I’m so excited for today’s blog, because we’re going to do a deep clean and super organization of my entire kitchen! We’re talking pantry, fridge, cupboards, the whole shebang! The cupboards and pantry had just accumulated so much extra stuff that things were getting disorganized and lost in there. I wanted to relabel and reorganize everything, and put things back where they belong. I’m going to take you through it all!
First things first, I opened up the pantry to take inventory of what we had. There was a lot of stuff in there, from supplements to baking supplies, and all of these empty containers that weren’t being used. I pulled everything out and set it on the kitchen counter so I could really see what I was working with. Checking expiration dates along the way, I ended up throwing a lot of things out that we didn’t realize had expired (unused condiments, old flour, etc.). Once the pantry was empty, I wiped everything down to get out all of the gunk, grime and extra dust that had collected on the shelves.
Next, I emptied and cleaned out all of the unused jars and food storage containers. Some of the containers that I use for dry goods had old food in them, so I cleaned those out as well, and replaced the old food with fresh food. We had a lot of loose bags and multiple items like rice, oatmeal, collagen, etc., so I used the empty containers to combine each thing. I also individually packed up sunflower seeds, pistachios, raisins, and mixed nuts into some extra glass jars so we could see them. I made labels for each of the jars and containers because I wanted everything to have its place. I just got clear labels off of Amazon and printed them in Pages on my computer. You can also use Microsoft Word. It’s super easy and makes for a much more organized situation in your pantry!
I continued with labeling some plastic tubs to organize baking supplies, oils, spices and noodles/pasta. I created a can area, a soup area, and all of our supplements went down on the bottom shelf. I moved all of our junk food like popcorn and chips out of the pantry into its own drawer, so we were less likely to reach for those things than what was more accessible in the pantry.
Some of the labels I made weren’t fitting quite right on the containers, so I decided to use my Cricut machine. I know it looks complicated, but it’s honestly really straightforward! I typed out the words in the font I wanted, printed them on sticker paper, and peeled off each word. It took me five minutes! I made labels for shakes, flour, pasta, chocolate chips and nutritional yeast. I labeled everything I could, and it made such a difference in how the pantry looked once it was all done! I felt like everything had its place, and there was so much less clutter because I knew where everything went, and it was all categorized.
Then, I moved on to our coffee area. Just like the pantry, I took everything out of the cupboards and gave them a good wipedown. I found so many mugs and random things in there! I put some mugs aside to donate, and organized all of our coffee supplies in a way that made sense. Another cupboard I really wanted to tackle is where we keep our dishes. I had accumulated some Mickey bowls and random little jars, plates, etc. I don’t like having random mismatched stuff, so I took those out of the cupboards, wiped it all down, and reorganized everything.
Next, I went to work on the fridge. We had a lot of leftover stuff like takeout and meal prep items in there, so it just needed to be cleaned out and organized. I like to wipe down the fridge every couple of weeks so it stays fresh and clean, so that wasn’t too difficult to finish up quickly. In the door, I organized the top row with juices and creamer. The second row was salad dressings, and condiments like mustard and soy sauce filled up the last two rows. On the shelves, I organized everything into sections. On the top shelf, I put small items like eggs, butter, etc. The second shelf held pickled stuff like hot peppers, olives, and pickles. The third shelf is a little taller, so I put things like cashew milk and juice there. The last shelf held cans like sparkling water, and fruits and veggies went into individual drawers.
The other thing that I hadn’t tackled in so long was our freezer. I don’t know why, but Andre and I are just not freezer people. If something goes in our freezer, it’s either booze, or it goes there to die, lol. We wanted to change that, so I got to work organizing. I started by putting all of our alcohol bottles in the door. Then, I put meat on one shelf, frozen fruits and smoothie ingredients on another shelf, and bread went on the top shelf. I moved seafood into its own drawer with shrimp, tilapia, haddock, and some smoked salmon. Last, all of the junk food went into the bottom drawer so it was all in one spot.
The last thing that needed to be organized, especially because I went through the pantry, was all of our spices. I took everything out, condensed a lot of containers, and threw out anything that was expired. Like everything else, I wiped it all down before putting everything back in.
Obviously, it made such a mess to put everything out on the counter, so I cleaned it all up by wiping down the counter and vacuuming. It was such a long process, but totally worth it at the end of the day! I hope this helped give you some cleaning motivation and ideas for organizing your kitchen. If you have any organization tips or tricks I might have missed, be sure to share them in the comments!
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