Charmean Neithart Interiors, LLC. Transitional Kitchen, Los Angeles

Make your pantry pop. A clean, well-ordered pantry will help make meal prep a breeze and can even inspire healthier choices.Step 1: Take every last thing out of the cupboard. Really — everything.Step 2: Toss anything that is expired or bad.Step 3: Fill a bag with food that is still good but that you know your family won't eat, and donate it to your local food bank.Step 4: No one needs three half-empty bags of flour. Open them up and dump them into one nice-looking glass jar. Ta-da! Now repeat with any other partially empty staples.Step 5: Put everything that's left back in, but this time create zones. Put cans with cans, breakfast stuff together and so on. Place the healthiest choices at eye level.Style note: Can a pretty wallpapered backdrop inspire you to keep things tidy? Who knows, but it sure would be fun to give it a try. Alternatively, you could paint the back wall a bright hue for a similar effect.

6. Keep a stash of nonperishable snacks. When you're starving but can't face putting together a full meal in your makeshift digs, snacks can save your stomach. Peanut butter, crackers, dried fruit or fruit leather, canned goods, trail mix and more can make for quick meals in a pinch.

Organizing the pantry may not seem like an obvious thing to do before summer, but I promise you, making healthy snacks easy to reach for children will help save your sanity.

First, remove all the items from the shelves and put anything you don't want in your donation box.1. Clean• Thoroughly attack that pantry with a feather duster, starting with the ceiling (look out for spider webs in the corners) and moving down until you get to the floor. • Inspect shelves for food stains and crumbs. Give them a thorough wipe-down with soap and water.• If you want to make this project take all weekend, by all means, repaint your shelves and wallpaper that pantry. If not, use a Magic Eraser or line the shelves with contact paper.• Mop the floor

A happy home has an organized pantry. Take a cue from Charmean Neithart and separate and display your fruit in open wicker baskets.

1. Organize your pantry. Whether you're hosting a party or having family stay for a few days, it's easy to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. Make cooking easier for all with a spic-and-span pantry. Clean out all those random boxes and cans, and organize items by type to make them easy to find. How to organize your pantry

Keep it pretty. If you're working with open shelving, disguise its utilitarian purpose with a background that's calming amidst the lunch prep chaos. Designer and Houzz contributor Charmean Neithart added this soothing print from Joseph Abboud for Kravet behind floating custom shelves. Fruit stored farmer's-market-style provides pops of color against the quiet blue-gray backdrop.

Eating. So many steps! Make a list; go shopping; haul it home; cook; clean up afterwards; and then do it over and over again. It’s the laundry of food. For dinner, try this: Choose 14 seasonal meals — that’s two weeks of dinners. Make a master list of ingredients and make those meals over and over again. If it’s something freezable like a soup, double the recipe then serve one and throw the second in the freezer for the next two-week cycle. If you can stretch it, create a menu with 21 dinners — three weeks of meals. You’ll get into a rhythm of keeping your pantry stocked. Make sure to include a few easy go-tos for those especially busy nights. With lunches, if your kids go to school and don’t order hot lunch, have them pack their own. This gives children control over a basic choice and builds personal responsibility as well as encourages gratitude. Some mornings I jump in and make a sandwich for a child who is running late, and he or she is thankful for the help. If you educate your children at home, consider making lunch preparation a responsibility of the children. Again, they get to take ownership and learn important life skills.For breakfast, figure out the healthiest, best options that fit your family’s tastes and schedule.

3. Pantries. Is there a single day when you don’t open the pantry for something? Why not give the walls some style of their own? There’s a subtle emotional reaction as well — a decorated pantry appears neater and cleaner.

33. A stylish Flos Fucsia glass pendant and Kravet wallpaper make for a pretty backdrop in this Los Angeles pantry.