1 October 2008

WFMW - Kitchen organisation



This week's Works-for-me Wednedsay over at Rocks in my Dryer is about kitchen organisation so I'm reposting my fridge interior. Because it still makes me happy.

Ever since I organised it properly it just works so much better, stays neat, I know where to find everything and can access it easily and it doesn't pile up with cruddy old leftovers. I should mention that it only works because I shop about once a week or every 10 days or so. Our fridge just isn't big enough to handle more than that but it suits me because I'd rather have fresh produce than veges and stuff that's been languishing in the fridge for weeks.

Here's how it looks inside:



And here's the system:



1) Bread and rolls. Lunch today took care of the pile-up you see in the picture and now the half loaf of wholewheat and half loaf of white sit neatly together in the basket.

2) This is where the spare bottles of milk sit as well as extra odds like jugs of juice (which we usually only make for company; the jug you see here is my first attempt at home-made ginger ale,) cream or bits of leftovers. The two containers or cream will be made into butter.

3) Fruit goes into this basket.

4) Little jars such as jam, mint sauce, pesto, etc - whatever won't fit into the door.

5) Meat, sausages, chicken. Anything that is being thawed for dinner or will be used in a day or two. All other meat / chicken goes into the freezer.

6) All of our yoghurts. When the kids ask for a yoghurt I can just offer them the basket and they choose their own.



7) Butter, margarine.

8) Cheese. In this basket I have cheddar (all opened cheese goes into a little ziplock bag,) a can of Italian sprinkling cheese, Laughing Cow triangles (loose,) soft cheese, etc.



9) Tomatoes and cucumbers. I unwrap everything and wash it before it goes into the fridge - cucumbers get cut in half. Underneath the tomatoes here you can sort of see the cherry tomatoes still in their plastic punnet.



10) Lettuce (in a big ziplock bag,) other veges that don't fit into the drawers.

11) Left hand drawer holds root vegetables and onions.



12) Right hand drawer holds all other vegetables.



The door:





13) Tubes of tomato paste and garlic paste. Boiled eggs if we have any extra.

14) Eggs.

15) Condiments - mustard, chutney, salad dressings, mayonnaise.

16) Ketchup and milk - whole for the boys, skim for Grant and I, and almost always organic. It's the one product I will splurge on and buy organic. No fake hormones for me, thanks, I have far too many of my own already.

I am actually a bit of a basket case and by that I mean I love baskets and containers for categorising and organising things. Here are some more in my kitchen:

Okay these aren't actually baskets, they are Flaj tubs from Ikea (that have sadly been discontinued, boo hoo!) and I love them so much I'd kiss them with tongue if I could. They are cheap and they seem to be just the right size to hold a bunch but not too much, fit perfectly on almost any shelf and can even stack. I have a couple in the bottom cupboard in my kitchen and just pull them out like drawers when I need something and voila, everything is immediately visible and accessible. Nothing lurks in the back of my cupboards!

This one holds pasta, rice, noodles:



And this one holds snacks - crisps, crackers, rice cakes, breadsticks, cereal bars, biscuits (cookies,) etc. The kids love to rummage and choose when it's snack time.



I also use baskets in the top cupboards - this one holds all of the little odds I make bread with - yeast, milk powder, bread flour, etc. I use another to hold all packet mixes - soup powders, seasoning mixes, etc.



This is my baking box - it is actually two containers, one of the Flaj ones and another that sits neatly in it, hovering over the bottom layer. The top one contains all of my frequently used baking stuff - vanilla essence, measuring cups, brown sugar, etc - and the bottom one holds less frequently needed stuff like cookie cutters, balloons, birthday candles, etc.



My trusty hand mixer. I can only dream of a stand mixer right now.



My hand blender and the beaker it came with. Basket on the right holds 6-cup muffin tins and loaf pans.



Edit: I've since filmed videos showing how I organise my kitchen. You can see them on my YouTube channel here and here.

Edit 2: I've had a few comments here, via email and on my videos about storing milk and eggs in the door of the fridge. We use milk way too fast for it to spoil so I've not had a problem with that. As for eggs, in South Africa and the UK where I've lived, and now New Zealand where I currently live, the eggs are sold off the shelf in the stores (not refrigerated) and I currently keep my eggs in the pantry. We've never had a problem. It seems to be a US thing to refrigerate eggs.


Pin It
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...