The kitchen is where you prepare meals to feed yourself and your family. It can be a catch-all for everything and the central hub for parties and family gatherings. Keeping your kitchen organized can be a challenge. We suggest using containers and zoning to curb your kitchen chaos.
Cooking becomes a struggle if your kitchen and pantry are a mess. It’s tough to make meals without knowing where things are, and you spend more time searching than cooking. When you open a drawer or a cupboard door, you find spices scattered around, opened packages rolled up or tied with an elastic. Even worse is buying the same things twice because you were unaware of items tucked in a remote corner of your cupboards.
Create Zones
A good rule is to create zones in your kitchen and pantry and organize areas by use. Keep similar items together. For example, store your baking supplies in one spot, entertainment supplies in another area, pasta, rice, and grains together, and so on.
Understand what you use most often and keep those items in easy-to-reach spots. Keep the foods and supplies that you seldom use on the top shelves or in the corner cupboards. You can also designate a shelf for small appliances that you every day, like the toaster or espresso machine. If you have kids, create a self-help area for them. Buy clear containers so they can see what they are reaching for. It’s also easier for you to see what you need to refill. Assign one shelf for breakfast foods and another for healthy after-school snacks.
Conquer and Divide with Containers
Rather than messy junk drawers, control the chaos using containers. There are many options on the market to fit inside your cupboards and drawers. For your spices and seasonings, packet organizing containers come in handy.
Opened bundled food can be organized using deep containers, and stepped containers are great for storing cans and jars so you can see them easily. Bins act like a portable drawer on your shelf. You can pull them out to find what you are looking for – especially in cabinets with deep shelves. For limited spaces, wall-mounted spice racks might be the answer.
Using containers and zoning areas in your kitchen and pantry by use is all you need to keep organized and have an effortless meal prep experience. Contact Out of Chaos for an in-person kitchen consultation to help you bring back the joy of meal preparation.
Image by Solomon Rodgers from Pixabay
