“Let’s see if she can improve upon that,” says St. Louis Magazine dining editor George Mahe, pointing to the clever drop-down spice rack he’s installed in his gently crowded, ever-so-slightly chaotic pantry. “I really do like to be organized,” he adds. “It’s less stressful—especially when you’re in the middle of cooking something and you can’t find a spice and the timing’s critical—but it’s hard to stay organized.”
So, we brought in Janine Adams, a certified professional organizer who founded Peace of Mind Organizing, and let her at Mahe’s pantry. Often she faces more of a mess—either physical or emotional. After a divorce, a loss, or a necessary downsizing, she says, “I can get your life back quickly.” In this case, though, she just had to persuade Mahe to part with his mismatched Tupperware; trash the fancy, long-past-fresh condiments; and organize a little more strategically.
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1. First, they tackle what’s out of reach:
“I can’t get to these,” he begins, waving toward the top two shelves of his pantry.
“So you won’t go up there very often, apparently,” Adams says.
“And when I do, I get on this swivel chair. I will die falling off that thing.”
“You know, I know someone who died falling off a chair.”
He blinks.
“You should just get a little stepstool,” she says. “The Container Store has one that folds super-flat, or you could even make a spot on the lower shelf for it. Cause otherwise—”
“It’s unusable.”
“You probably don’t even know what is up there.”
“There’s some frilly toothpicks that if you touch the jar they’ll all probably fall on your head,” he offers.
“How tall is your wife?”
“Suze’s five-six. But I’m the cook anyway.”
2. Now it’s time to evaluate what’s already working…or not working:
Adams admires his turntable—“This is great for those little squat jars of fancy condiments”—and his pull-down spice rack. “Are they in any particular order?”
“Are you going to alphabetize things?” he asks warily. “If so, it’s time to go.”
“No, I’m not. Although some people do. How do you like to do it? Categories are a logical way.”
“Well, I kind of did that. There’s baking stuff over here.”
“So tell me what’s negative about your pantry.”
“It’s too random. I’ve got pots here, I’ve got pots there. I’ve got these damned things everywhere”—gesturing to plastic food-storage tubs and a miscellany of lids.
“Do you have trouble with lids disappearing?
“Yes.” Grimly.
“Tell me about this guy.” She points to an ancient, restaurant-size plastic-wrap dispenser just below waist level. “Do you use it?”
“Oh, yeah.” He tears off a sheet of wrap to demonstrate. “The rolls are so big, this is probably only my second one.” His eyes wander to a stray handle on a higher shelf. “This thing is part of this mandolin. And a lot of it is this stuff”–he points to the lids again. “I used to keep it up top and it would fall on my head and I’d curse.”
“Are the cereals working OK for you?”
“That’s kind of the random breakfast stuff and snack stuff just gets thrown in. Like this—here’s the pretzels. So there’s no real spot for snacky things.”
“The double boiler doesn’t get used much, right? And is that a chinois? Is there storage space anywhere else?”
“There’s a big bin downstairs where we have a turkey roaster and a 3-gallon stockpot.”
“And you’ve got those high shelves, too. I think that stool thing is going to come into play here.”
3. The fun part: sorting, categorizing, and wielding that label-maker:
She pulls out bulk spice bags that are hiding behind his proud pull-down rack. “My thought would be to put those in a container somewhere easy to grab.” She begins pulling out snacks, checking expiration dates. “We’ll bring stuff out, sort it by category, and then put it back in the order in which you use it. We can declutter as we go.”
“Here’s the other baking stuff,” he says, pointing, “and weird things are drifting over. We only bake once every couple of months.”
“One thought would be to put all the baking ingredients in labeled containers up high, so you can bring them all down at once. There’s a particular type of container I’m thinking about—it’s tall, so it won’t tip over as you pull it down.” She starts sorting. “Take note of the expired things so Suzi knows you don’t have Crisco and baking powder anymore.”
As he obeys, she slots teabags into a drawer organizer, then places it in a larger bin with cocoas and gives a happy sigh. “I find that very pleasing. Do you want to label?”
“Yeah, I would label, if I had a labelmaker.”
She pulls out hers.
4. The reluctant partings:
Adams’ eye falls upon a jumbo jar of Golden Eagle, a blend of Karo syrup, honey, and molasses.
“I’ve never used it,” Mahe admits. “But it was a gift. I’ll keep it, I guess.”
“It’s got a big footprint. You sure? Whenever I hear ‘I guess’ I explore that a little bit.”
“Yeah, I’m not going to use it. But it’s just when someone’s given you something—”
“It’s served its purpose,” she says gently. “It made him happy to give it to you.”
Ancient jars of fig preserves, peanut butter, peach butter, and Asian sweet peppers hit the trash. “You see?” she asks. “This is already a nicely organized pantry, and even as organized a pantry as this was, you still find expired foods.” She reaches for another jar.
“Is that the white honey?” Mahe asks, hand up to forestall her. “That does not get thrown away. It’s like the nectar of the gods.”
“And we also have this nightmare,” he warns, opening a cabinet about 4 inches wide.
“Oh. That is a skinny cabinet. You keep oils and vinegars there—that makes a lot of sense. Can you find the ones you want?”
“God, no.” He reaches for a jar, opens it and sniffs tentatively. “Walnut oil doesn’t go bad, does it?” His face screws up. “Smells like turpentine. It could go.”
Adams’ Principles of Pantry Organization
- Take everything out, decluttering as you go. If you haven’t eaten it by now, and the sell-by date was 2005…
- Use dividers and containers to segregate by category. Put teabags in a long, clear drawer organizer and ditch the awkward boxes.
- Put whatever you use most often in front or on top (like your favorite sauté pan, even if it is a little bigger than the one beneath it).
- What’s seldom used goes on the highest shelves or to the back, but in labeled bins so you can pull it all out at once: baking soda, baking powder, flour, sugar, etc. Use high-sided, handled containers so you can pull them down easily without tipping them onto your head.
- Group like with like, but also group items you always use at the same time for a favorite dish, like the molasses and vinegar Adams reaches for once a week to make her beloved sloppy joes. (She keeps her sloppy-joe spices right next to each other in a neat row on her spice rack.)
