The following is a guest post from regular contributor, Rachel.
Last I was here, we toured the main section of my pantry where I organized those annoying wire shelves. Now I’ll show you the floor space below. I’m not going to lie, it isn’t as pretty as all my organized pantry bins above but it’s functional and that’s good enough for me.
My primary use for the bottom floor space of my pantry is to store excess bulk items we get from our local warehouse store. While I can show you how I organize, I’m certain not all will pertain to you because of differing preferences when it comes to large bulk purchases. Plus, my stash is always fluctuating. Rarely do I always have the same excess bulk items to stash. Our tastes change, the seasons change, the sale patterns change… you get the idea. So, I roll with the changes and designed my floor “system” around that very concept. Here are five tips I find handy when keeping bulk foods organized.
No Labels
Nope, this organized girl isn’t loosing her touch with the label machine. I find flexibility key to squeezing in leftover bags of sugar and extra cans of beans. If I labeled, I would never be able to maneuver or fit everything in the pantry after a shopping run. Today, a ginormous bag of rice is coupled with paper towels that don’t fit where I normally stash them, but other days excess sugar and macaroni boxes wind up in the bin pictured below. It’s all relative to the need.
Use the floor itself for heavy bulk items
Storing heavy water bottles or large jugs of vinegar in bulk on those thin wire shelves is bound to cause a collapse at some point. So, I keep my black, labeled bins full and store any excess below on the floor.
Employ dead space
You’ve read about my potatoes and onions, right? It’s my answer to float a shelf where there isn’t one and to keep the pantry produce aerated.
Enjoy the ease of open bins
I love THESE basket bins from the Container Store, which come in many size and color options. Here are some very similar (affiliate link) that come in a 4 pack, if you get free shipping via Amazon Prime. I also used them loooong ago for our garage makeover and that system is still going strong! They’re open, stackable, and easy to access, everything from cooler bags (middle bin in pic below) to peanut butter. Plus, these particular open bins are very sturdy and tolerate a heavy load easily. One more thing I like about these bins, they sit on little peg legs that keep them elevated from the dusty floor. I can easily slide my mop system underneath to clean the floor below or just remove the whole stack of them and give things a good dusting underneath.
Be smart with wipeable organizers!
I live in Florida. Everything must be wipeable to help keep bugs away, but really that would be in any pantry no matter where you live. I try to stick with organizers that are easy to wipe down spills or dust messes from fine powders and accrued dust bunnies.
Those are my simple tips. My pantry was a bit bare when I took these photos. I wish I had done a Costco run before this photo shoot to give you a better idea (sorry ’bout that, guys!). Usually I have a large jug of vinegar sitting on the floor towards the right. Large vinegar jugs also make more sense to stash on the floor rather than tempting the fate of wimpy wire shelves. 🙂 Oh, and usually a thing or two gets placed on top of the water bottles when the pantry is filled to capacity. In fact, I usually don’t keep a water stash down there. This particular flat was for Tropical Storm Colin and thanks to Laura’s reminder post, I was prepared! 😉
In the professional world, I’m a nurse by trade. But, around our house, I’m known as Mommy to our young daughters. My two worlds collided and began shaping into a blog. Useful Beautiful Home represents the hours I’ve dedicated to managing my household as efficiently as possible. I offer you motivation to keep your home healthy, organized, and welcoming. My goal is to share what I’ve implemented in my home to inspire you with fresh ideas and to encourage you to keep up the good work in yours!
*Please note that affiliate links are included in this post to make it easier for you to find what is being referenced. A small commission is made should you purchase product using these links, but this is at no extra cost to you. As always, any and all opinions are genuinely my own – or the author, in the case of posts by my guest contributors. Thank you!*
Brenda says
Those are nice stacking bins. It is good that you can clean under them. I just organized my pantry of bulk food items too. It will be interesting to see the next time I go bulk food shopping what will have to change. I hadn’t thought about that.