The Absolute Best Storage Hack For Deep Pantry Shelves

Deep pantry shelves can be both a blessing and a curse. A blessing in the sense that you never run out of space. There's always room for a new box of Girl Scout cookies or a few extra cans of diced tomatoes, but deep shelves can also be a curse in the sense that you lose and forget about things all the time. It's like Groundhog Day every time you go grocery shopping because you've bought the same box of spaghetti four times, always forgetting there's half a box shoved in the back of the pantry. The solution for your inefficient kitchen organization is relatively simple (and cheap): long storage containers. If you can't find storage containers that fit the length you need, you can also attach two containers from end to end and create an extra-long organizational miracle.

In a situation where you can barely reach the entire shelf, the obvious solution is to make the back half more accessible. The easiest way to achieve this without renovating your entire kitchen is to invest in a few long storage containers. The containers act as makeshift drawers, allowing easy reach of those cookies and better visibility of your forgotten pasta supply. Whether you're looking for a way to align your San Pellegrino inventory by flavor or strategically group your potato chip collection, storage containers are a convenient hack for turning those deep, chaotic shelves into a perfectionist's dream. 

This probably isn't the first time you've tried cleaning up your strangely deep pantry, but it'll certainly be the last time you need to do it. When organizing, place frequented items towards the front of those long storage containers. If you're using panko breadcrumbs more often than the unopened boxes of quinoa, place the frequented item towards the front and less used items towards the back. Keep food items of the same category in the same bin, so pastas with pastas, cereals with cereals, and so on and so forth. It's also useful to purchase clear storage containers as opposed to colored ones, increasing the visibility of items tenfold. 

You could also label the long containers, that way you know when you slide out the "candy" bin you'll find those M&M's you've been saving for a rainy day. Maybe you'll keep the grain-based containers on the left hand side of the pantry and the breakfast food containers on the right. Using long containers means you no longer need to dig if you're looking for something specific, but strategically placing items at the front means you won't even need to slide the container out of position to find it. Don't let those ominous, deep shelves get in the way of an impeccably organized and functional pantry!