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This Cook’s Best Friend-Timers! {Kitchen Tools Time!)

June 10, 2010 By 1 Comment
I’ve cooked in many a kitchen over the years and through all those years I’ve found many tools that are my favorites for making meal prep go so much more easily (and quickly!). I’ve had in my mind to do a kitchen tool series for a long time and am finally getting around to it. I hope to make this a regular series.

I’m kicking things off with one of my most favorite tools to have in the kitchen–my timers! They may not be a tool in the traditional sense per se, but they are oh so handy.

I use the timer on my microwave when I want I need to remember to get back to something. You see, this timer WILL NOT STOP beeping until you come back to it and turn it off (kind of annoying but also handy sometimes).

The timer on my conventional oven is a little less persistant. It’s even so nice as to give you a one minute “heads up” beep before it beeps at the time you’ve set. Great to have when I’m working in the kitchen rather than moving around in and out of the kitchen.

But my most favorite timer is the small one I got at Target that clips to my shirt or waistband. And if you’re like me and can get easily sidetracked (from the kids, the dog, a phone call, someone at the door, taking out the trash, etc.) the likelihood of me actually being in the kitchen when the timer goes off is less likely. But with my little portable timer I’m less like to forget that pot on the stove before it boils over or the cookies in the oven before they get burned.

Another tip for using your timers…set them to count how long it takes you to do a kitchen task that you dread doing…say do the dishes or cut up a few onions to put into the freezer for later. You may be surprised to learn that the tasks you’ve been avoiding don’t take nearly as long as you thought!

Filed Under: kitchen tools, meal organizing, meal planning, organization, time

Kitchen Organization (Part 1): Cabinets And Drawers

June 5, 2010 By 3 Comments
I’ve been in a bit of an organizing mood lately. Not sure what it is because it seems to come and go with me. Most recently I cleaned out and organized our bathroom linen closet. Wow! Everything is sorted and looks so nice and even labeled so I hope I won’t get so many “where’s the …..” from my family members! :-)

Over the years, I’ve cooking in many other people’s kitchens. Finding thing can sometimes be a challenge–especially when their organization system seems to be a mystery or non-existent! But I wasn’t always that organized myself. Several years ago, I had gone to the gym early one Saturday morning and on my way home got a call from my husband as he was at home with the kids. He was asking would I please stop at the store and pick up a utensil organizer because he was reorganizing the kitchen. What?!? My husband does NOT do organizing well–normally. What had motivated him, like many of us, was not being able to find something he was looking for when I was not there to tell him where to look. In this case it was well worth it!

I had a loose organization system going prior to then but it needed some tweaking. I must say that although our home is not that large, our kitchen is pretty big and has lots of cabinets for storage (it’s actually one thing that sold us on the house!)

Getting started is pretty simple. Here are few tips on where to begin:

•Keep like items together and create “zones”. In my kitchen I have zones for the following: plates and bowls, drinking glasses and mugs, baking/casseroles, pots and pans, small appliances, serving wear (bowls, platters, etc.), flat items like baking sheets or cutting boards, seasonal items, decorating (I have a probably too large collection of cookie cutters and related sprinkles, food colorings other related tools). In drawers I have daily utensils (forks, knives, etc.), cooking utensils, linens and a lunch prep drawer (used to be for sippy cups but now we keep reusable snack bags and our thermos/water bottles there)

•Keep regularly used items close at hand. I used to keep my kitchen towels in the linen closet in my bathroom. After probably years of running to the closet every time I needed a new towel, I finally re purposed a drawer right next to the sink so that I could easily grab what I needed when hands were wet or doing dishes. Same goes for the drawer next to my oven–a logical place for hot pads/oven mitts. Seems like kind of a “duh” type thing but you’d be surprised how many kitchens I’ve been in that have me running from one side to the other to get what I need!

•Declutter and purge what you have. Whether it’s from blending a family after marriage or just realizing that you’ve collected a variety of like items over the years, it’s good to take an annual look at the tools you have on hand and keep only what you need. Do you really need to have four different soup ladles? How many serving spoons or forks do you really need? Last year we bought a set of new plates and bowls as ours were chipped after many years of use. That was a great time for us to assess how we really used our daily serving wear. As a family of four, we decided to downscale the quantity of dishes we had, saving us space!

•Store seasonal items out of the kitchen: This was another “duh” moment that I did not start doing until a couple of years ago. I used to keep all of our holiday serving pieces in the same cabinets as everything else. It was crammed and I was constantly having to move things around to get to what I needed when I needed it! Now I have a tub of those items that go up in the attic with all the rest of my seasonal decorations so they are out of sight and out of my way until I need them for a particular time of year.

Because we have lots of cabinets, I even have some “non-food prep” cabinets too like the Party Cabinet where I keep all our party supplies. Things like leftover rolls of crepe paper or balloons, my sets of glass and reusable plastic plates, ice cream party bowls and more. Another cabinet has is the Craft Cabinet. In it we have things like play dough or painting supplies. I did this originally when my kids were younger so it would make getting things out for a quick activity easy. Now that they are a bit older, they can get out what they need when they want it!

A little organizing can help you and other find what they need to help you streamline your time in the kitchen. Here’s some links to some excellent articles with more tips to help you get started!
Organize A Kitchen
Basics of Kitchen Organizing.

Happy organizing!

Filed Under: kitchen tools, organization

Escape From the Kitchen {Cookbook Review}

January 14, 2009 By Leave a Comment

One thing I’ve learned in my meal planning journey is that it’s not just about the meals. It’s not just about the recipes. You have to have all the right tools to make your time in the kitchen quick, easy and maybe fun too! When I first started out learning about meal planning, I came across this book. It’s not really a cookbook (althugh there are a few recipes included). What Deniece Schofield has done is get down to the basics. She tells you how to organize your kitchen equipment and pantry (think of “zones” like the baking zone, cooking zone (pots, pans, etc.), storage zone and more). She tells you what pantry basics to always have on hand. She gives you tips on how to make the most of your time in the kitchen. And so much more! Really, her book was a big inspiration for me to get started organizing myself!

If you’re feeling overwhelmed on where to begin, check out this book as it gives a nice overview of WHY to do what you WANT to do!

Filed Under: Cookbook Reviews, kitchen tools, organization

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