It’s amazing to think of how we might take our kitchens’ for granted simply because we’re used to using them daily, but really, they’re quite incredible we’re very lucky to have them. Having a place where you can use the appliances you have gathered to craft any meal you wish to, making sure that you eat well, and bringing together a range of stored spices, herbs and ingredients to help you experiment as a home cook is not something that so many people enjoyed in times past.
Yet it’s also true that kitchens, especially family kitchens, have a habit of getting a little bit dishevelled if we don’t keep control over them. Furthermore, a lack of structure in the kitchen can translate to a lack of wanting to plan meals throughout the week, which can, of course, make us feel lethargic about cooking healthy, instead encouraging us to make simple meals from the freezer or ordering takeout as necessary.
So how do you improve the organization of your kitchen, bit by bit? Let’s focus on that in this post:
Racks & Shelving Units
Racks and shelving units can make a big difference when it comes to putting together your odds and ends for cooking. Not every ingredient you have will want to be placed in the food cupboard or refrigerator, especially if you’re a home cook who enjoys having access to everything they need quite quickly, or if you use a lot of natural and raw ingredients like freshly chopped herbs.
A spice rack is the obvious first choice, sitting near your countertop, this can provide an immediate means of adding flavor and getting the best out of foods. You may even want to purchase baskets to store eggs, or hooks in the side of a cupboard you can hang cloves of garlic from. A few shelves for mason jars of flour and other raw ingredients can help you. Having these items nearby but not necessarily taking up countertop space can be healthy, because it gives you the visual apparatus needed to make a good meal. No one ever said a kitchen needed to look like a clinical environment.
Labels Can Help
Perfecting the art of labels will improve your organisation tenfold. Of course, that’s not to say that you’ll need to label certain packaged goods or obvious goods. You don’t need to write ‘egg’ on all your eggs in sharpie.
But it can be helpful to label goods placed in plastic boxes and Tupperware, leftover ingredients, and stored or frozen meals with what they contain and how long they’re good for. This way, you don’t need to root around in the fridge with no idea of what you have in there or what might be good to eat. Just having a little roll of labels nearby and a pen or two is all you need.
Playing Tetris In A Freezer/Refrigerator
Good news! You don’t need to bring out your phone or your old game boy to play Tetris anymore, you can do that in your freezer and refrigerator! Learning the storied art of placing boxes, packaged goods, and tubs of food on top of one another is an art, and you’ll economise on space if you do this.
That said, it’s not just about filling your freezer or refrigerator as full as can be, but making sure that makes some kind of organizational sense. Putting certain items together, using a shelf dedicated to leftovers, one for dairy products, separating raw and cooked meat, and making sure your side shelves make some kind of sense can be helpful. Think like a chef caring for their kitchen stock, thankfully, you only have one refrigerator to worry about here when they have a good few. When using replacement parts for your Frigidaire appliances, you can also make sure this appliance lasts for a long time.
Rotate Your Stock
Rotating your ‘stock’ can be a healthy way of thinking about your kitchen. Bringing older stored items to the front of your ‘to eat’ planning and physically nearer the front of your storage areas can help you make sure that in the long run, you’ll eat most of what you buy, or at least you’ll know what’s in your cupboards.
This can help you avoid coming across a jar of capers or spices you haven’t used for five years when needing to clear space.
With this advice, you’re sure to improve the organisation of your kitchen for the better, bit by bit by bit.
*This is a collaborative post*
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