For A More Organized Pantry, Try These Tips From Celebrity Chef Bobby Flay

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If you're looking for inspiration on how to create a pantry system that works hard and actually stays organized, a professional chef is a great person to look to for tips and ideas. One celebrity chef who has an interesting way of keeping the pantry sorted is Food Network's Bobby Flay. In 2022, Instagram followers of the chef and Misfit Markets got a tour of his pantry that showcased how he keeps things organized and what he uses to keep his cooking staples fresh. 

Even if you don't have a walk-in pantry like Flay, there are some interesting takeaways from this walkthrough, including the fact that he groups food items together based on different types of cuisine. For example, products that would be used in Italian cooking are all stored on the same shelf, while ingredients for an Asian-inspired meal are together on a different shelf. Flay even has a section dedicated specifically to his baking ingredients. On top of having ingredients for specific cuisines stored in groups, he also keeps his peppers, condiments, and seasonings in one section for easy access. On the same shelf as his seasonings and condiments, Flay has a basket for snacks, like chips and crackers. This makes it easy to grab what he wants without having to search or make a mess. And on the floor are heavier drink containers and bottles.

If you want to try a similar pantry organization method, consider what dishes you consistently make at home. You can organize things based on the meals you like to cook regularly and keep those ingredients stored together, even if your organizational method is not cuisine-specific. This will make reaching for items easy and convenient. But what makes Flay's pantry system even more useful is how different things are stored.

If you're looking to replicate Bobby Flay's functional at-home kitchen pantry, apart from organizing your ingredients by the dishes you create, you might also want to follow one of the chef's most important tips — store your dry goods in clear reusable containers. The fact that he has all of these properly labeled contributes to the functionality of his storage system. If you follow this method in your own kitchen, you can eliminate some of the clutter of open packaging and see what you have on hand at all times, while keeping things nice and fresh.

You'll be pleased to know that even designers, like Nate Berkus, use a similar storage solution for pantry organization. When putting this into practice, consider airtight containers that allow you to store a wide range of dry ingredients. You may want to pick up both tall containers that work for pastas and flour, as well as shorter containers that might be good for dry beans and dried fruits. These Kemethy airtight food storage containers with labels (available for under $30) would work well. This will allow you to not only create an aesthetically pleasing pantry, but also one that is useful and easy to work around. Flay's pantry organization tips are all about being able to find ingredients quickly, so if you follow these ideas, you'll be able to move through your meal preparation with ease.