Living in an apartment is great for me. I actually prefer living in smaller spaces. Especially being only two people. Who needs all that space of a house? Not me. The problem with renting though is that I can’t change the layout of my small space. Unfortunately, the layout of my apartment is not the greatest. On top of not having enough storage space, the kitchen is fairly small. Thus giving me the challenge of having very limited space to store kitchen supplies and finding myself with one tiny cabinet as a pantry. 
It took me a while to find solutions for dealing with the trouble that situation caused. Troubles such as taking 5 minutes to find something at the back of the cabinet, not seeing what I have, buying doubles and so much more. 
After the many, many ways I tried to organize without any success, I found a system that works! It works for me and I hope it will work for you too. 


Take Everything Out! 

You might be surprised by the amount of expired food you have. I sure was when helping my family and friends organize their kitchen! So many unnecessary products, double products, expired food, dried food, etc. When you’re not organized, you can’t see everything you have. When you can’t see it, you don’t use it and then it goes to waste. 
Working with a small pantry can be very challenging since not everything is laid out in front of you. 

So the first step is to take EVERYTHING OUT! Go through all of your food and get rid of anything that is expired or you don’t think you’ll ever use. And yes, it might be hard to admit to yourself that you’ll never use that super-out-of-your-comfort-zone ingredient that you bought a year ago, but you have to! So say goodbye and continue on. 

Categorize

My favorite part. Separate your products into related categories. Canned food, salty snacks, health bars, dried beans, pastas, rice, etc. Group items of similar purpose. For example, I grouped nut butters with granola, maple, agave and health bars. These made sense personally, they serve a similar purpose for me. Pasta and rice are also together because they are both sides. 
I group those items since I don’t have a lot of space and can put them in a shared box which I’ll explain more about in the next few steps. 


Assess Quantities and Content


I wish I could get these beautiful containers from Ikea but the small space makes it harder to use for some purposes. 
Knowing exactly what you use regularly and what quantities will help you determine how it’s best to store. For example, I use small containers for hemp seeds, chia seeds etc. On the other hand, I don’t take pasta out of it’s box to store in its own container. I like trying different kinds of pasta and having a few different containers for pasta would not work for me. I also choose not to store beans, lentils, dry fruits and similar products in sturdy containers because I simply don’t have the space. I usually get them in the bulk section and since They are in a bag, It saves me space to just keep them like that. I keep them in the wire box and to prevent not seeing them being an issue, I keep an inventory list.
 Stuff like rice and popcorn I place in their own containers for easy use. 


Place Less Used Products At The Back

Using the depth of a space can really make a difference. Using it smartly though is the tricky part. As I said, if it’s in the back and you forget about it,  it might spoil. My solution was to place things that I don’t use as much and items that use for refills, such as sugar. 

Think of the products that you don’t use as much and place them neatly in the back in a way they are still visible if you move the boxes from the next step. I chose sugar, instant noodles, less used sauces, flour (I don’t bake too much), extra pasta and dry beans. 
Another method I use is having a list which I’ll explain more about in the next steps.