Lifestyle

How I'm Tackling Kitchen Organization

Many of you know I've been frustrated with the current organization system in my kitchen…aka I have none. So with the help of some diligent research I've decided to embark on an overhaul journey and I thought I would share my plan in an accountability effort. So let's do it.

Step 1: The Purge - my kitchen is full, people. I have gadgets and cookware and dinnerware galore and pantry, fridge, and freezer are generally over-flowing with food and more than I would like to admit gets wasted. The first step for me is to systematically purge each area and get rid of what I don't need.

Step 2: Take Inventory - there are certain pantry and refrigerated items I use over and over again and yet I have no current system for determining how much of something I have. This becomes and issue when I assume I have garlic powder but have actually had none for months but keep forgetting to add it to my list. So after purging, I'm going to create an inventory system for my staple items.

Step 3: Reorganize - while I'd love to go full-on Home Edit here and buy out the container store, I already have quite a few organization pieces and my plan is to figure out how to use them better. This could be a process, so buckle up. My goal is to make the organization pieces not be just an extra step or visually pleasing, but to actually assist in the preparation and cooking flow in the kitchen.

Step 4: Back-Up Plan - I've said it time and time again, but sometimes things just break down and cooking at home isn't going to happen. Rather than scrolling Postmates or Uber Eats or Yelping our neighborhood until we're past hangry, I want to create an organized log of our favorite healthy take-out and eat out meals that is housed in the kitchen so that we can be eating sooner rather than later.

Step 5: Adopting the Habits - once this plan is in place, creating the habits to compliment the system is going to be key. Things like consistent meal and food prep, grocery shopping and planning at a consistent time when I have the space to put everything away properly, putting things back where they actually belong rather than just shoving them in somewhere and organizing the fridge with space for leftovers are all going to be necessary to keep the system running.

I’d love for you head on this journey with me and if any of you Type A’s out there have any tips or tricks, send them my way!

Goodbye 2019. Hello 2020.

I kept thinking about how to move from 2019 to 2020 - you know, other than it’s just going to happen…BUT I wanted to put a bow on 2019 in some way by recapping and then narrating how I’m moving forward. Grand plans are just that though…grand plans, and if there’s anything I learned in 2019, it’s expect the unexpected. I definitely didn’t expect I’d be doing this every week when 2019 started but I’m so glad I’m here and you’re here with me. So here’s what we’re going to do…I’ve created a list of some of my favorites from 2019 and instead of outlining goals or desires or intentions, etc. and putting the pressure on to succeed, I’ve made a more and less list.

Let’s start with some favorites from 2019:

Recipes

Baked Lentil Tacos

Cherry Almond Smoothie

Roasted Vegetable Orzo

One-Pot Chicken & Wild Rice Casserole

Snacks

RawRev Glo Bars

Perfect Bars

Siete Foods Tortilla Chips

Beef Jerky

Snack Boards

Books

The Silent Patient

Where the Crawdads Sing

Half Baked Harvest Cookbook

The Testaments

Brain Food

The Way We Eat Now

Skincare & Makeup

Laneige Skin Care - Lip Sleeping Mask & Water Bank Hydro Gel

EltaMD Tinted Sunscreen

Color Science Eye Cream

Tom Ford Badass Black Mascara

So there’s a list of some of my favorites from the past year. Honestly that was hard for me to do - I’m going to try to keep better track of things in 2020 - starting here with this list of less and more that hopefully will propel me through.

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I’m going to shoot for some quarterly reflections this year so that things don’t leave my brain before I can document them - we’ll see. Bring it on, 2020.