Good Eats

Organize the Kitchen

November 6, 2007

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Whether you’re cooking a big Thanksgiving meal or an everyday dinner, creating clean kitchen organization can make all the difference. A well laid-out kitchen makes time spent cooking a more efficient and enjoyable experience for you.

Start with the Fridge
Before you do anything else, clean out and organize your refrigerator so you have plenty of room for all of your Thanksgiving goodies. Just grab your garbage can and this article on the Functional Fridge to help you get it in order. When you organize, make sure to leave plenty of room for the items you’ll be buying for your meal, any dishes or drinks your guests may bring and dinner leftovers.
Organize Your Tools and Spaces
Look at your workspaces and the organization of your kitchen items. Are there appliances crowding your countertops? Do you have to dig through a disorganized drawer to find what you need? This may be a good time to sort out your tools.

• Start out with a clean and organized workspace. Make sure all of your kitchen surfaces are wiped down and decluttered. Whether you have a large expanse of countertop or limited space, designate at least one area to keep clear for food preparation at all times.

• Create a kitchen work triangle. For efficient kitchen organization, set up three main workspaces: preparation area, cook & serve area and clean-up area. It’s called the kitchen triangle, and connects these three areas with your refrigerator, sink and stove at each point.
  
  Organizing your most important tools and ingredients around these key kitchen zones will help you take fewer steps to get to the items you need for preparation and cooking. Try keeping useful items in each zone—for example, storing your dishes and silverware between your cook & serve and clean-up areas will help you get dinner to the table faster and dishes put away after washing more efficiently.
• Organize your spice rack. Store herbs and spices in groups that are commonly used together for easy use. Fennel, sage and rosemary are good examples. To keep them fresher longer, don’t keep spices directly over your stove or in direct sunlight.
  
  Tip: Check your herbs and spices for freshness when you organize. Dried herbs and ground spices should last for around 1-2 years. An easy way to tell if they’re past their prime is to shake a bit out on your hand and check the color and scent. If most of the color has vanished and the scent is bland or non-existent it’s time to replace it. When you buy new herbs and spices, label the containers with the date to help keep track of freshness.

Getting Ready to Cook
Before a special dinner or even when planning out your weekly meals, take some time to organize your recipes, cook times, ingredients and tools. These organized living tips will help get you started on a path to efficient cooking in your kitchen.

• Having helpers in the kitchen can be wonderful, but if they’re new to your kitchen organization style they may have a few questions. Giving your helpers a quick kitchen tour to help them find everything or setting out tools and ingredients before cooking starts will help everyone cook smoothly together.
• Sharpen your knives. Keeping your knives sharp is safer and will cut your preparation time in half. When a knife is sharp it requires less force to make cuts and is much easier to control. As always, store sharp knives separately from other utensils in a knife block or rack, to prevent cutting yourself or nicking other silverware.
• If you need to cook several side dishes at once, choose casseroles that fit into your oven with spaces in between and stagger pans on upper and lower racks. Good airflow in the oven allows food to cook much faster and more evenly, so avoid covering racks with foil or trying to cook too many dishes at once.

Once your kitchen and cooking necessities are organized for efficiency you’ll really notice how much faster and easier your cooking time can be. Being in your kitchen should now be comfortable and stress-free even when cooking a special meal.