Where to begin……
Where to begin……
Well lets start with one of the main rooms in the house….the kitchen. Okay, so the kitchen is a rather large project for one post, so lets break it down a little. Lets start with the Pantry. How often do you go into the Pantry to get something whilst cooking, making a sandwich or baking and can’t find what you need but know that its there somewhere. You end up going to the supermarket and getting another can of tomato’s or bag of sugar. Get home and a few hours, a day or a week later you find what you were looking for. Ok, so lets look at this.
In the Pantry what different groups do you have
· Baking gear
· Tinned vege’s, savouries
· Tinned fruits
· Spices
· Pasta and rice
· Snack foods
· Items brought in bulk
· Onions, Potato’s, Pumpkin etc
· Drinks
So now we know that we have these different items in our Pantry, lets get organizing.
Start by clearing your bench and getting everything out of the Pantry. Give the shelves a good wash, and then dry them off with a dry cloth. Go through all the the food items that you have removed and check them firstly for their expiry dates, throw anything that is over the expiry date, and put to one side all items that are within a week or month of their expiry date.
Now along your bench and if you have a table in your kitchen start organizing things into groups. As per the list above. You may find at this point you have a kitchen that looks like a tip, and that’s ok. Your almost there, it will all slowly go back into the Pantry soon. Just a few more things to look at and then you will have a Pantry that you will be proud to open and show your family and friends and also and most importantly a Pantry that you can find what you are looking for in!
Right, the last few things that will help before putting everything back.
Do you have any plastic containers, plastic trays, even lids from cardboard boxes. You do not have to use the most expensive of items, but having items like Flour, Sugar, baking powder etc in containers will not only look tidier and neater, but will also prolong the life of your products. There are many different brands around out there, some of the better ones being Tupperware and Rubbermaid, the latter not as expensive, but as far as I’m concerned just as good. Trays are fantastic for keeping things together in your pantry ie breakfast items jam, preserves, honey, margarine and butter. This means in the morning all you need to do is pick it up and put it one the table or bench and everything is there. Lids from cardboard boxes are a great way of keeping all your spices and herbs together and tidy.
Right now that you have everything ready and the shelves clean and dry. Its time to put everything back in.
Start with the things that you use least often. So think about your bulk items….large jars of gherkin’s, extra bags of flour and sugar, spare baking mixes etc the top shelf is a great place for these.
Then start working out what items you want where, ie don’t put the heaviest things on the higher shelves. This will just cause issues and possibly lead to pulled muscles. (no one wants that) If you bake often, make sure you put the baking items in an easy to reach place. If you don’t have a lot of shelving and cupboards, and have to have them in the pantry then having them on the middle shelves means they are easy to access by everyone in the family. If you have small children them I suggest putting the plastic bowls and cups near the front so that they don’t knock your glasses and plates as they reach for their things.
Last but not least, a plastic bin in the bottom of the pantry for snacks (keeps all those snack bags of chips(crisps), fruit bars etc and one for Potato’s, onions and pumpkin etc is a great way of keeping things together so they aren’t dancing around the cupboard.
I hope this has been of use to you.
Look forward to hearing from you all….
