With Christmas and the New Year out of the way we can all finally breathe a sigh of relief that again we have made it through. Although it should no longer come as a surprise and I am not sure why we all seem to get so stressed and exhausted by it all. It happens every year! We should be use to it and have the whole festive season running like a well oiled machine. Well, with my handy tips you will. So now what? We have re and re-worked the leftovers with the tips from foodie magazines and chefs alike, put away the decorations and are all starting to rev the engines back up heading back to work, back to school and back to life before Christmas break. A new year has always been a fresh start for me. For one it falls on my birthday, and what a great way to start the new year and look on the bright side than to be a year older and wiser, and that’s 40 years this time round. I take the whole New Year’s resolution very seriously, although not so much a resolution but a pre thought of what can I do this year to de stress, de frazzle and delight my life and I think I have found it. Get rid of the clutter! We are starting with the kitchen and hopefully that will give you some ideas to continue to the rest of the house. Here are some fantastic tips on how to clean up your kitchen life, save money, save time and breeze into 2012 with a smile and a happy household.
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When organising and cleaning out the pantry stack cans , jars and packets with labels facing forwards so they are easy to read
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Stack like items with like so all your tinned tomatoes, tinned vegetables, legumes, dried flours, nuts, in the same areas that way you can see clearly what you have making it easy for restocking and shopping
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Take foods out of open packets and boxes and store in airtight containers and jars for better storage and more space
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Use split level handy storage shelves to give you more space and spice racks on doors or walls to assist with organising and storing smaller jars which always seem to get lost
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Depending on your style of pantry or food storage cupboard, corners can be like black holes so store larger bulkier items that you don’t use on a daily basis so that you don’t have to move everything every time you need to get to them if you shop fortnightly store double up items in hard to reach corners
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Aim to cook 2-3 meals a week using at least 3 items from your pantry so that you keep all your pantry items rotating and fresh
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Any items that you haven’t used in the past year, you will never use so if they are still within their used by date drop them off at a food bank for someone else to enjoy
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Look up recipes that you wouldn’t normally cook with ingredients that you bought thinking “one day” and create that one day dish
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When restocking your pantry, make sure that you bring all the old items forward and place the new items at the back if you have several of each item
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Recycle old jam jars, condiment jars and bottles for use in your pantry for spices, homemade dressings, grains and legumes, label with a sticker, write with permanent pen or place a small labelled piece of paper into the jar
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Pantry Moths love cardboard, paper and thin plastic bags so transfer your cardboard items into plastic or glass containers or jars sealed tightly either with a lid or with clamps or rubber gaskets, also clean down the shelves once every 6 n\months with eucalyptus oil mixed with a little water to prevent them from laying, they seem to dislike the smell
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Encourage your family to use up pre opened goods before opening the new product as we have all had the situation with several jars or bottles of the same item opened, you then up with 2-3 bottles half used of the same product which you can then pour into one and discard the rest.
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Keep your spices fresh by storing them in a cool area in air tight plastic or glass containers. If you only use spices sometimes buy them in small quantities or buy whole spices to roast and grind them fresh when you need them as they will last longer and roasting them gives you better flavour.
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Aim to reorganise your pantry every 4-5 months