Project 3: Kitchen Tips

Sorry, I forgot to post this when I got home last night. Day 4 will come when I get off work tonight.

What are your favorite kitchen organizing tips?

Mom: First, having all the plastic wrap/foil and various sized bags (Snack, sandwich, Quart or Gallon) on shelves on the inside of the pantry door. Secondly, having a drawer for all baking utensils and a jar of utensils by the stove. Everything is right where you need it. Thirdly, putting baking soda and salt in screw top containers (old Equal containers). This makes it easier to measure out the baking soda and the salt, and it makes sure it doesn’t get spilled. Finally, I enjoyed the "Magic List" on page 27-28, we have one too but sometimes I forgets to transfer it to the shopping list.

Charity: When I lived on my own, I had a list of what meals I could make posted on the fridge. I would buy the ingredients for 3-4 meals and make one, eat it for lunch and dinner until it was gone, and then make the next meal a few days later. (Or make two meals at a time, and then have a little variety.) This wasn’t ideal but it worked out since I was working full time and taking a full load of classes. I just cooked twice a week and had meals to take to work or to the office when I was studying.

Secondly, I had everything out in the open. I didn’t have a pantry in my apartment, so I had a little bookcase and a little three drawer unit that served as my pantry. If I can’t see it, I forget about it. So I made sure everything was visible, or my meals were written down so I knew what I had.  Since I was living on my own, and without internet, I would save recipes to my computer when i had access to internet, and then print them out when going to the store.

In the future, I want to have a nice baker’s rack where I have my cookbooks on the top, and my appliances on the bottom for easy access when not in use.

A friend of mine, had organized her spices in two plastic trays. One has all the baking spices, and the other had all the cooking spices. The only thing I would add to that, is to write the name of the spice on the top of it, so if you pull the whole tray down, you don’t have to look through each one to find the right spice (especially if they all have the same color top).

What are your favorite Kitchen organizing tips? I’d love to hear from you!