Annual Pantry Challenge Kickoff | Everything We Have In Stock

Welcome to my pantry! I’m so excited to take you through everything I currently have stocked in my pantry and freezers as we kick off the new year. If you’re joining me for pantry challenge season, this tour will show you exactly where I’m starting and how I keep everything organized as a family of two.

Why This Pantry Tour is Different

This isn’t just any pantry tour. We’re starting fresh at the beginning of the year, and I want to be completely transparent about what’s working in my kitchen organization and what needs improvement. You’ll see the Pinterest-perfect sections and the real-life messy drawers because that’s what actually happens when you’re cooking and living in your kitchen every day.

Quick reminder: I’m currently about 3-4 weeks ahead on all my videos. If you want to watch them as soon as I upload, you can join Members First for just 99 cents! Also, don’t forget about Pantry Bingo – you can download it for free by signing up for blog membership here.

The Pantry Transformation Story

When we first moved into this house, our current pantry space was actually our drop station, and the pantry was on the other side of the kitchen in a room without any temperature controls. After six months, we switched the two rooms because this space has an air duct for heating and cooling – essential for food storage!

I built out this side of the pantry myself (okay, I didn’t build the cabinets, but I stained them and we installed them). The back wall was tricky because I wanted to keep the existing cabinet accessible, so I installed custom wooden shelves stained to match our floor and cabinets. I added cute containers since everything is visible, and made my own labels using sticker paper and an inkjet printer.

Products seen in this video (Affiliate Links)

Top Shelf: Specialty Ingredients

Starting at the top, I keep all my specialty baking and cooking ingredients:

Spinach powder
Xanthan gum
Various gluten-free flours
Sugar-free sweeteners
Butter powder
Banana chips
Celery powder
Peanut butter powder

These are ingredients we whittle away at over time, but they’re essentials for my recipe testing and special dietary needs.

Main Pantry Shelves: The Workhorses

Second Shelf Down

Black beans
Pinto beans
Cooking oils
Sugar
Extra oats
Powdered sugar
All-purpose flour
Medium grain rice (new – excited to try this for Spanish rice!)

My Favorite Shelf: Starches & Baking Basics

This is where I keep everything perfectly organized in those cute containers:

Tapioca starch
Potato starch
Grits
Cornmeal
Dutch cocoa (absolutely delicious)
Powdered sugar
Oats
Rice flour
Sweet rice flour
Regular sugar
Jasmine rice
Basmati rice
All-purpose flour
Milk powder

Bottom of Custom Shelving

Chocolate chips
Regular cocoa powder (needs refilling)
Salt
Cornstarch
Panko breadcrumbs
Baking soda
Baking powder

Pro tip: If you’re not using drawers for snacks and small items, start now! They’re life-changing for organization.

The Cabinet Tour: Where Everything Lives

Drawer #1: Pet Food & Snacks

I keep all our cat food here – their breakfast and dinner varieties. (Fun fact: Their treats are in a different area of the house so we can tell what they want based on where they go!)

Drawer #2: Family Snacks

This drawer looks like organized chaos, and I love it:

Granola bars
Popcorn
Beef sticks
Member’s Mark organic fruit twists (highly recommend!)
That’s It fruit bars (not a fan, need to use these up)

Everything just gets thrown on top of everything else, but it works for us!

The Canning Cabinet: My Pride and Joy

This cabinet isn’t as full as it’s been in past years, but we’re working on filling it up during this pantry challenge. Here’s what I currently have canned:

Proteins:

Chicken
Turkey broth
Pork
Beef stew
Hamburger soup

Vegetables:

Carrots
Corn
One lone sweet potato
Zucchini pineapple

Condiments & Jams:

Barbecue sauce
Balsamic onion jam (delicious!)
Strawberry jam
Apple chili jam
Apple jelly

Beans:

Chili beans
Chickpeas
Navy beans
Unflavored pinto beans

If you want to know what I’m planning to can next, check out my pantry challenge kickoff video!

The Candy Making Cabinet

This has become my new obsession! I have an entire cabinet dedicated to candy-making supplies. Yes, I know it’s a lot of candy, but making your own is so much fun. I stock up when I go to the store because I prefer ordering everything else online.

Favorite candies I’ve made:

Chocolate covered cherries (currently out)
S’mores bark (also out – they didn’t last long!)

I even have my own assorted chocolates at home now. It’s amazing!

Mixed Pantry Cabinet

This one’s a bit of a disaster, but that’s real life:

Top section:

Various cereals
Nuts and raisins
Homemade dry mixes (these are awesome)
Extra condiments

Middle section:

Pasta
Rice noodles
Quinoa
Wild rice
Barley
Way too many tortilla chips from Sam’s Club

Bottom section:

Extra condiments for pizzas (olives, pepperoni, pizza sauce)
Stir-fry ingredients (coconut milk, baby corn, water chestnuts)
Ramen (I’ve learned to make it actually taste good, not just with the packet!)
Gluten-free country gravy mix (delicious, even though I’m not gluten-free)
Zucchini powder

The Little Cabinets

Cabinet 1:

Extra baking supplies
Jello (need to use up)
Baking soda and baking powder
Extra cherries

Cabinet 2:

All types of nut butters (peanut, almond, cashew, natural and regular)
Molasses
Cherry pie filling
Sweetened condensed milk (great for candy making)
Corn syrup
Marshmallow fluff
HUGE containers of baking powder from Sam’s Club (oops!)

Cabinet 3:

Extra gluten-free flours
Grits
Flax seed
Chia seeds
Cornmeal
Salt
Various rice flours

Freezer Tour: Where the Real Organization Happens

I have three freezers total: one chest freezer and one standing freezer downstairs, plus our inside fridge freezer. I’m so happy with what I have stocked right now!

Chest Freezer: Poultry Central

This freezer is mainly chicken and turkey:

Chicken organization:

Halved chicken breasts
Diced chicken
Sliced chicken
Chicken thighs

My chicken prep method: When I buy chicken in bulk, I process it the same day into different shapes and sizes. I almost never keep chicken in its original packaging. Instead, I prep it the way I’m going to cook it. Then when I want to cook, I just grab a bag and use it without touching raw chicken every single time!

Exception: Last time I ordered chicken thighs from Sam’s Club, they came in packages and I didn’t have it in me to waste all that plastic, so they’re still in the original packaging. It’s fine – good enough!

Also in this freezer:

Pork bones (for stock)
Turkey stock (needs to be canned)
Two HUGE turkeys (I thought I was getting tiny ones because they said “young turkey” – oops!)
Ribs

Standing Freezer: Everything Else

I got this freezer secondhand in 2019 for $100, and I was so grateful to have it in 2020!

Vegetables from the garden:

Cherry tomatoes (2024 harvest)
Regular tomatoes (current year)
Various zucchini preparations
Grapes from the garden
Pears from the garden (still figuring out what to do with these)
Cauliflower rice
Last of the squash from a year ago
Tomatillos
Lots of broccoli
Green beans

Proteins:

Multiple cuts of pork
Multiple cuts of beef (including ground beef and steaks)
Hot dogs
Bacon (needs air fryer prep)
Apple and gouda sausages

Cheese & Extras:

Shredded cheese (I prefer to buy blocks and shred myself, but sometimes convenience wins)
Crushed tomatoes in cubes

Current debate: Should I freeze more tomatoes in cubes or can them? Freezing means no lemon juice needed!

This is the most meat I’ve had in a long time. It will easily last throughout the year. The goal is to eat through things that are getting freezer burnt before they go bad.

Garage Freezer: Freezer Meals & Extras

What’s inside:

TONS of butter
Sweet and sour sauce (homemade)
Tomatillo sauce (stuck at the bottom, which is why I haven’t used it)
Extra salsa
Lots of tortillas (we really like burritos!)
Extra brown sugar

Freezer meals situation: I’m running low! Only three freezer meals plus meatballs (only my husband eats the meatballs because they gave me a migraine).

I also have:

Just Bare chicken nuggets (for quick snacky dinners)
Marinated chicken (but needs more sides)
Little corn tortillas
Hash brown patties

Hash brown hot take: I’ve tried these from everywhere – Kroger, Trader Joe’s, Target, and Great Value. Great Value ones are SUPERIOR. They’re the only ones I really like.

Also have:

Garlic bread
Frozen waffles
Sweet potato fries

Inside Freezer: The Daily Use Freezer

This one’s kind of a disaster because I’ve been shoving things in, but let me show you what I did that’s working well:

Smart reorganization:

Moved vegetables to the more accessible basket (I use them more often)
Fruits in the other basket
Yeast and brown sugar at the bottom

Sweet treats drawer:

Ice cream
Extra cookies
Other treats

What’s left of the burritos: Not as many as I’d like!

The slightly messy section:

Single-serve freezer meals
Sourdough loaf with butter (wasn’t my favorite – should have mixed butter into the bread instead)
Hamburgers (should be outside but I was lazy)
New yeast in a quart jar (doesn’t fit where the other yeast is)
Tons of homemade hamburger buns
Chicken nuggets from Costco (bought them because of a sample – that’s what happens!)
Tamales (also from Costco samples)
Just Bare chicken nuggets (open package)
Tater tots
The BEST sandwich bread I’ve ever made (need to make another loaf without sourdough discard)
Cinnamon raisin swirl bread
Leftovers from forever ago
Whole tub of cookies (made two nights ago, other tub almost gone!)

Breakfast section:

Homemade breakfast sausages
Sam’s Club breakfast sausages (bought in a log, sliced and froze)
Trader Joe’s hash brown patties (not my favorite)
Freezer jam I made (not a huge fan, need to figure out what to do with it)

Bonus: The Drink Station

I keep our drink station organized with:

Extra honey
Other sweeteners
Protein powders
Coffee drawer with decaf, half-caf, and regular organized

Pro tip: If you don’t have all your drinks in a drawer, definitely go for it. It’s so convenient!

Final Thoughts

And just like that, the pantry and freezer tour of 2026 is complete!

Here’s what I’m feeling about my current stock:

I feel content and good about what I have
I have exactly what I want without feeling like I need to desperately use things up or stock up
This is the first time in a while I’ve felt this balanced at the start of the year

Usually at this time of year, I want to either aggressively use things up or frantically stock things. Right now, I just feel good.

Now it’s time to start the pantry challenge! We’re playing Pantry Bingo, so if you haven’t checked that out yet, head to my blog for the free download.

Your Turn!

I’d love to hear from you:

What do you keep in your pantry?
What staples do you think I’m missing?
How do you organize your freezers?

Drop a comment and let me know! Let’s connect and share our pantry organization tips.