With the new year comes the chance to freshen up our spaces, throwing out the old and organising any clutter. So, when we stumbled on a hack for helping us do so — specifically in our pantry, one of the areas in our home that likely needs the most organising (not to mention a deep clean) — we had to share.
The hack came to us courtesy of former Channel 7 presenter Sally Obermeder who, over the holidays, gave her Instagram followers a glimpse into her immaculately organised kitchen storeroom.
“I know this isn’t for everyone but — I’ve hit my personal peak joy. Deep cleaning and deep reorganising of the pantry […] then the study nook, then the closets. I am so happy,” she shared on her Instagram Stories.
The photo showed her wellness powders, cereals, lentils, dates and rice all neatly stacked in black, labelled containers. “These tubs are @tupperwareaustralia,” she wrote alongside them. “I’ve had them for about 16 years. They are indestructible.”
She continued, revealing the featured hack of this story: “I put a chalkboard label on them (from Kmart.) Then get a chalkboard pen from Officeworks. (Don’t use the Kmart one that comes with the labels — it’s hopeless.)
The chalkboard labels in question are indeed from Kmart, with a 24-pack costing a mere $3. While perfect for pantry labelling, they can also be used to customise school assignments, photo albums and scrapbooks.
Also in the Insta-story series, Obermeder offered another pantry organisation tip: invest in quality. She explained that the square glass jars that sat on the higher shelves had been from David Jones and were “super expensive”, but they’d lasted the 21 years since she’d bought them.
If you wanted similar, she recommended looking at specialty kitchen shops. “Still pricey,” she wrote. “But again, I think they’re worth it. […] I label them with a good ol’ label maker from Officeworks.”
As for her other tips, Obermeder recommended placing containers and jars with the tall ones at the back so you can better see.
“Last question — for those asking you can only do this if you have heaps of space. I have done this pantry set-up in every place I’ve lived in, including the first place we lived in (a tiny apartment in Darlinghurst above da clubs) which had almost a non-existent pantry and just some shelves,”
“So it can be done anywhere — just scale it up and down back on your space.”
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