A messy pantry can turn cooking into a hassle. With just a few adjustments, you can create an orderly and efficient space. These straightforward tips will help you streamline your pantry and make your kitchen routine smoother.
AUTHOR: Ben Rice
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Ziploc bags are a clean kitchen's best friend for keeping things dry because they are reusable — depending on what they contain. Saran wrap won't work for cold cuts, bread, or leftovers; a fresh, clean, airtight plastic bag makes more sense.
2. Decanting Dry Foods
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Some enthusiasts swear by dividing all their non-perishables into Tupperware containers for easy access, uniform color coding, and peace of mind. However, not everybody has the time or money to do this; just keeping the packaging in good condition will suffice.
3. Food With Instructions
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Some kitchen organizers prefer the decanting option, but they come unstuck when storing foods with specific instructions, such as different pasta types that require various cooking times. Certain items will work fine: cereals, flour and sugar, and rice are all relatively universal.
4. Learn To Love Labels
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If you are obsessed with decanting everything you buy, learn to embrace your inner label. By cutting off cooking instructions and re-gluing them into the container, you will create a working kitchen and impress yourself. Some kitchen cleaners even buy sticker-making guns, leaving a trail of label joy wherever they go.
5. Upscale Your Bread Crusts
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This tip helps those who hate waste but can't stand the thought of leaving the unfinished bread loaf sitting around. Investing in a blender will ensure a lifetime supply of delicious breadcrumbs — these can be stored in a Ziploc in the freezer for later use.
6. Invest in Clips and Pegs
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Nothing will push your kitchen chaos over the edge more than endless open packages, spilling morsels of food all over the shelves — or worse, on the floor when removed from the shelf. A pack of sealing clips or clothes pegs will transform any loose package nightmares into a crumb-free Nirvana.
7. Two-tier Bread Box
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Bread and other perishables create the most common kitchen organization troubles, especially if you live in a hot climate. Some cooks champion a two-tier bread bin — one level for already open products, the other for newer, fresher bread. Mixing old and new bread products may distract some cleanliness lovers — and we can't have that.
8. The Bug Paradox
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So, you've spent the day scrubbing down the fridge, hoovering up the shelves, and mopping the floor. However, if you live in a warm, dry climate, ants might still find their way into your kingdom. Sadly, laying ant powder in a kitchen isn't pleasant, so a good solution is using Scotch tape or silicone to seal off any gaps or nooks in the kitchen walls.
9. The Trash Debate
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If you are lucky enough to own a garbage disposal unit, throwaway waste will be limited to seafood shells, eggshells, oil, and larger bones. However, others aren't so fortunate, dealing with a never-ending mountain of waste products. One way to keep the trash from going south is to keep one secured, more airtight container for perishable food waste and the other section for non-recyclable packaging.
10. Date Night
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While most people consider date night a rare chance to escape with their significant other, kitchen obsessors have a more romantic date night. What is wrong with spending the evening writing food date labels on your stored products? Have you got anything better to do?
Source: Reddit.
