Pantry Categories That Will Level Up Your Organization

How to use pantry categories to organize your food storage space. A simple pantry organization idea that makes a huge difference!

Pantry Categories

The best way to organize your pantry is to break it up into pantry categories or zones.

In this article, you’ll get ideas for pantry categories, tips for organizing your pantry, and ideas for doing a food inventory.

Food Inventory Categories with What You Have On Hand

If you’re just starting to organize your pantry, it’s helpful to take everything out of your pantry so you can see what you have.

Even if you’ve organized your pantry before, this is a useful step.

It gives you the chance to declutter, throw out expired items, and be more aware of what you’ve been storing in your pantry.

As you take items out of the pantry, group them by category.

Some of your categories might be broad (like “baking” for baking soda, baking powder, etc.), and others might be super narrow (like “diced tomatoes” if you just happen to have 13 cans of diced tomatoes in your pantry!).

Take everything out, and do one of the following for each item:

• Throw away (expired items, damaged goods, etc.)
• Put in a donate box (go here to find your local food bank)
• Put into a category

As you put things into categories, you can just group them together on your counters, a table, the floor, or whatever works for you.

This step will give you a good visual of exactly what you’re working with.

Plus, once everything’s out, you can wipe everything down inside your pantry and give it a good cleaning.

Pantry Organization Categories

Once you have everything out of your pantry, and grouped into loose categories, it’s time to think about what types of zones you want to create in your pantry.

You may want to just stick with the categories you came up with while taking everything out of your pantry!

But if you need some more ideas, check out the list below.

You will NOT need to use every single one of these categories, but seeing the ideas may trigger some good ideas about how you want to organize the items you have.

• Canned goods
• Pasta & rice
• Baking items
• Snacks
• Breakfast foods
• Nuts & Seeds
• Mixes
• Vinegars & Cooking Wines
• Oils
• Sauces
• Condiments
• Sweets & Candy
• Pickled items
• Boxed Meals (like macaroni and cheese)
• Cereals
• Spices
• Beverages, tea, coffee
• Root vegetables (onions, potatoes – though they shouldn’t be stored together)
• Breads
• Paper goods
• Soups 
• Fruits & vegetables
• Pet food
• Sides
• Beans & legumes
• Jellies & spreads
• Canned meats
• Miscellaneous – because some things just don’t fit in a category, no matter how hard we try!

Pantry Inventory List Printable

To keep our pantry organized, I make a pantry inventory so I always have a good idea of what we have.

More Pantry Organization Ideas

• Clever Pantry Storage Ideas You’ll Want to Try
• Organize Food Staples with a Pantry Inventory
• A Simple Solution for Covering Pantry Wire Shelving