Organized Food Pantry...From a Coat Closet

I had promised at the start of the New Year that we were going to get organized together...one spot in the house at a time. Today...it's the food pantry or food closet as we call it.

Our house was built in 1975, so big walk in food pantries weren't even a thought. We needed a spot for extra food storage or bigger items, but upstairs for easy access.

This little coat closet is by our front door,  just around the corner from the kitchen...perfect for a "pantry"

Just a side note...I did this "coat closet to pantry transformation" way before I started blogging, so this is not a "real" before picture.

I was cleaning out the pantry this weekend and decided to share the idea, so I put these coats in to show what it looked like before. Lol

The closet was always way too small for all our coats, so we use a larger closet in the back hallway or coat hooks we have on the wall.

Here's the quick transformation for you to change a closet to a food pantry or any storage actually.

Remove the closet pole...

I really should have filled in the holes, painted and made it look pretty, but it's covered with food any way and I'm good with that!!

Add shelving brackets...I always use this system, because it adjustable for the height you need on each shelf. It's very cheap too!!

I put in 2 brackets, one in each corner where the studs were, because this closet was small.

If you have a larger closet, you will need more brackets in the middle of the shelf for support. Make sure you use anchors or find the studs in the wall.

I had shelves cut to size at the hardware store.

All assembled and waiting for food.

Tah Dah!!!

I also added a door rack.

This is a screw in rack, not an over the door rack. There is just too much weight. I think I bought this at Home Depot or Lowe's.

Make sure you'll have room in the closet to close the door with the rack on.

It's narrow in width to fit in the closet when the door is closed and it's easy to see the items on the rack.

For the tall top shelf, I added plastic bins for all the paper goods we don't use very often.

Paper plates, plastic cups etc...

A slide on rack holds plastic utensils.

Now for the organized shelves...

These shelves are deep, so I didn't want to lose things in the back.

I keep cereal boxes or larger food boxes stored laying down to use the space better and you can see all the things right up front.

Baking shelf...

Cake mixes laying down too, stacked up.

You can see the names of the cakes and more importantly...the expiration date. Keep them in order of dates.

Pasta boxes also laying down.

and soups in a soda can dispenser...soup cans rolls out easily. These are just over stock soup cans. We keep some in the kitchen too.

Big boxes of garbage and food storage bags...great here and not taking up space in your kitchen.

Heavy water bottles on the floor.

Changing this closet to a food pantry was the best thing we ever did. It really frees up space in the kitchen for food and things we use on a daily basis. Also saves me from going in the basement for overstocked items!!

Hope you can find a little space somewhere for a food pantry.

You can also use this idea for...

• kids toys
• crafting closet
• linen closet
• Christmas closet

Happy Organizing,

~Karen~