I despise unloading the dishwasher. I don’t mind loading it because doing so makes my kitchen look cleaner. But unloading it is so tedious. My mom gets up and unloads hers first thing in the morning. I can’t face that. I wait until it’s time to make dinner then I kick myself for not doing it sooner. My procrastination has led to my new method and hack for unloading it.

When I come into the kitchen to make dinner, I open the dishwasher and pull one of the racks out. I pull out what I need to cook and set the table. Suddenly it’s looking emptier. Then as I move about the kitchen I make a point to grab something on my way and put it where goes. So as I walk to the fridge, I snag the plastic food storage container that gets put in the drawer next to the fridge. As I walk to the pantry I grab a couple of glasses and put them in their cupboard on the way. As I head to the stove, I pull out bowls and put those away. Before I know it, it’s almost completely empty and then I feel motivated to put away the stragglers so I can start to load in the dishes I’ve used while cooking so my kitchen will start to look neat again. And somehow I’ve unloaded the dishwasher while I’m making dinner without realizing!

I despise unloading the dishwasher. I don’t mind loading it because doing so makes my kitchen look cleaner. But unloading it is so tedious. My mom gets up and unloads hers first thing in the morning. I can’t face that. I wait until it’s time to make dinner then I kick myself for not doing … Read more →

Two things that are always rattling around my fridge are open containers of chicken/beef/veggie broth and opened jars of spaghetti sauce. I tend to use some and then the rest hang out in there for God knows how long. When I go to grab an open container of these items I never know how old it is and I often end up just throwing it out to avoid eating contaminated food. It gets quite wasteful though so I decided to take control of this situation with a two-pronged plan.

1. Labeling. When we open a jar of sauce, we write the date on the lid. The longest a jar of clean sauce (not touched by a contaminated spoon and not removed from the jar) is officially considered safe is two weeks. The acid in the tomatoes offer some protection, and some people in this house are willing to eat it if it smells ok and looks ok, but I’m just too suspicious for that. Now that the jars are dated, I throw them out after they are open for 2-3 weeks. This has also given the before mentioned people a deadline for using up the sauce they have opened and provides some incentive to use it or lose it.

2. Freezing. If I have most of a jar of spaghetti sauce left, I’ve been dumping it into a plastic container and freezing it. All the leftovers can be used up together the next time I make spaghetti.

3. Ice cubes. I asked for a set of ice cube trays for Christmas. When I open a container of stock or broth, I pour the leftovers into an ice cube tray and freeze it. The next day I dump the cubes into a zip-top bag and label it and stick it in the freezer. I can then add as much broth as I need the next time I’m cooking and I don’t have to worry if it is contaminated. This has saved me huge amounts of money since I often open a cardboard container of stock and use just a little and the rest of the container would end up getting old and being thrown out.

Two things that are always rattling around my fridge are open containers of chicken/beef/veggie broth and opened jars of spaghetti sauce. I tend to use some and then the rest hang out in there for God knows how long. When I go to grab an open container of these items I never know how old … Read more →

I’m lucky in that I have an large upright freezer in the basement in addition to the side-by-side fridge in the kitchen with a freezer side. I keep most long-term things in the basement. I use the upstairs mostly for breakfast things, ice packs, nuts, and vegetables. It doesn’t sound like much, but lately it has been a jumbled mess. Which has led to people in this family writing things on the shopping list that I KNOW we have. I couldn’t stand it a moment longer and I emptied the whole thing out.

Up until now things sort of got stashed wherever they looked like they would fit. I sorted everything into piles on the counter: vegetables, nuts, ice packs, meats, gluten bread and gluten-free bread. I purged some old stuff and I consolidated everything. Instead of 20 plastic bags with one bagel in each, I combined them into several ziptop bags. I did the same with the nuts. Then I took a hard look at the shelves and baskets and decided what would best fit where.

I got my trusty PTouch labeller and put a label on each shelf and basket so that no one could wonder where they would find what they needed and also so there could be no shoving things in randomly.

So far the system is holding up and it’s making my life SO much easier!

I’m lucky in that I have an large upright freezer in the basement in addition to the side-by-side fridge in the kitchen with a freezer side. I keep most long-term things in the basement. I use the upstairs mostly for breakfast things, ice packs, nuts, and vegetables. It doesn’t sound like much, but lately it … Read more →

Getting your pantry/food storage organized can be a challenge. Sometimes it’s just a matter of purging and moving things around. But honestly, for most of us, it’s about making better use of the space. And that means you need to invest in a couple of inexpensive products to make it easier to see and store things. Here are my favorites:

• Under-shelf racks. These essentially add another shelf and it’s much better than stacking things, trying to balance them and having them tumble all over the place.
• Wall or door-mounted shelves. These allow you to use space you didn’t even know you have. Use spice rack size for small items and wider shelves if you want to store canned goods.
• An elevator. A graduated stepped shelf that you set on an existing shelf allows you to finally see what’s behind everything! You’ll no longer buy duplicates of black beans and tomato paste because you’ll finally be able to see what you own.
• Plastic shoeboxes. I love these to store bulk bags of spices I buy from Penzey’s, to keep all the individual size canned fruit packages from rolling around, and for tea and drink mixes. I also use one for my collection of sea salts. They’re easy to take in and out and keep all those little things organized.
• Square glass storage jars. These are my pick for storing baking goods, cereal, pasta, and other products. Because they’re square, they stack and fit together. Glass contains no harmful chemicals and they are see through, so you know exactly how much you have left.

The glass jars are the most expensive items on the list. You can get everything else for $50 or less. I suggest gradually replacing your plastic with glass over time. You can find many of these are discount stores like Walmart or Target. Amazon is a great online source. The Container Store also have a lot, but their prices tend to be a bit higher.

Getting your pantry/food storage organized can be a challenge. Sometimes it’s just a matter of purging and moving things around. But honestly, for most of us, it’s about making better use of the space. And that means you need to invest in a couple of inexpensive products to make it easier to see and store … Read more →

I’ve been bit hard by the New Year organizing bug and the kitchen was what was begging for attention this past weekend. I happen to have written a kitchen organizing book, so I have a little bit of experience in this area!

The pantry is the hardest place in my house to keep orderly. We have a pantry that is built over the basement steps, so it’s like a closet, but you have to go up a step to get in it. It’s filled with shelves and racks and baskets, as well as some risers to make cans easier to see.

The big problem was that this past year I became gluten-free, taking my family along with me (mostly). But I still had big tubs of flour (white flour, whole wheat flour, white whole wheat flour, rye flour, self-rising flour, bread flour, and cake flour) that were crowding my pantry, while my gluten-free flours were floating around in plastic bags. It was time to take action. Out went all the flour with gluten (except for one bin of all-purpose to use for school bake sales, etc.). I washed the containers and filled them with my new gluten-free products. I had enough containers left over to finally put some items (like gluten-free oats,  cornmeal, gluten-free breadcrumbs, and different rices) into their own storage containers.

Not only have I written the book on kitchen organizing, but I also unofficially apprenticed myself to Martha Stewart for several years (this blog used to be called MarthaAndMe). And Martha is the queen of organization. So I took a page out of Martha’s book and used my little P-touch machine (which prints labels) to label each and every container in my pantry, on the lid and on the side. So now I can tell exactly what is in each without fumbling around and trying to read my handwriting on the lids. It’s genius.

I kept some regular pasta, which the kids promise to use up on their own, but I separated it out so now I have a gluten-free and a regular section.

I made a bag for the food pantry with soups and other products that were unopened and contained gluten.

I still would like to switch everything over to glass storage containers instead of plastic, so that remains on my long-term wishlist for the pantry.

What condition is your pantry in?

I’ve been bit hard by the New Year organizing bug and the kitchen was what was begging for attention this past weekend. I happen to have written a kitchen organizing book, so I have a little bit of experience in this area! The pantry is the hardest place in my house to keep orderly. We … Read more →

My book, The Organized Kitchen has just been released and as it happens, January is National Get Organized Month. Here are a few tips to help get your kitchen organized for the new year!

• Tackle one drawer, cupboard or shelf a day to make progress. Completely reorganizing your entire kitchen is an overwhelming task, but if you can find 5 minutes a day (while your pasta is cooking or your broccoli is steaming), you can get a lot done over a week.
• Think about the activities that are happening in your kitchen. Most people use the kitchen as a multi-purpose room and homework, laundry, crafts, bill-paying, and more all take place in this one space. If you can shift some of these activities to other areas of the home, it will free up storage space (keep your scrapbooking supplies in a hall closet and move your household files to a box under your bed, for example) and make the kitchen feel less cluttered and over-used.
• Too often when we organize we forget about comfort. The kitchen needs to be a room that is welcoming and warm, so although you are clearing your counters and shelves of clutter, don’t forget to keep some touches that express your personality and make the room comfortable.
• Transfer pantry items like flour, pasta, cereal, rice, beans, etc. into square glass or plastic storage containers. Square containers stack and fit together on shelves much easier and actually save space (eliminating those gaps between round containers).
• Create zones. Store all baking equipment in the baking zone. All items for drinks such a blender and glassware should be together in one area. Cookware and cooking tools should be positioned near the stove. This way everything has a place it belongs which also makes it more convenient to use and reach for.
• Find extra space by using metal standing shelves to add an additional layer inside cabinets. Bring in an unfinished book case and paint it to match your cabinets and give it the same pulls–it will look like additional built in cabinetry.  Use the insides of cabinet doors for storage for spices, pot lids, a message board, plastic bags and more.
• Look up for more storage. Install a shelf over the doorways of the room. Hang a three-tier basket from the ceiling. Put shelving around your soffits for tons more storage. If you have a separate pantry with a door, install storage above the door on the inside.
• Get rid of your junk drawer. This is additional storage space you are losing out on. Everything in that drawer belongs somewhere else. Move it to where it belongs and suddenly you have an additional drawer.

With a little thought you can make your kitchen a place you love to cook in!

My book, The Organized Kitchen has just been released and as it happens, January is National Get Organized Month. Here are a few tips to help get your kitchen organized for the new year! Tackle one drawer, cupboard or shelf a day to make progress. Completely reorganizing your entire kitchen is an overwhelming task, but … Read more →

My next book, The Organized Kitchen, is now listed on Amazon (for pre-order) and I got to see the cover for the first time! I think it’s a pretty Martha-worthy title. And my years as an unofficial Martha apprentice definitely taught me a lot and helped me write this book. I’ll be talking more about it once it’s closer to the pub date (which is January – perfect for New Year’s resolutions!) and sharing some of the tips then.

My next book, The Organized Kitchen, is now listed on Amazon (for pre-order) and I got to see the cover for the first time! I think it’s a pretty Martha-worthy title. And my years as an unofficial Martha apprentice definitely taught me a lot and helped me write this book. I’ll be talking more about … Read more →

I just had to share my excitement. My book, The Organized Kitchen, is now listed on Amazon (for pre-order – it comes out in Jan, perfect for New Year’s resolutions). I was excited to get to see the cover at last and see it up on Amazon!

The book is all about making your life in the kitchen easier, simpler and more streamlined.

I just had to share my excitement. My book, The Organized Kitchen, is now listed on Amazon (for pre-order – it comes out in Jan, perfect for New Year’s resolutions). I was excited to get to see the cover at last and see it up on Amazon! The book is all about making your life … Read more →