In the Kitchen

I am going to talk about the kitchen over several different posts, so today will be about the Pantry.

1. Make sure you always stock rotate your food in the pantry. That means check dates on food items and the oldest should be at the front.
2. Try keeping your food items in easy to see rows. 
3. Create systems that work for you. Such as buying a few plastic crates to hold all sauces in one area, herbs and spices in another etc. By segregating your food you can see what you need by just looking without the rummaging.
4. My best tip is to never over buy items that aren't getting used on a regular basis no matter how cheap they are at the time of purchase.
5. With shelving label areas where things are kept such as cereal etc so the family put them back where they belong and keep some sought of order to the pantry rather than just throwing things in.
6. Place plastic lino or contact paper sheets on the bottom of old shelves to give them a new clean lease on life.
7. Wipe down shelves at least once a month to avoid tin stains etc.
8. If you love to bake make sure you put all your baking needs, flour etc into sealed containers in one section. 
9. Invest in a lazy susan if you have items that are in areas that are hard to reach. Then you can just turn it  around to see what you need.
10. Label everything.... this is the best tip .... you should know what is in the pantry. 
11. Keep a list of regularly used items out of the pantry on a sheet. If you really like to be organised and you need someone to grab things from the shop whilst your at work, a list helps them at a glance see what should be in the pantry and buy what is needed if your not there. That way you will never be out of flour, cereal or paprika.