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Can you imagine turning all of these shelves into a kid-friendly pantry? — Can you imagine if this was your kitchen pantry? Photo via Closets by Design’s Facebook

If you have kids, you’re probably feeling a little more chaos than normal in your home right now. Kids grabbing for lunch or snacks and parents yelling ‘not that’ between other duties can generate even more stress. It’s probably become very obvious what is—and isn’t—working for you in your kitchen pantry. With some help from the folks at Closets by Design Central Alabama, we put together some pantry hacks that are sure to keep everyone in your home happy.

1. Does your pantry look like this?

a "before" picture of a pantry, not very kid-friendly — Every closet has a before picture. Photo via Closets by Design’s Facebook

When things get busy and a lot of people are using an area like the kitchen pantry, it can start to look like this. You can see a few attempts at organization being used like jars and containers, but it’s clear that nobody in this household has time to keep things in their place.

The result? Kids yelling “Mom, I can’t find anything to eat!” while you’re in the middle of

leading a virtual meeting for your team, or on the phone catching up with a dear friend. Not ideal.

2. The pantry could look like this: the ultimate pantry re-do

an organized pantry is a kid-friendly one — Ahhhh, the organization. Photo via Closets by Design’s Facebook

As someone who used to work in a grocery store, this one really appeals to my desire to have everything easily visible and super organized. There’s no hunting for something you can’t find, and it’s easy to see what you need to put on your shopping list. Plus, everything is visible and easy to grab.

Personally, I’d reorganize some of those bottom shelves to create a kid-friendly area with whatever they needed within reach.

For toddlers, I’d make sure to have fun and safe kitchen items down low so they could “cook” while I was in the kitchen.
With kindergarten to early-elementary age kids, I’d put things they could actually use (think non-breakable plates and cups) and some snacks where they’re easy to reach.
For older kids, I’d put what they needed at their eye level.

Know you want to redo your pantry? Call the talented designers at Closets by Design Central Alabama to see what it would take to transform your messy before to your organized after.

3. Baskets can help you prepare perfect portion-sized snacks

pre-portioning snacks is a kid-friendly pantry hack — It can be worth the time to pre-portion snacks—and not just for kids. Photo via Closets by Design’s Facebook

See that area on the right-hand side? Little baskets are the perfect place for storing kid-friendly snacks. One fun idea is to take the time to prepackage portion-sized snacks into little baggies from bigger bags or containers.

That way, you know your children are getting the amount you want them to have per snack, and you don’t have to worry about all your snacks being gone the day after you buy them. Not that we have any experience with that …

4. Clear containers make everything easy to see

clear containers are inherently kid-friendly because they can see what's there — Clear containers are inherently kid-friendly because they can see what’s there. Photo via Closets by Design’s Facebook

Are you sensing a theme here? The easier it is to see what’s in the pantry, the easier it is to do a few organizational tasks, such as:

Put groceries where they belong.
Restock the pantry.
See what’s available when it’s time to make a meal or get a snack.

So, if you’re the kind of person who loves to have everything in its place, an investment in clear containers will pay off.

5. Shelving makes it easy to set up a complete kid station in your pantry

You could turn the bottom shelves of a pantry like this into a kid station — Imagine turning the lower part of a pantry like this into a kid-station. Photo via Closets by Design’s Facebook page

While this picture isn’t exactly a kid pantry, you can imagine turning some of these organizational spaces into a learning/cooking/eating area for your little ones. Crunchy snacks from chips to nuts and seeds can go in baggies inside baskets. So can sweet snacks like raisins.

Non-breakable plates, cutlery, cups, napkins and even a cutting board and lettuce knives can make it easy for kids to set up just what they need. Juice boxes and a bowl of fruit can encourage nutritious choices.

You can do the same with your fridge by making sure quick-grab items like cheese sticks, chopped veggies, hummus, cold fruits and boiled eggs are easily accessible. When it’s time to go back to school or day camp, you can keep lunchboxes in the same area, and kids can help pack their lunches.