Why Fall Is The Ideal Time To Start Decluttering Your Pantry

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As the temperatures drop throughout the fall season, the routines and eating habits that you and your family follow begin to change. Since it's no longer scorching hot outside, you can turn on the oven and start mixing up your favorite baked treats. If you've got kids who are going back to school, they'll no longer be at home for lunch. Before you know it, it'll be time to start stocking up on winter foods. These kinds of seasonal transitions change the way that you interact with your pantry. As a result, fall is the ideal time to think about reorganizing your pantry. The best way to start doing that is to declutter. If you get rid of items that are no longer relevant and reorganize your space to highlight the foodstuffs that you use most, you'll undoubtedly increase the functionality of your kitchen and speed up your daily meal prep process.

Decluttering your pantry during fall is also a great way to start preparing your home to meet the demands of the upcoming holiday season. You can make room for extra tins of Christmas cookies, boxes of chocolates, or bottles of adult beverages. Plus, if your shelves are free of dust and devoid of expired products, you'll have one less thing to worry about cleaning before your guests arrive this December. And to top it all off, decluttering your pantry during autumn could effectively make it easier to follow simple hacks for keeping the kitchen clean this Thanksgiving.

Decluttering your pantry is just the first step in preparing this space for autumn. Once you've thrown out all the items that you're not going to eat or that have an old expiration date, think about what foods you and your family will use the most in the upcoming months, and consider shifting them closer toward the front of your shelves, so that they're easy to reach. If you're going to be doing lots of baking soon, make sure essentials like your flour and sugar are accessible and clearly labeled. You might want to put some after-school snacks out for your kids, so that they don't have to go digging for food elsewhere in your neatly organized kitchen cabinets when they're hungry. Some clear plastic organizers or Vtopmart stackable storage drawers could help you ensure that individually-wrapped items don't get out of control. Glass jars and woven baskets are solid, multifunctional items you can use to organize your pantry as well.

To prepare for seasonal cooking tasks, you might also want to rearrange your collection of spices. You could use a lazy Susan or a tiered riser to do this. Warming spices like ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg will become increasingly relevant as the weather gets cooler, and should be stored within easy reach. If your pantry still feels a bit crowded after you're done cleaning up, consider adding storage to the space with a Delamu over the door pantry organizer, or a similar alternative. There are also plenty of IKEA solutions that will help organize your pantry as well.