What's in my fridge. . .Organizing tips!

[eachpeachpearplum]

Bumping for newbies

[Colorawdo girl]

Hooray for organization.I am blown away.I have been looking at organizing.You inspire me to greatness.Heres a little ditty for you.....Zippety doo day zippety ay......my oh my what an organized day!! plenty of raw food coming your way,my oh my what a wonderful day.

[eachpeachpearplum]

Hooray for organization.I am blown away.I have been looking at organizing.You inspire me to greatness.Heres a little ditty for you.....Zippety doo day zippety ay......my oh my what an organized day!! plenty of raw food coming your way,my oh my what a wonderful day.

Ha ha ha! THAT is just splendid THANKS!

[eachpeachpearplum]

. . . .I am sooooo sad to say that I have used up all my photos allowance and so can no longer post with photos. . . . . Before you balk, keep in mind that Alissa pays a huge sum each month to keep this site going for us

As I am such a visual person - I think in pictures - I will be limiting my posts but feel free to still email me with questions. If a query pertains to a post or thread I have contributed to please include the link or details if you can!

Cheers,

EPPP

[eachpeachpearplum]

I never plan for it, it just creeps up on me and the next thing I notice I have cleared all my counters and refilled them with the contents of my pantry shelves.

I also have one side of my sink filled with hot soapy water with a drop of bleach added. The dinning table is laid out with clean tea towles.

Why? Well the SPRING CLEAN BUG has hit. This happened to me last night. My husband came home (rolled his eyes, lovingly) and knew we would not be spending quality time together that evening.

For me this clearout is crucial. There gets to be a point where my daily food prep process comes to a slow halt, and I find myself wanting to reach for that which should not be touched, something. . . prepared - EEK! This is because slowly my once pristine cupboards / pantry are well, a mess!

This means sticky or cloudy jars, jars with not well recieved dehydrated snacks, seeds, nuts & grains I have not touched in months! You may wonder how this happenes. Well my pantry glass jars are three deep and nine across, these are 1/2 gallon size. My cupboard has rows of quart and 1/2 quart jars too. So things get forgotton.

Whilst, none of these old items had actually gone off I choose this time to pitch them and refill with fresh. You may think this is a waste but most of these are very inexpensive items as the pricier items I do not keep in large quantities and my turn over is regular and consistant with those. Just get rid of items you are not comfortable with eating! Remeber if you are not using it there is NO REASON TO KEEP IT, it just adds clutter!

This is where the sink full of hot soapy water comes in. After emptying them, I place all the jars in the sink and give them a good wash then place on the towels to dry. I do this by hand as I really could not fit that many in the dishwasher!

This clearout also addresses "other" canned and boxed pantry items. If it has dust wash it, check date, and pitch it or put it in a bag to donate.

This all seems like common sense but hey how long does it take us to get round to it? How often do you open your cupboard to put away your groceries and have no room but at the same time you swear you have nothing in the house. The classic case of Mother hubbords Cupboard is FULL OF CR*P!

I do this once a year for one evening, that's all it takes :) So, put eveyone to bed, done you apron, gloves and a great CD and GO FOR IT!!

Cheers,

EPPP

[Zanjabil]

You rock Peachplum, I would love to be able throw out all the sad food and have a lovely organized Raw kitchen. {{SIGH}}. But it's okay, I'm biding my time , I will convert them(hubby and 4 boys) one dish at a time.;)

[eachpeachpearplum]

You rock Peachplum, I would love to be able throw out all the sad food and have a lovely organized Raw kitchen. {{SIGH}}. But it's okay, I'm biding my time , I will convert them(hubby and 4 boys) one dish at a time.;)

Ha ha ha, I did not throw out all the SAD food as I still have a SAD easter in the family. I just tossed the items that were taking up space because I was not using them!

My mum always said "always use the good china and wear all your jewels" keeping them in storage is just a waste! So as a professed packrat I am always trying to keep to the use or toss it method!

And I love your "one dish at a time" that's such a great way of looking at it!

Cheers,

EPPP

[MiahTay]

EPPP - I LOVE this thread, I've been reading it over the past couple of days and I've been feeling the Spring Cleaning bug as well, maybe I'll dive in today. I do have a bulk food order coming tomorrow so it would be good timing (AND it's garbage day . I was wondering does your offer still stand for your menu tracker, I would love something to help organize my menus, my hubby has been bugging me to switch from my weekly menu planning to a monthly plan (I've been a bit resistant). I enjoy your posts very much, you are a very generous person with your time and talents. Thank you.

Blessings,
Heather

[Colorawdo girl]

EPPP....do you open and shut those organized cupboards five times and check if the doors locked three times? (OCD?) hahah,,just funning you.
Thanks for sharing,you inspired us all and really helped.I just posted a thread about simplicity.Perhaps it is in organizing that there comes to be simplicity.A place for everything and everything in its place.
You have helped so many.When I get my pantry organized(have been working on it) I will post a picture for you.
pssssst I think my kitty prays too(mostly over her food..hahaha) lotsa love n hugs for how much you shared.well we love you just because we do,not for what you give us!!! Happy daze I am in.

[PammieTaj]

I'm really inspired.

blessings and peace, Pammie

[Springtime]

Oh, my god... I am in AWE! Your kitchen gives me food-gasms (or are they orga(ni)sms? )

So funny i found this thread, because i did the whole cupboard-organizing thing yesterday and put all the dry stuff in glass jars, and i just love looking at it, i don't even wanna eat anything, bc i loove looking at it!

I feel like i need to organise more, it such a wonderful feeling to have a room completley organised and ready for work!

Peace

[eachpeachpearplum]

Oh, my god... I am in AWE! Your kitchen gives me food-gasms (or are they orga(ni)sms? )

So funny i found this thread, because i did the whole cupboard-organizing thing yesterday and put all the dry stuff in glass jars, and i just love looking at it, i don't even wanna eat anything, bc i loove looking at it!

I feel like i need to organise more, it such a wonderful feeling to have a room completley organised and ready for work!

Peace

Brings to mind the clean up machine the Cat In The Hat uses to clean up the BIG mess he made with Thing One & Thing Two; now THAT would be handy to have!

[sprouts2go]

Awesome thread thanks for all the ideas. Now can you keep my veggies from freezing when the hit the back of the fridge? Some of those spinach boxes go the whole depth of the fridge. I also add pepertowels to my veggie boxes. If an Item is in a plastic bag I put a papertowel in and turn the bag upside down so all the moisture drains into the towel.

[annavon]

First, I will admit, that I didn't read all of this thread, but one thing I would like to mention is that I keep my nuts in the fridge especially during the summer. It gets pretty hot here in the summer and the nuts go bad pretty quickly in the heat. It kills me to have $$$ of nuts wasted!!!

[PammieTaj]

I really need help in this department! Love this post!