(upbeat music) - [Jennifer] Hey, guys, Jennifer here, and welcome back to The Family Fudge. In today's video, I'm going
to be giving my pantry a Pinterest-inspired makeover. And, you guys, I am super
excited to get started on this because I know that back to school season is right around the corner, and whether the kids are going
to school or staying home, I know that having a better pantry system will make it a lot easier to put together quick breakfast and lunches for the kids. Now recently, I've been
on a reorganizing kick and it all started just over a week ago when I gave my fridge a make-over as well. Now, if you guys missed that video, I'll go ahead and link it down below. Now, with that project
and today's project, I've broken everything
down into five easy steps. And you guys, these steps will work whether you have a big
pantry or a little pantry, and it will also work
if you have a big budget or a small budget. So if you're looking for some cleaning and organizing motivation, stay tuned. Okay, guys, so here is what my pantry is looking like right now. On the very top shelf, I have
a collection of OXO containers and I've actually had these for years. Lots of these need to be refilled, some of them have wasted space and some of them are even empty. Now in these next sections,
I have a lot of stuff kind of crammed everywhere. The last time I tried
to organize this pantry, I used a lot of Dollar Tree bins, which actually worked pretty well, especially if you're
organizing on a budget, but unfortunately I haven't kept it up and right now, things are
overflowing and it's just a mess. Plus, I find that with
these larger baskets, sometimes things get
smashed or forgotten about, and sometimes I'll even end
up buying multiples of things because I can't find what I need. So in today's makeover, I
would like to switch over to some clear bins, similar to
the ones I used in my fridge. That way I'll be able to
really see what I have and things won't get lost or go bad. And then down at the bottom of my pantry, I have these white crates from Walmart. And this is where I store
my bigger and heavier items. Now I actually like these bins, they store a lot and
they're pretty inexpensive, but they also get really
crammed with stuff and they are slightly
too big for my pantry. I have a really hard time
getting them in and out, and I'd really like to change that. So, now that you've seen
what I'm working with and I've worked through the
problems I'm trying to fix, it's time to get started. Okay, guys, so step
number one is no surprise. Anytime you start an organizing project, I definitely recommend
taking everything out of the space you're trying to organize. I'm just gonna put
everything on my countertops. That way, I can really see
everything that I have. And while I'm doing this, I'm also checking expiration dates, finding some not so pretty surprises that need to be thrown away. And I'm also trying to
keep my groups together, so I have my baking items over here, I have a little snack area, and so on. That way, when it comes time
to put these items back, it'll be a lot easier. Okay, guys, so now that I have
everything out of the pantry, it's time for step number two, and that's all about cleaning. Now, because I have wire racks, there's not really much to wipe down here, but I do see a little bit of gunk so I'm just going to spray that down and wipe it up the best I can. And, you guys, for this
really stuck on crud, I'm going to use my cleaning toothbrush. Yes, this is a toothbrush
just for cleaning, but it really is a perfect tool to get into little, tiny
areas and scrub 'em clean. Once I have all of the shelves
wiped down and the crud gone, it's time to clean the floor. Now, there are a lot of crumbs here, like an embarrassingly
high amount of crumbs, but I'm gonna take care
of those with my vacuum and then I'm gonna go ahead
and spray down the floor and wipe it up the best I can. Now, guys, in this cleaning step, I'm also gonna go ahead and
wash out any empty containers, and I'm also going to wash
out a few new containers I am planning on using in my pantry. I always, always recommend that you wash thoroughly
brand new containers when you bring them home from the store. I'm gonna give all of these
containers a good scrubbing and then let them air dry while I get started on the
next step, which is planning. Now, I'm sure there is a
fancier way that you can do this but whenever I am planning, I really like to get out a
good old pencil and paper and draw things out. That way, I can really see what
I'm working with beforehand. Once I have a rough idea on paper, then I'll go ahead and start
placing things on my shelves to get a better idea. Now, with this pantry, it has always bugged
me that lots of things were too tall for this main shelf here, whereas the shelf below it
has lots of wasted space. So I've gotten my sweet
hubby to help me out here, and he went ahead and moved
the shelf down a little bit, solving both of those issues. That brings me to step number four, which is to containerize. I ran to my nearby HomeGoods store and I was able to find
plenty of clear bins. These are just like the
ones I used in my fridge, and these were only about
three to $5 a piece. So a little bit more
than the Dollar Store, but definitely cheaper
than some other options. Now, as far as other containers go, I'm definitely gonna be
using the OXO containers that I already have. Like I said, I've had
these for a long time but, you guys, these can
definitely be an investment. My tip is to wait until
they go on sale at Costco. They go on sale several times a year, and it's usually a much, much better deal than if you were to buy them individually. Now, I was finding in my pantry that I didn't have enough storage for snacks that were already open and for pasta and other dry goods. So I also went to my local IKEA store and I picked up these really
nice, large glass containers. These have a really nice, tight
lid that also has a gasket, so hopefully the food
will stay nice and fresh. Also for this makeover, I picked up a little can
riser from HomeGoods. This is supposed to be for canned goods, but I have something else in mind. And then also from HomeGoods, I picked up two of these
little lazy Susan turntables and I can't wait to show you
what I'm gonna do with these. And then finally, at the
very bottom of my pantry, I'm going to go ahead and replace those white crates that are too big with some slightly smaller woven baskets. Now I found these ones at Michaels and I picked them up when all
of the baskets were 40% off. So if you're looking for baskets,
wait 'til they go on sale. And, you guys, I really love
the look of these baskets. I already have several of
them in my living room, so the look will definitely tie in with the rest of my house. So now that you know what I'm using, I'm gonna go ahead and
actually fill them up. (upbeat music) Okay, guys, this makeover
is almost complete and I'm so excited to show it to you. Here is a quick recap of what
my pantry looked like before. Again, not too bad, but
not very good either. (upbeat music)
And here it is after. Now, you guys, this ended up being such a huge transformation,
and I absolutely love it. And you guys know, I love rainbows so I put a lot of things in rainbow order. So starting at the very
top, I've grouped together my entire collection of OXO containers and I've kind of broken
this into three sections. Over here on this side,
I have all of our cereal finally out of boxes. They're all restocked and ready to go. Then in this center section, I have lots of different kinds of pasta. And then over here on the other side, I have pretty much all of
my standard baking supplies. So things like flour
and sugar, brown sugar, and then you also have some
oatmeal and pancake mix over here as well. Now, moving down to the next shelf, this is probably my favorite
shelf out of all of them. And that's because, front and center, I have plenty of my
favorite sparkling water. Now, also on this shelf, I went ahead and added two of these little rotating lazy Susans on either side, and that's where I went ahead and put my big glass jars from IKEA. And, you guys, I love this because I can easily
spin these items around, grab what I need, nothing's gonna get lost in
the back or forgotten about. And, of course, these glass jars are gonna keep everything nice and fresh. The next shelf is definitely gonna be my kids' favorite shelf, and that's because it's
pretty much all kids' snacks. On this shelf, I have
lots of different kinds of granola bars and protein bars. I also have my kids'
favorite cheese crackers. We have some fruit cups,
some little Nilla wafers, plenty of apple sauce,
some shelf stable yogurt and, of course, some oatmeal packets. Now, this next shelf is kind
of dedicated to food storage, so extras that I have on hand, just in case I can't make
it to the store for a while, I have these things ready to go. I have lots of pancake mix. I also have lots and lots
and lots of mac and cheese because all of my kids
love mac and cheese, and it's such an easy go-to. I also have a good amount
of peanut butter and jelly. In this section, I also
have plenty of condiments. I have my little protein shakes and the almond milk that I love so much. Now, moving down to the basket. This one over here is dedicated to pasta that has not been opened yet. I also have extra jars of
pasta sauce in here as well. In this center basket, I have some sweet potato
chips and veggie straws, and these are the bags that
have not been opened yet so this is where they go now. And then this last basket is kind of a mixture of cake mixes. I have some breadcrumbs in here, and then I also have two boxes of cookies that also have not been opened yet. Now, way down here on the very bottom, I have my heavier items, and they're actually resting on the floor. Over on this side, I have
some unsweetened apple sauce, plenty of pickles, and I also
have some little tuna pouches. In the center basket,
I have protein powder, coconut oil, vegetable
oil, and pancake syrup. And then in this last
basket in the corner, I have plenty of extra
barbecue sauce, taco sauce, hot sauce, and lots of ramen noodles. And then just as a side note, you guys, it didn't end up putting any canned food or spices in my pantry, because I actually have
other locations in my house. Step number five is all about labels. If you don't have a label
machine or a cricket machine, you can always take some
clear labels like these and just hand write on each
little label what the item is, and just stick it on your bin. And then if you have
baskets, I totally recommend getting some of these
little labels from Target. They're actually meant to go
on these little cube boxes, but I find that they work
really well for baskets as well. And you can go ahead and
just write whatever you want on the front and change
them out as needed. Okay, guys, I hope you
found this video helpful and that it gave you lots of cleaning and organizing motivation. If you enjoyed this video,
please give a big thumbs up, hit that red subscribe
button if you're new. I wanna thank you guys
so much for watching and I'll see you in my next video.
