Various Cooking Supplies
Since the pantry exists for you to meet your kitchen needs, some people will store their cooking supplies in the pantry, such as the following.
- Sugar and flours for baking
- Various oils
- Additional seasonings and spices
You can easily reach for your supplies whenever you need them. Otherwise, you’ll need to look for other areas to store your belongings, such as your counter. However, if you go with the pantry, you can keep those items out of the way until you need them.
A Place for Food Storage
Alongside cooking supplies, you can also use the pantry for food storage. Usually, pantries have multiple shelves with some space underneath them. Therefore, you can take any food storage and put them on the floor underneath the frame.
Doing so will help you maximize space and have an easy place to access your food storage. For example, you can put cans there and keep track of the dates on them. Doing so will make it easier for you to cook food storage if any items get close to their expiration dates.
Pasta and Rice
You also need access to some grains whenever you cook meals. For example, some people like to have rice with their meals while others will cook pasta for certain dishes. Having them in your pantry makes them easy to access whenever you want to cook some meals.
Also, you don’t want to risk placing pasta and rice in other areas. For example, putting them in the fridge could make them wet, ruining the food. However, you should store pasta and rice in the refrigerator if they’ve been cooked.
Bread
Not only do you need to protect pasta and rice from different conditions, but you must also consider bread. For example, if the bread gets too hot, cold, or wet, it could become moldy or dry, so store it in the pantry instead.
You can easily find a spot in the pantry for your bread and similar items. For example, you can also store hamburger and hotdog buns in the pantry. That way, you can easily access the bread in the morning if you want to make toast or similar items.
Non-Frozen Fruits and Vegetables
You may also have some non-frozen fruits and vegetables you plan to store in the pantry. Just like with bread, you want to keep them safe. On top of that, some animals and insects will try to reach your fruits and vegetables, so you must protect them when possible.
If ants catch a scent of your food, they’ll create a path to your fruits and eat them. By putting them in a bag and the pantry, you minimize the risk while putting your food in a convenient location.
Final Thoughts
Pantries provide additional space, but you only have so much space available. Make sure you use the area correctly and store your pantry staples to make cooking easier. As you do so, you’ll maximize your space and use your pantry effectively.
