How not to make your pantry Pinterest-worthy

How not to make your pantry Pinterest worthy - you don't need to have a Pinterest-type pantry for it to be organised and functional. Here's how to do it.

How not to make your pantry Pinterest-worthy

How not to have a Pinterest worthy pantry - stop thinking that you need a pantry full of matching, labeled containers to be organised. You totally can if that's your thing, but you can still have a super organised pantry, that works for you, with your mis-matched containers and lack of labels.

I know it's hard, you see the people on Instagram with the perfect pantries that look so good it's like no one actually lives there.

But what's the point of that? We don't want a pantry that looks untouchable.

Learn how to create a capsule pantry here.

We want a pantry that's stocked with good, healthy, wholefood, flexible ingredients that work together to make delicious, easy meals in a flash.

Let me tell you a story...

I think it took me about 9 months the second time around. If you have kids you may or may not know what I'm talking about but this is how long it took me to come out of my crazy newborn stage after having my second bub.

Granted, I went through a rough time mentally about 6 months after he was born but I didn't really realise I was in it at the time. I don't think anyone does really but you notice when you come out of it.

It's when you open the pantry to make breakfast one day and suddenly realise 'um what the actual.... how is this such a mess?!?'

It's when you go to get dressed and see that half your wardrobe is full of clothes that you either never wear, don't like or don't fit.

It doesn't even have to be having a baby that does it to you.

Adjusting to anything new that changes the way you've always done things while still trying to keep up with all-the-things and be all-the-things... that'll do it.

We jump on every new trend that says it will change our life but really it just adds to our stress.

It's not our fault though.

We just wanted help out of the chaos. We'll do anything to not feel so completely overwhelmed and like we can't keep up.

What we don't realise is that what we really need is to cut down on all-the-things (mental and physical).

It's simplifying things that really makes a difference.

I think when we're just completely overwhelmed we go into some sort of survival mode where things like keeping the pantry tidy get pushed way down the list of importance but really, keeping it simple, tidy and organised would be so much less stressful than the chaos of a messy, cluttered and disorganised pantry.

You might like to learn how to keep you kitchen clean while cooking.

I know the first thing you do when you're trying to organise

BUT... trying to keep it organised without doing the decluttering and simplifying stages first just causes even more stress.

I can be a bit anal about my pantry/fridge/freezer organisation and shopping (when I'm not in the newborn haze) and trying to do that in the newborn phase, well I think it contributed to sending me over the edge.

It's by no means Pinterest-worthy but I have a system and it works for me. My system means that:

• I nearly always know what I've got on hand.
• I always have ingredients for at least a few meals that I can whip up quickly.
• There's no running to the shops at the last minute for a random ingredient.
• I'm not madly scouring the fridge/freezer/pantry during witching hour or when Will and I are both tired after a long day to try and find something for dinner.
• Less waste - knowing what we've got and keeping everything relatively organised means usually I'm not throwing out too much food - that totally does not include the boys' rejected dinner. That gets thrown out more often that I'd like to admit (that or I eat it. Oops).

I could give heaps more reasons but they're probably my favourites.

I have a corner pantry, so it's rather tricky to keep track of everything in there but I sort of use the front portion and use the dark, back corner for bulk things and things I don't use all that often.

I also use a Lazy Susan to store bottles etc so I can see what there is and access things without knocking half the pantry out on my toes.

Here's a tour of my pantry I filmed last year. I did a Facebook live so it's complete with the little guy coming and biting me on the leg towards the end.

Then I did this one with a little tour of my fridge and freezer. The key points in here (and the pantry) are keeping things in sections or categories.

Lots of tips on how to style your kitchen here.

Now you don't have to stick to any sort of rule, as long as the categories make sense to you and help you sort and find things, that's the main thing.

I love baskets in the fridge and freezer and freezing things as flat as possible, either in ziplock bags or vacuum sealed is my big secret to fitting as much in as possible and keeping it organised.

I mentioned in the video that if you look in my veggie crisper on Sunday it will be loaded with prepped veggies for the week and here's what they look like all prepped. Doing all the veggie prep at once saves a lot of time and stress.

So there you go. That's how I organise my pantry, fridge and freezer. It's not Pinterest-worthy but the main thing is that it works for me.

Do you have any super kitchen organisation tips for me?