5 Tips to Keep Your Kitchen Organized

Becoming and staying organized is an important part of having a clean and happy home. If you aren't able to find something easily and quickly, it can cause chaos and confusion until that item is found. The kitchen, in particular, is an area that should be well organized. When cooking or baking, it is crucial to know where items are and how much you have of each item. This will let you know, before you even begin cooking, if you have everything the recipe calls for. Maintaining order in the kitchen can be tricky, but with these five tips, anyone can keep their kitchen clean, neat, and organized.

Clear Containers

In today's society, it is common to put bulk items, such as flour, sugar, or oatmeal into large containers. However, this is something you can do for everything you use often. You can use bags, boxes, or round containers, but try to ensure they are clear, so you can see inside. Using clear bags to hold things like herbs will help you see exactly what is in there without having to open the bag. The same is true for any container. You want to be able to see what is inside without having to open it up.

Ample Storage

The next thing that helps with organization is ensuring you have ample storage for your ingredients and things in your kitchen. If you know that you bake a lot, you should get a very large container for flour and sugar. These are ingredients you use often and therefore have a lot of. Ample storage also applies to your kitchen drawers and cupboards. Ensure that your containers fit well in those areas and that you can see all of the containers in there. A nonvisible container is a lost and unusable container.

No Overflow

Going along with having enough storage is making sure that you don't have too much of any ingredient. By having a clear container and ample storage, you should be able to judge when you need to purchase more ingredients. It is important to keep your containers full, but not so full that you can't close the lid or seal it up. In humid environments, things like brown sugar can go bad in 6 months if not stored properly. This means you have to be able to close it with a tight fitting lid or seal. Be sure to watch your ingredients and not purchase too much when you start to run low.

Labelled Ingredients

When you are looking for items in your kitchen, one of the worst things you can do is grab the wrong ingredient. Sugar instead of salt or chili powder instead of paprika can change the entire taste of a dish. An easy way to stop any mix ups from happening is to label all of your ingredients. These labels should be put on the item itself and need to be securely fixed on the container. The last thing you want is for a label to come off when you use it. A permanent marker is probably your best bet when it comes to writing on the container, but if you don't want something permanent, you should consider chalk paint or a wet erase marker.

Specified Locations

Finally, to make sure everything stays organized and in the same spots, you have to make sure to have specified locations for everything. Again, this is a chance to bring out the label maker if you have one. Chefs, such as Julia Child, used outlines of her pots and pans on the walls to mark exactly where each kitchen tool went. If you use something like a spice rack, that may not be possible, but the concept remains the same. If you can see where everything is supposed to go, it makes it easier to notice when something is not in the right spot.

Being organized doesn't have to be difficult. Just take some time to plan, prepare, and follow through and your kitchen ingredients will be well organized in no time.