Kitchen and Cooking Tips, Articles, And Product Reviews

Compelling Strategies for Organizing Your Kitchen and Meal Time

Most families spend a lot of time in their kitchens. In many households the kitchen is really the heart of the home where everyone gathers at several times throughout the day. It can be used for sharing family meals, doing homework, or grabbing a quick snack and talking about your day, among other things. Because the kitchen is used in so many ways and for so many different things, it's important to make the kitchen a relaxing family space. But it also needs to be practical enough to make and serve family meals while making cooking as stress free as possible. So it really is important that the kitchen be well organized to effectively serve the many purposes it is used for.

Following are some kitchen organizing ideas to help get you on your way towards a well organized space:

Define and Organize Your Kitchen Into Work Stations – To make cooking pain free, you want to make sure you have everything you need close at hand. This will ensure that cooking is quicker and easier. Have an area for preparing the meals. It’s good to keep your spices and seasonings close to this area. You’ll also want to have chopping boards, knives and mixing spoons close at hand. Have another area for serving and keep all your dishes, serving spoons, placemats and utensils there. Well defined work stations are the key to a well run kitchen. By incorporating work stations into your kitchen and keeping everything you need near each work station, you’ll save a lot of time. It will also let kids know which space can be used for eating and doing homework.

Organize Your Fridge – Clean out your fridge and organize things in categories to make finding them easier when you’re in a rush. It’s a good idea to keep all your dairy products together. So put milk, cheeses, sour cream, yougurt and other dairy products on the same shelf in the refrigerator. Place cold cuts in tightly sealed plastic containers then date and label them. This will allow you to know how long they've been in there and when you should use them by. It will also let you know what you're reaching for. It will also keep them fresh and make it easier to find, especially when your or the kids want to make a quick sandwich. You can do the same thing with cheese and left over foods.

Separate your fruit and salad items from your other vegetables so that you can find them easier. Often times you’ll forget you have those tomatoes in the back drawer and buy more. By keeping things organized you’ll waste and spend less. It also makes it easier to find a fruit when it time for a snack or make a quick salad to tide you over. It's not fun making a salad then realizing that you didn't put a specific much loved vegetable on it because you couldn't find them and forgot they were in your refrigerator.

Organize Your Pantry - Arrange your pantry or cupboards according to foods. For example keep all your canned goods in one place and cereal in another. This is especially helpful when you are preparing a shopping list because you can quickly glance and see which items need to be restocked rather than turning the pantry or cupboard upside down trying to figure out which items you already have. Keep the items you use most within easy reach and put away those appliances you never seem to use. They’re just taking up counter top space and you can always take them out quickly and easily when you actually do need to use them.

Plan Your Meals – You've heard the saying "Fail to plan and you can plan to fail". The same is true for meal planning. This is by far the easiest way to organize your meal times. It can seem daunting at first but setting aside a little time each week to plan meals can really make your life easier. Imagine not having to stare into the pantry or refrigerator every night trying to figure out what you can make for dinner with the ingredients you have on hand. Imagine not having to run to the grocery store each night because you need to find something to make for dinner. Imagine not having to throw in the towel each night and get take-out or fast food because you know exactly what you are preparing for dinner. Take a few minutes and write out a meal plan and shopping list for the upcoming week. Buy everything in advance and stock up on items you use regularly and have a long shelf life. Take advantage of sale and coupons by stocking up on items when they are discounted, especially if they have a long shelf life or do not need to be used right away. Then post your menu on your fridge, glance at it each morning and plan ahead. Thaw any meat that needs thawing or chop and add your items to your crock pot.