I absolutely love spending time in the kitchen. Cooking and entertaining no matter what occasion is truly a passion of mine. Therefore keeping the kitchen tidy has always been top priority in the house. The kitchen can never ever be a mess. Especially when I am cooking. I clean it up even before I begin to cook. I just need a clean kitchen!
I know you are probable shaking your head and thinking… Is she OCD or what? Well I can definitely tell you that working on over 20 yachts has made me that way. I still q-tip clean my silver but that story is for another time.
OK now back to your kitchen. I have a few tips that I would like to share with you so that you feel better and less stressed out about how your kitchen may or may not look right now!
The first area that you will notice is your counter tops. Are they cluttered? Are there papers everywhere?
If you answered yes then here is what I like to do…
First off papers can get oil, cleaning products and food on them. And that is just gross! Keep a separate drawer in the kitchen with a nice folder in it. This is where you can store those papers. Permanently or until you have time to file them in an office area. I recommend the second. I know you need a junk drawer but eventually it becomes just that. Junk! So either organize or throw that stuff away.
I am a huge collector of vases. Crystal and glass and all shapes and sizes. Guess what I do with most of them? I use them as decor, yes but also to store things and keep them clean and all together. I love to use them for spatulas and cooking utensils. I used to have candles in a few scattered around the counter too! Mason jar or old bar ware also work great for this! The also come in handy when I entertain. I use them to hold utensils for guest. It look pretty and keeps everything clean for guests.
Now lets talk about all the mismatched Tupperware you have. You know you have them! Organize them together to where all tops and bottoms match. Then put aside the ones that don’t match. You can now use these to store misc. items in your kitchen. Recycling these items will keep your kitchen nice and organized and you won’t have to go out and buy anything else for finish this project. Use what you have! I say this to everyone!
If you have a pantry or some sort of food closet you want to organize it to where you can see everything. I really don’t like boxes. So this is another place where you can recycle those Tupperware as well.
Just think if you open your pantry and saw everything that was in there then I’m sure you wouldn’t go out and spend more money on food you just didn’t even need.
This trick goes for spices as well. You definitely want to rotate these out as they also have a shelf life. A few months or so at the most to keep for the freshest taste in meals.
I like to have all the dishes organized together by size. Most kitchens I’ve organized I will say are pretty good in the dish department. Again the better organized the more free room and cleaner the shelf looks. Just pretend that all your cabinets had glass doors if they don’t already.
Pots and pans are simple. Keep the same style together and stock them up inside each other or hang them on wall or in a deep cabinet space if available.. This will definitely free up a lot of space for you. For those of you that have an abundance or lack of space to begin with I would suggest hiding them in the oven. Just don’t forget to take them out prior to turning on the oven. We’ve all been there.
Now lets go back to my love for cooking. One of the things I do every morning is organize the fridge. I know it sounds crazy! That’s what I get for being a “yachtie” aka someone who works on yachts!
Every morning we had to make sure the fridge was in tip top shape just in case a guest were to see it and I still do that! Any way it does have good reason.
Most of the meals I create come from me looking at the fridge to see what I have in there. It’s exciting to me to be able to put together new dishes this way! Be creative with your food! Be proud and allow yourself to enjoy it!
I have everything organized to where I can see it. Everything. Just like I have the pantry, I have the fridge and freezer. I usually prep meals one week ahead so I can grab and go. The more leftovers I use to create meals the more room I have. Try this!
I can promise you that pepping your meals in advance will save you time, calories and money! It has for me. You need to use what you have and store it in matching sized containers so that you can save room for larger items in both fridge and freezer.
I know that when I make a batch of veggie burgers and protein pancakes they each fill up two freezer sized Ziplocs and that’s an entire shelf in the freezer! And that is just for me not a family. If were talking 3 or more then you will definitely need more room available to accommodate for your next shopping trip.
Make sure you eat these prepped meals of yours. You don’t want all that time you spent and meals you prepped to go to waste.
Well those are just a few of my tips and tricks for you on how to keep your kitchen tidy. If you want to see my behind the scenes pics just head over to my Instagram Stories today…
Have a question? I have an answer. Leave it below for me in the comments…
Until tomorrow…
KAG
