Spring Cleaning Your Pantry

By Ann Martin

If you’re anything like me, every time I reach for the garlic powder in my spice cabinet, I find every other spice but that. As I started going through my spice cabinet in search of my garlic powder, I realized how disorganized and down right messy that cabinet really is. So then I start checking out my pantry and other kitchen cabinets and realize that the chaos has spread! There is absolutely no rhyme or reason why I have eight boxes of the same cereal. But it could be due to the fact that they were dispersed in multiple cabinets and not all in one place. Are you laughing with me now? So, I decided that enough was enough and that it was time to have some order back in my kitchen. But where do I even begin?

First, it is easy to see what you have if you take everything out! I never realized that I had two containers of ground mustard. Why do I even need two? Well, I don’t. But obviously I didn’t know that I already had one – main reason being, it got lost in the mess of my spice cabinet. So, take everything out of your cabinets and pantry. While everything is out, give a quick wipe down of the shelves themselves.

Now, before you even start to organize what you have, check for expired goods and toss them. If some canned goods are on the verge of expiring, put together a few meal ideas that incorporate those so they won’t go to waste. Next, try grouping similar items together. For example, breakfast foods and fixings, like pancake mix, syrup, cereals and oatmeal can be grouped together. Snacks like popcorn, chips, granola bars, etc. can also be together in one place. If you bake, group baking powder, sugar, sprinkles, and birthday candles together. Sometimes, I even put my baking items on square dinnerware, to make sure all the baking goods can be easily pulled out from the cabinet and all at once as well. These are just recommendations, but I found that grouping related items together makes for finding them later much easier. And once you grocery shop, always put the newest items in the back, that way you use the older products first.

Here are just a few tips to organize your spice cabinet. Again, take everything out so that it is easy to see what you have. Now, remember spices never really go bad, but the potency of the spice is drastically reduced after 6 moths. So really think to yourself, “How long have I had this ground ginger for?” If you think it has been longer than 6 months, go ahead and pitch it. If are fortunate to have shelves in your spice cabinet, I recommend keeping the most frequently used spices on the bottom shelf and the other spices which are hardly used on the top shelf. Essentially, you are keeping what you need at eye level and therefore it is easy to find and easily accessible.

Now that order is finally back in place throughout my kitchen, I can actually see what have in my cabinets and pantry. By having everything in its place, my food bills have actually gone down as well! A huge bonus! Now maybe I can start to organize my dinnerware!

Kitchen Appliances

When you walk down the appliance isle of any department store, you will find hundreds of different gadgets for your kitchen. Big ones, small ones, thin and fat, sharp ones, round ones, flat ones and just about any other shape and size you can thing of.

There are automatic appliances, and manual, and a few that use both. There are so many different kitchen gadgets and appliances available that there are specialty stores that are dedicated to selling these fun and handy kitchen tools.

Kitchen gadgets are a cook’s best friend. They are designed to eliminate some of the time it takes to prepare a meal. However, there are some that just don’t cut it. They are promoted to do the most amazing things in the kitchen, and do little to live up to the praise. It is important that you are aware that there are products that do not live up to their names and be a savvy shopper.

How can you tell if an appliance or gadget is going to perform the way it is supposed to? That is a very easy question to answer.

No matter how gimmicky a product is, the first thing that you should do is to decide if you will use it. Think of what it foods it is used to prepare. If you do not buy that food often, then you may not want to purchase the gadget.  The last thing many of us need is another unused item taking up counter or cupboard space.

The next thing to consider is the price. Many of the gadgets and appliance on the market today are priced according to their function. Shopping around can definitely save you money.  Also, refer to how much you will use it in the first question above to ask yourself.  If you will use it a lot then the price-per-use may be worth it.

Knowing how to operate the appliance or gadget is a big consideration. Take for instance a vacuum sealer, after reading the instruction manual, it sounds easy enough to operate right? However, what some instructions do not divulge is the food that you want to vacuum seal needs to be partially frozen or solid before you use it or the liquid will get sucked into the pump and render the appliance useless. Vacuum sealers can cost hundreds of dollars; you do not want to use it only once. (FYI, we LOVE our foodsaver and use it a ton)

For big ticket items, go to the websites of the manufacturer and read the customer comment page. You may gain some insight as to whether or not the product is worth the money and also tip on how to use and maintain it. Also read on whether certain upgraded products are really worth the money or if the basic model is just as good, if not better.

If you want to save time, you can use the Internet to shop for appliances. You will find millions of links to products that you can use everyday.

The most purchased kitchen appliances in the world today are food processors, blenders, microwaves and rotisseries. They offer a real solution to those who have little time to prepare a well-balanced meal for their family.

Please be aware that affiliate links are used in the article and commission will be made on sales.

Organizing Your Food

If it’s been awhile since you cleaned out your cupboards, you may want to give your kitchen an overhaul before your next shopping trip.  You’ll be surprised at how much easier cooking is when you have a tidy kitchen and know your supplies.  Here are some tips on de-cluttering your kitchen:

• Check your expiration dates; if it is past its prime, throw it out

• If an item isn’t expired, but no one is interested in eating it, throw it out.  Unopened items can be donated to a local food bank.

• Group like foods together; for example, store all canned foods in the same cupboard and all dry goods, such as rice and pasta in the same cupboard.  I even store all soups on one side of shelf and beans and tomato products on the other for quicker searching.

• Keep drink mixes, coffee, and tea in the same area and keep breakfast cereals, breakfast bars, pop tarts, and other breakfast items grouped together.  When you want something, you’ll know right where to go to get it.

• Keep regularly used items front and center. You’ll save time by not continuously reaching and bending for these items.

• If you pack a lot of lunches, designate a “lunch” shelf or cupboard.  Place lunch bags, Ziploc bags, and any lunch food that can be stored in a cupboard (peanut butter, crackers, pretzels, etc) in the same place.

• When you start packing the lunch, you simply open the lunch cupboard, grab your lunch stuff and start packing.  Of course, you’ll need to walk over to the fridge to grab meats, cheeses, jellies, fruits, and so forth, but having the majority of the items in one place will save you a lot of time.

• Clear out the fridge each week.  Leftovers have a short shelf life and you don’t want to risk getting sick by eating something that should have already been thrown-out.

When you don’t have any clutter in your way, you may find that you actually enjoy cooking for your family much more than before.  Your freezer cooking day will be much more organized when you can find everything quickly and toss meals together.

Keeping a Kitchen Journal

While I’m not very regular about it, I do love to journal. This can happen in many different ways as the article below will help point out. One way I do journal is right on my favorite recipes themselves. I’ll add little side notes and maybe even quips about who or what on a night I made it. This helps me for future use, but you know what, my kids will LOVE this later down the road when they get to see Mom’s or even Grandma’s notes of love.

Keeping a Kitchen Journal

Written by Rachel Paxton

I know, I know, you’re thinking a journal for the kitchen?

It seems like the busier we get the more forgetful we are. And getting older has something to do with it, right? Whatever the reason, a kitchen journal can be a useful tool for keeping your home and family running smoothly on a day-to-day basis.

Did I mention journaling is fun? It is! Find a notebook to start your journal. You can decorate it yourself with stickers or cut-out pictures. Make it into something you look forward to writing in.

A kitchen journal is for making notes to yourself when you’re meal planning, cooking, or when a creative thought pops into your head while you’re doing something else.

One thing I use my kitchen journal for is recording my family’s food likes and dislikes. I’ve been married for almost eight years and you would think by now I know what kind of cereal my husband likes. It’s not so much the ones he likes, as the one he dislikes! Then when you add in our teenage daughter and my teenage step-daughter who doesn’t live with us and comes and stays with us from time to time, I’m finding it almost impossible to keep track of who likes what. This is also useful for family members who visit and eat at your home. They will be impressed that you remember what they like/dislike and that you plan your meals around their tastes and/or food allergies.

Use your journal for recording new ideas for and keeping track of your kids’ school lunch menus.

Create a list of which fruits and vegetables are in season, and when prices are lowest so you can watch for good deals and prepare your meals around the seasons.

Kitchen journals are also great for when you’re experimenting with a recipe. When you change the proportions of a recipe or make an emergency ingredient substitution, make a note of it in your journal. You can also use your journal to write down new recipes you want to try or make a note of where you saw a recipe you want to come back to later.

When you have guests or are entertaining friends or family make notes of things you tried that went well or things that didn’t go well that you want to remember not to try again (like the salad that didn’t set long enough in the refrigerator before you were ready to serve it).

In addition to keeping track of favorite foods, make a note of your family’s favorite recipes. When your children grow up and go to college and/or get married, you can compile their favorite recipes into a keepsake cookbook or recipe card box for them to take with them as they start their own families.

Try incorporating a kitchen journal into your daily routine and see for yourself if it helps keep you more organized. Once you get started you’ll discover many ideas of your own to record in your new journal.

Article by:

Rachel Paxton is a freelance writer and mom who is the owner of www.organized-mom.com, featuring the Easy Organizer, loaded with tools to help you plan, schedule, remember events, keep in touch, get your family on an organized schedule, prioritize, and more.

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