Can you believe we are into the second week of January already? Well, we are, and Week 2 of the Organizing Revolution is here. Last week I showed you my family command centre for the office challenge; this week's challenge is to organize the kitchen, and not surprisingly, it was a bit trickier.
I started by giving my pantry a total cleanout, from top to bottom, inside and out. I used a strategy that many closet organisers use, and made three piles; keep, toss and donate. Anything out of date was tossed, and I'm ashamed to admit that there was a few items that went into the rubbish bin. I then really thought hard about what was going back into my pantry. Just like clothes that we keep but never seem to wear, I had food that has been sitting there taking up real estate that I was probably never going to use. This is especially true now that we are somewhat more focused on real foods. These were given away, and even if they are not the healthiest foods, at least someone can get some benefit from them, and they aren't adding to landfill. Finally, I gave the pantry a good clean, and then put everything back away, trying to keep things in categories, like baking items, breakfast items, pasta etc.
I then reorganized my beverages into two beverage stations. On the bench where I used to have my kitchen command centre (which is now here) I have my Nespresso coffee maker, a kettle, a storage unit for my coffee pods and a bowl with packets of instant chai (these are for my husband - I like real chai!!). In a drawer right underneath I have my cups and mugs, a pot of sugar, a box containing various black teas, and boxes of my herbal teas. Just further down the bench is my second beverage station. Here I have my smoothie additions (like super greens powder), hot chocolate mixes, and my Crio Bru roasted cacao beans. This is a perfect location since it is near my instant hot water tap and the bench where I make my smoothies.
With school about to go back soon, the next area in the kitchen in need of organisation was our lunchboxes and supplies. I took two drawers, and turned them into my lunch station. By having everything together in one location should really streamline the morning lunch rush. The pic on the left is a drawer for all of their lunchboxes. Even I was surprised with how many we have, but we actually do use all of them, especially now that both kids need to bring their own morning snack to school in a separate container rather than a shared piece of fruit. The second drawer (pic on the right) is in my kitchen island which is where I actually make the lunches, and holds all of my lunch making supplies; various cutters, muffin cups, food picks, and all of their drink bottles. The kids are both still little enough that I can make fun lunches - I mostly make them bento style, since they both like picking at lots of small things, rather than one large sandwich.
So there you have my kitchen organisation projects for this week! Stay tuned next Monday for a really fun project, the closet!
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Labels: housekeeping, kid's lunches, lifestyle, New Years Organizing Revolution, organising