How you can get your kitchen Pantry organized

For many homes, disorganized pantries are quite a bit of a nuisance. Preparing meals for your family seems to take longer because you can't find some of the items you need for cooking that are stored in the pantry.

Organizing the pantry in your house can help you save time, space, and money. Here are five simple ways to help in getting the job done.

1. First, you might want to utilize helper shelves. Helper shelves makes the storage space in the pantry that you have bigger, as well as displaying the items more visibly and clearly, allowing you easier access to these items.

Help shelves are available in various heights and widths. Generally they are adjustable and are available in various specialty stores or retailer shops.

2. Group similar food items in one place in your pantry. Grouping different food items and products by content or by brand can make your life easier in finding them. For instance, you can put all the condiments in one section of your pantry, the snack foods in another, and the breakfast cereals on their own shelf.

3. Keep the pantry orderly and neat. Containers should have identifiable labels and boxes should line up orderly. This way, you can see all the contents of your pantry in just a few seconds, making it easier and simpler for you to find things when you need them.

4. You should conduct a regular inventory. Before going to the store or supermarket, check your pantry first to see if you need to re-stock any items.

5. Rotate the food items in your pantry. How often have you discovered boxes or cans buried deeply on the shelves that are unused or unopened? Or that you have to remove them because they were buried so long that the contents have become spoiled or past their expiration dates? Whether you stack them or line the items up, it is crucial for you to rotate these items.

Follow these easy rules and you would be guaranteed to save time, space, and money.

Here are a few tips to help you organize your pantry.

1. Make sure that every item that is stored is clearly visible and easily accessible.

2. The cans in the pantry should have visible labels.

3. Use added shelves, straw baskets, adjustable racks, pegboards, dividers for the cookie sheets, pull-out drawers, and other things that could help keep your pantry organized.

4. You could also put something like a "guest shelf". Put here food items such as dip sauces, pate, and other items that you would serve to unexpected guests. There should be available ready-to-heat food items, such as stews, chili, or soup when you want to have a quick supper.

5. Place a pencil and paper or a chalk and blackboard near your pantry so that you can have a list of the items that you need to buy when supplies are running low.

6. Heavy and large items should be out of immediate reach for purposes of safety, especially for children.

7. If there is a ladder or step stool near your pantry, make sure that they have handles attached for you to hold on to. Make sure the ladder or stool is safe and sturdy.

8. In the pantry, put overhead lighting for easier visibility.

9. See which food products you usually use. Consider purchasing bulk sizes of them to save more money.

10. Store rice, cereal, noodles, as well as other kinds of dried food items in containers or glass jars that are clearly labeled.

11. Remove items from your pantry that are just sitting there for a long time.

12. Consider putting in a refreshment area. Store tea bags, coffeepot, cups, glasses, among other items, together.

13. The edges of the pantry should be free from food items to keep them from dropping or falling off.

14. Put an additional shelf for your cookbooks. Organize your cookbooks.

15. You might want open shelves that do not have doors. This might be great too, considering the fact that the open shelves let you see everything immediately. You might want to paint a pegboard as additional art decor.

16. If you prefer open shelves, it would be nicer to use more decorative jars or jars that have decorative lids.

17. To store your bread, buy a bread box that offers additional décor or accent to your pantry.

18. A bigger pantry can store large appliance items such as a bread machine or food processor.

20. Organize your pantry while keeping the person who uses it most in your mind.

An organised refrigerator is one in which all items are fresh, easily accessible and stored in a hygienic manner.

To begin with, it helps to understand how a refrigerator works. Basically, refrigerators don't make food cold; they remove heat and moisture from an enclosed space, just like an air conditioner.

Because all that air and moisture is being sucked out of a refrigerator's contents, you can't leave food or beverages uncovered.

Eggs put in the little egg holders in the door will deteriorate more rapidly than they would if left in their cartons, because they lose moisture through their porous shells. That's also why watery foods like lettuce, celery, and other greens should go into the crisper wrapped in plastic bags, so moisture is trapped.

Most refrigerators have two compartments, one for freezing and one for chilling. Although they appear to be separate, in most models they share the same air, which is transferred from one to the other by a gate-like device called a baffle.

A single system chills all the air for the appliance and moves it from section to section, beginning in the freezer. That's why an uncovered dish of pasta redolent with garlic will eventually give your ice the same flavour.

SETTING THE CORRECT TEMPERATURE:

Your refrigerator should be set around 3°C in the main compartment; 5°C in the crisper and -18°C in the freezer.

If you want things in the main compartment of the fridge to be colder, increase the individual setting in that compartment only, not in your freezer. Cold air originates in the freezer.

A very high setting will only cause the machine to close the baffle between the two sections so that the cold air stays in the freezer, leaving your ice cream rock hard and your drinks a little too warm.

OPERATING YOUR FRIDGE AT PEAK EFFICIENCY:

For your refrigerator to operate at peak efficiency for the lowest cost, keep it three-quarters full rather than almost empty. That way, when the door is opened and warm air rushes in, there are more cold items to maintain a stable temperature.

On the other hand, If it is too tightly packed air won't be able to circulate, especially if the food is pushed against the back wall.

KEEPING THE INSIDE OF THE FRIDGE CLEAN:

The first step in keeping your refrigerator clean is to wipe up spills immediately with a warm soapy cloth. This will minimise the chances of odours permeating resulting in a smelly fridge.
Make it a habit to throw out old food once a week. Even old ice should go so that you're not using any that has picked up food flavours or odours.

Every few months, wash the inside of the refrigerator with either warm soapy water or a solution of two tablespoons of baking soda in a cup of water. Also wash the pan that collects water produced by the automatic defrost.

Regularly wash glass shelves and crisper drawers in the sink. When glass shelves are removed for cleaning, allow them to come to room temperature first so that the hot water won't crack them.

The condenser coils (usually at the back of the fridge) should be vacuumed or brushed a few times a year. This is important as it prevents the system from overheating. If the condenser isn't cleaned, it will become caked with dust and hair, and that prevents heat from being dispelled into the room.

Heating up the system can shorten the life of your refrigerator. BE SURE TO UNPLUG THE REFRIGERATOR FIRST.

CLEANING THE OUTSIDE OF THE FRIDGE:

The paint finish on the outside of a refrigerator is actually a baked enamel, similar to that of a car. The best way to remove tough grime off the exterior of the fridge is with a soft cloth and a mild automotive polish. After the grime is removed wash with warm soapy water and dry off with a chamois.

NB: Never use an acetate based product such as methylated spirits to clean the inside or outside of the fridge as these products can eat through the plastic parts on the fridge.

GETTING RID OF ODOURS:

Although it's a good idea to throw out food before it's mouldy, and wipe up spills when they occur, nobody's perfect, and sometimes the refrigerator starts to smell a little.

First, find the offending food, and throw it out. Then, wipe the inside of the fridge over with a soft cloth soaked in vanilla essence and cold water.

AVOIDING FOOD SPOILAGE:

"The refrigerator is meant to hold food, not relics."

One of the best ways to avoid food spoilage is to buy food in smaller quantities. With today's busy lifestyles, doing one large shopping trip for the week doesn't always make sense, shopping for small amounts more frequently ensures that food gets used rather than forgotten.

Keep your most frequently used items near the front of the shelves, while specialty items, such as olives, can be placed further back.

Cover everything. If foods are left uncovered, they will take on the flavours or odours that surround them.

Eggs should be kept in the container they were sold in for a few reasons. The eggs compartment built into the refrigerator door will not keep the eggs at the steady, cold temperature that they need to stay fresh, and the container itself will prevent eggs from absorbing the odours of other foods.

It's a good idea to keep dairy products, meats, and anything else that might leak on top of a baking tray to catch any drips.

Fruit can be stored simply in bowls or on trays, while fresh vegetables should be washed, dried, and stored in the crisper in airtight plastic bags. The crisper traps in moisture, which helps to prevent everything from drying out.

Divide the space on your refrigerator shelves into sections, and group similar items together: beverages, condiments, diary products, and so on. Rotate perishable foods so the older items get eaten first, and check dates regularly, disposing of anything that has expired.