What does it mean to have an organized pantry?
If you type “organized pantry” into any internet search engine it won’t be surprising what results turn up. Pictures of beautifully “organized” pantries with EVERYTHING decanted into coordinated plastic containers. These images are so pervasive that it's hard to imagine an “organized” pantry that doesn’t look like this. But let’s consider what it really means to you to be organized. Personally, my definition of organization is: everything has a home and this home makes sense when considering when and how the item is used.
In my view, decanting is NOT a requirement to having an organized pantry. My organized pantry is the combination of a shelf in a closet, a cupboard in my kitchen and a cellar in my basement. The shelf, cupboard and cellar aren’t overstuffed. Everything has a place. It’s easy to quickly see what I have on hand. It’s easy to put things away because everything has a home.
I’m not saying that a pantry filled with every item decanted into containers is not an organized pantry. But this aesthetically pleasing image doesn’t come without a significant investment in time, money, mental energy and physical effort.
The dark side of decanting:
First, there is the time and energy it takes to physically decant an item. When I go to the grocery store I want to come home and unload the groceries as quickly as possible. And presumably when you’ve gone to the store you’ve already thought through what you are going to prepare over the next week, what you need to prepare these meals and what you already have on hand. You’ve traveled to the grocery store, shopped for the items on your list, taken each item out of your cart during checkout, paid for the items, loaded bags back into your cart, then transferred those bags from your cart to your trunk. Then, when you get home you have to transfer your groceries from your trunk to their final resting place: your cabinet or pantry. I want that last step to be as uncomplicated or unfussy as possible.
It’s messy. Yes, you can use funnels and that helps a bit but there is still usually some mess to deal with on the counter and floor and you sometimes need to wash the funnel used depending on what was decanted.
It’s expensive. Containers are not cheap, especially containers that are big enough to actually be useful.
It is a lot of mental work when you are procuring containers. You should ideally consider your constraints before buying containers of any kind. Namely, how big is the space I have to store these items? Also, are the containers the appropriate size for my needs. Will a whole bag of pretzels fit into my “pretzel” container?
It can be wasteful. What happens when your “pretzel” container doesn’t fit a whole bag of pretzels? Do you stuff the ¼ full bag in a box in your pantry and then forget about it until you stumble upon it 6 months later and the pretzels are stale and inedible and then you waste that ¼ of a bag of pretzels? Or what happens as your needs change and you need more or less containers? Or different sizes as your family grows or kids leave the nest? Those containers often get relegated to the basement where they languish, sadly being denied the opportunity to fill the measure of their creation.
It often takes up more room than keeping the item in its original container. The containers take up the same amount of room, whether they are empty or full. Also the plastic and lids in and of themselves take up room.
So why do we continue to hold ourselves to these standards? To “look” like we’re organized? To impress our friends? Decanting is a myth. The reality is that somewhere lurking in the corner of a cabinet is a hot mess of all of the odds and ends that don't fit perfectly in the container you've designated. And they get forgotten and then stale. Or there is a hot mess of "other items'' because you don't have room for them in your cabinet because literally all of your shelf space is taken up by half empty containers of AIR. And you can never escape the continued maintenance of decanting. It will never end.
With all of that said there are a few things that I do like to decant. I like to refer to this as “selective decanting”:
When the bag that the item comes in is flimsy and prone to ripping I feel like decanting is worthwhile and can save on cleaning up time down the road. Think flour and sugar.
I also decant when uniformity of container matters to me. This is most common in 2 instances: you have open shelving and you are displaying the items in pretty jars/containers or a spice drawer and cabinet. Often the most convenient place to store spices is in a drawer or cupboard near your range. You have to work with the physical constraints of that drawer or cupboard so it may make sense to have uniform spice jars to maximize that space. And most people aren’t going through their spices weekly or even monthly, so you probably won’t be decanting your spices very often.
What are your thoughts on decanting? Have I convinced you to set aside the dream of a pantry that looks “organized” but really has become something that sucks up your precious time, energy, space and money?
