'It's alphabetical': Inside Leah Itsines' incredibly organised pantry

Despite some restrictions beginning to ease, the work from home life will likely remain for a little while, meaning that annoying habit of ‘having’ to walk past the fridge five or ten times a day isn’t going away just yet.

Thankfully, meal prep queen and Bare Guide founder Leah Itsines was kind enough to take us through her favourite snack ideas and prepping tips - and provide some incredible ‘pantry porn’ while she was at it.

Speaking to Yahoo Lifestyle in an Instagram Live interview, Leah Itsines gave us a tour of her incredibly organised pantry - and yes some of it is in alphabetical order.

“My spices are in the most accessible spot and they are in alphabetical order - that’s just me being crazy,” she tells us.

“Then below I have all my grains and flours in matching containers with labels. I have my electric appliances on the bottom. Then on the other side there is more. Here I’ve got my seeds, cake stuff and any excess.”

But her absolute favourite thing in her entire pantry - a ‘Lazy Susan’ to help access things easier.

“If you don’t have one yet you need to get one. Here is my ‘Lazy Susan’ for my sauce jars. It’s the best idea I’ve ever had. That way you’re not trying to grab a long one from the back and just knocking everything over.”

She does admit it took an entire day of moving things and changing things around but it is completely worth it.

“You do it once and it is a major job to pull everything out, but once it’s done it’s the best thing ever and you feel so much clearer and know where everything is,” she says.

“You need good jars and sections, so I use little buckets or containers for my stocks, oats and stuff, and then canned goods are down here on these three tiered little stands. You can get all this stuff from Kmart and it’s super cheap.”

Leah says the most common question she has been getting from followers over the last two months has been about over-snacking. And she has a simple trick to avoid eating too much.

“The biggest thing I tell everyone is to maybe time out your meals,” she suggests. “It might seem a bit funny but when you go to work you might have breakfast at a certain time, say 7:30am, and then you might have a snack at 10am. So you want to keep as close to those times now, so when you do go back to work you’re not going to feel ‘soo hungry’. Most of the time you’re just bored and then you head to the fridge 100 times a day.”

When it comes to her favourite snacks, apples and peanut butter are a clear winner, but she also loves prepping dips like hummus and tzatziki in bulk to have with pita chips throughout the week.

Leah is a big advocate of prepping in bulk - so making a large serve of meatballs or burger patties and popping them in the freezer.

“Don’t be afraid of your freezer,” she tells us.

“I never used to meal prep. Now I spend a few hours on Sunday morning making things in bulk, and pop them in the fridge or freezer, then I just organise my fridge and pantry and cook fresh most nights,” she continues.

“It gives you a sense of control especially at the moment, a sense of normality.”

She even often has breakfast ready to go with overnight oats being one of her favourite options.

“It’s so easy. I usually do three different flavours so I’m still having something different and fun,” she says.

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