5 Easy Tips for Stocking a Minimalist Kitchen

Have you been considering a paring down of your pantry? If your kitchen suffers from disappearing spices or half-empty bags of beans, take note! Melissa Coleman of The Faux Martha is sharing her best tips in her new book, The Minimalist Kitchen: 100 Wholesome Recipes, Essential Tools, and Efficient Techniques, out today. Read on for an excerpt of how she sets herself up for success to minimize waste and keep efficiency a priority.

Keep a list

As soon as you think of something, write it down. This is a habit worth developing and one that took me a very long time to develop. Over- or under-buying will kill a pantry. I use a list-keeping app on my phone, Wunderlist, to keep separate lists for every store we shop. My husband can see and contribute to the list as well, so either person can do the shopping. If you’re extra efficient, you can even manually arrange the shopping list to the flow of the store.

Shop your list, not the store

This is my number one rule. A list is no good unless you use it, right? It’s important to note, a minimal pantry starts at the store, not at home. Be mindful of what you’re buying. If you notice yourself getting bored with the same old things, find a positive way to meet that need. Maybe it’s going out to eat to get something special. Or, maybe you introduce a new rule—buy one spontaneous thing a month. Again, know the rules so you can break them.

Break up shopping

Grocery shopping is one of my least favorite tasks, and yet it has to be done on a weekly basis. To make it more manageable, I break up shopping into two categories—pantry/bulk shopping and weekly maintenance shopping. About once a month, I shop in bulk for the pantry, using the list we’ve been maintaining. About one to two times a week, I make quick maintenance trips to the grocery store to pick up fresh produce and other perishables. As you consider shopping in bulk, keep a couple things in mind. If an item is shelf-stable, do you have a designated spot to store the excess so that it doesn’t crowd the everyday? If perishable, can you consume it before it goes bad? If not, consider buying in smaller portions from a traditional grocery store. Waste from buying in bulk can cancel out the cost savings.

Restock the pantry when you get home

As soon as you get home from the store, restock the pantry by emptying store-bought boxes and bags into the designated pantry containers. If you’re anything like me, later rarely happens.

Stock The Fridge smartly

Sometimes I forget to address the fridge. Because when you have a well-stocked pantry, a meal plan, and only do minor grocery shopping for fresh produce and other perishables one to two times a week, the fridge handles itself pretty well. In the pages that follow, we’ll talk about what to keep stocked in the fridge versus what to buy on an as-needed basis. Like the pantry, give yourself parameters here, too. I find meal planning to be the most helpful for keeping the fridge from going wild.

By design, the fridge comes with its own set of flaws. Some are too small, others are too deep, and very few are just right. I think we often assume that more space is always better. Sometimes, in the case of really small refrigerators, this is true. But in the case of most, there’s often too much space. Like deep pantry shelves, deep fridge shelves are places for food to go to get lost. Extra space often begs to be filled. So if you have deep fridge shelves, consider only using the full depth when absolutely needed in an effort to keep visibility high. Stock amounts you’re able to consume before expiration, and don’t be afraid to have empty spots in the fridge. When (and if) you find yourself in the market for a new fridge, I’d recommend a counter-depth fridge, which is more shallow than the traditional fridge. It has just enough space.

What do you do to stock a minimal pantry? Let us know below!