured.

Contact Handyman Connection in Kitchener for more tips on maximizing your pantry space with innovative storage solutions.