Organized: My Freezer

So, with it being spring and all (almost), and my Lenten goal to become more purposeful, I thought about organizing some of the systems in our house. But during some research online, I realized that maybe documenting some of what we do (and some thing I implement that we currently don't do) will help someone else out there in cyber space. Because while none of the home organization solutions I found were perfect for me, they at least gave me a starting point. And with a Frankenstein of those, plus a little creativity, I came up with some solutions that worked for us.

Our freezer has been organized like this for quite some time. The hubs is fabulous at organizing kitchen things and he came up with this system while we were still in Florida. But the label part, that's all me (I have a thing for bins and labels).

We have plastic bins of varying sizes (it's dependent upon your freezer size and shape, obvs) that we place like items in and then label (with chalk). When we take one out, we re-write the number. This way, nothing gets buried in the freezer and becomes a "What is that?" It also cuts down on the amount of rummaging we do for "I thought we had.." The key here is that once you bring food home or have leftovers you want to package, to do it in portions that are realistic for your family. We usually do half pounds and sometimes even quarter pound packages of ground meat because we're only two people. Steaks and other meat cuts are wrapped individually. A family of 6 would obviously portion differently. You can also use one large freezer bag with smaller portions just wrapped in plastic wrap to cut down on bags (and space in the containers).

I tuck ice pack for the hubs lunch bag in between the containers. And since we took out our ice maker, we have a few ice trays in the top left corner there.

We also portion everything, and shape it for the containers before we freeze it. Trying to fit already frozen items into bins can work, but it's less space efficient. To maximize freezer space, shaping fresh items allows you to "mold" things into the bins so that there is little wasted space.

Behind all these bins, we have our prepared meals (soups, pot pie fillings, chilis, etc.) in 2 c. Ziploc containers. The 2 cup size works well for a serving size of two portions - exactly what we need). They sell larger cup sizes that we use on occasion, but we mostly use the 2 c. size. The nice thing is, though, is that the 4 c. size fits in the location of two 2 cup containers, so you can use a mix of both if you need some larger portions and some smaller. To keep tabs on the back of the freezer, we keep a running list of what gets put back there so that we know without having to unearth what's in front of it. Take it out, cross it off.

On the door, we keep go-to items again in the Ziploc containers (for easy rearranging if necessary). Things like chicken stock and fruit for smoothies goes here, along with odd items like old bananas, popsicles, etc. that would clutter up the freezer bins or won't fit into them efficiently.

How do you keep your freezer organized? Anyone have tips for the fridge?

Our Kitchen

Before we left Florida, I figured I would take you on a tour of our itty bitty kitchen* for a couple reasons. First, because I am a neb nose** and love to see other people's kitchens and living spaces. The second reason is because we live in an apartment. We don't have any fancy storage spaces built in, we don't have a fabulous professional stove. No butcher block island here. No ma'am.

On a lot of food blogs, when I see their kitchens, it looks like a magazine spread. The colors, the design, the storage, their perfectly placed everything. And I think, of course they can cook. They have counter space. They have a six burner oven. So, while our kitchen is a bit more, um, realistic, I wanted to post it to encourage those of you who live in itty bitty kitchens that you can cook and make great tasty meals.

We use every inch we have, including the walls. On one side, we have pots and utensils, along with a bit of book storage.

Bread board, pot rack, box lid turned utensil holder

Our apartment issued stove and our personal toaster oven (which is used far more than our big one). Salt pig and oil are standing by for frequent use. Our case iron skillet practically lives on the stove.

Our spice drawers.

Sink and the dishwasher that sounds like an airplane. We also park our mixer and blender there. It's our baking and smoothie corner. Our pasta maker is attached to the overpass.

Under our cabinets. We did our best to maximize space with the racks on the top shelf.

Our main work station. We put as much on the wall as we could to maximize the little amount of countertop that we have.

Hanging our measuring cups makes them easily accessible.

Our most used cookbooks are in the kitchen. We store others in the living room.

Our pots hang on the wall so we have more cabinet space for other items.

Our little kitchen has served us well. We've modified it as much as we are allowed so that it was the most useful for us, and in most instances, those changes have increased our storage space and efficiency in the kitchen. As we head across the country, we'll miss our itty bitty kitchen, but look forward to maybe, just maybe, not having to wear noise cancelling headphones when we run the dishwasher.

*I realize that our itty bitty kitchen is probably a luxury in New York City, but in the burbs, where kitchens are frequently the size of our apartment, ours is pretty small.

**Pittsburgh for nosy. I'll get you all educated, slowly but surely.

Paper Towel Rehab: How to Curb the Habit

Hi, I'm Jessica and I was addicted to paper towels.

Whew. I said it. We would buy in bulk and although they would last a while, I was probably going through a roll a week. Extreme house cleaning and Nick would joke about buying stocks in Bounty. Eek. I wanted to get better and reduce my usage, but the "unpaper towels" that were out there (here and here) were too expensive and it seemed like there could be an easier (read: cheaper) way. I could just buy a ton of dish towels or the expensive unpaper towels, but some of the things I use paper towels for are pretty gross and I never wanted to use my dish rags for, so would I use the pretty new towels? Probably not.

So when Nick said that he needed new t-shirts, a light bulb went off. People have used cut up old t-shirts as rags for as long as they've had worn out t-shirts, so of course I would give it a try. But the thought of having a giant pile of cut up t-shirts just seemed overwhelmingly disorganized. So, I thought about what I liked about paper towels and how I could use t-shirts in the same way without giving up the convience factor.
So, what did I come up with?

This jar, filled with rolled, cut to size t-shirt rags. Meeting all of my criteria, it was a great solution and makes the change from paper towels much easier.

What you'll need:

$0.00
Fabric shears or sharp scissors
Ruler or template
Clean glass jar
Old T-shirts
Cleaning Solution (Optional)

I started with those old, grungy t-shirts Nick was tossing. I started by cutting out the seams and laying them flat. I had a total of 8 shirts, so they could be cut together, but any more and I would split them into two piles. Figure out the layout. I was able to get seven 6" x 11" rectangles out of one of Nick's shirts, but depending on the size, you may get more or less. Cut the shirts into rectangles of the proper size.

To roll the "towels," overlap the first towel with the second towel by one or two inches. Roll the first towel until a few inches sticks out from the second. Overlap a third towel onto the second towel by one or two inches and roll. Continue overlapping towels until you get about 20 or so in the roll. This amount fits in a 3"  jar pretty tightly. For dry towels, you can simply add the towels into the jar and set on the counter. Reach into the center and pull up the first towel and it should leave an inch or so of the next towel up, just like a wipe dispenser.

Since most of the time, I use these for cleaning, I've also made them into pre-moistened cleaning wipes. Simply wet the rags with the cleaning solution of your choice and ring out excess before placing into the jar.

Since I got about 60 from Nick's shirts, I was able to roll 3 "rolls" of towels. I also have some additional rags from the sleeves I can use for small jobs. Since the paper towels we were using have about 56 in each roll, we can easily use these for a week and then launder.

Storage Solutions - Mini Pot Rack

We live in an apartment. Apartments have notoriously small kitchens, something I find ironic since when buying a house most people tend to look at kitchens (size, updates, storage) as an important feature. It seems that, as an apartment dweller, I should also be living on a diet of take out and microwave dinners. On the bright side, I think our kitchen is a decent size for an apartment, but still, we needed some creative storage solutions to make everything we have fit while still having it be a warm and inviting space.

One of our priorities while organizing was to have everything accessible. It doesn't matter if everything has a place if that place is in the cabinet above the refrigerator or behind four other appliances. Counter space was also a priority because well, it's limited. Our five drawers (yes, five!) were all used up (3 for spices, 2 for silverware), but we still had cooking utensils and we still had spices. So, we looked to the walls.

 

Nick had already built a pot rack for our pots and pans, our favorite cookbooks, and other odds and ends that we wanted to have in easy reach.

He came up with the idea to build a smaller one to hold our most used spices as well as measuring cups and spoons. It was a great idea. He built it in a weekend and it really did help to solve some of our organizational problems.

Now, the spices I reach for the most are out and within reach of the cutting board and prep stations, just a step away from the stove. The measuring cups and spoons are easily accessed individually, without sifting though a drawer or cabinet and free of the metal chain that typically holds them all together (when you only ever need one at a time).

I'll be sharing some of our pantry and freezer organizational tools in the near future. In the meantime, what kitchen tool/method helps to keep you organized?