Help...Struggling to downsize!!

reallylost

Hi

I am having a real problem at the mo.... for most of our lives we have lived in houses with outbuildings or a garage (mass storage was happening), had a chest freezer as well as a fridge freezer and loads of cupboard space and had reduced our grocery spends brilliantly. Just before xmas we had to move (not going into it!!) and we have ended up in a 3 bed flat on the 2nd floor!!
So...I now have 1 small freezer (3 drawers) a small fridge and 4 cupboards in a tiny kitchen. :eek:

I just cant get my head around it. I cant do the monthly shop like I used to and have ended up in the shop every week and the freezer looks empty after 3 days. My batch cooking is a waste of time as I cant store it anywhere. :mad:

I havent shopped like this in years and I am spending a fortune both on food and petrol as the nearest Mr T is 14 miles away and the nearest Asda is 24 miles away. We do have a Coop but apart it is not really suitable for a decent or affordable weekly shop. I was thinking about online shopping but even I hate lugging all the shopping up 2 flights of stairs so I doubt the delivery guys will want to do it.:o

There are 6 of us (me, DH, DD1 17, DD2 13, DS 4, and DD3 2) so as you can imagine we get through a lot of food.

I still get a sack of tatties and trays of eggs from the farm but with a small kitchen I am forever moving them from one side to another when doing other things.

Does anyone have any advice how to get a bit more organised please.

midnightraven3

i know it may not sound ideal, but can you go to a charity shop, and buy one of those big old wardrobes, they sell them cheaply, if you have room in your hallway to have it, shelve it out, it could give you some valuable stoarge space, and could store your potatoes etc in the bottom

annie123

Do you have removable kitchen plinths under the cupboards? that's where my tins/bake ware/tupperware goes.

Can your bath panel be removed? lots of wasted space there too.

ALIBOBSY

could you squeeze a small lift up chest type freezer up the corner of a room? this could be "long term" storage for your bulk cooking etc and you could just take out the food for that week and move it into the small kitchen freezer. If you are organised you shouldn't need to open it too often and so could say put a little cloth over it and use it to put a lamp on or simular so its not all wasted space? We did this when we lived in a one bed flat and again in the little terraced house we had after that.

Would struggle now, not so much with the kids but where would the chickens go lol. So sorry you had to move, but hopefully you will get back to where you want to be eventually.

Other storage options could be in lidded boxes under beds. Tinned veg whilst not always as good as frozen is handy and in some cases with sweetcorn and cooked tomatos are just as good. Baskets/lidded boxes on tops of cupboards can store extra dry good and tins (I have a cupboard store in the garage where my tins line up when on offer, I can't imagine not having my store and sympathise it must be tough.

6 of us as well here (me DH, DS (13), DD1 (8), DD2 (3) and DD3 (10 months) so i know how much food can be eaten by kids lol. We have noticed our local coop have a number of items that tend to go on sale at the end of each day around 8 ish here, things like cakes,crossants,bread etc and occasionally meat and frozen meals. OH nips in sometimes of an evening to see whats about, can be used in making next days puddings (bread and butter pudding with croissants is lovely).

We had an airing cupboard with only one shelf in the middle so OH put extra above and below one of which is for my extra toiletries (loads of radox at mo left from the morrisons offer at christmas).

Ali x

JulieGeorgiana

I store LOADS of stuff behind my Sofa!

Jojo_the_Tightfisted

reallylost wrote: »

Hi

I am having a real problem at the mo.... for most of our lives we have lived in houses with outbuildings or a garage (mass storage was happening), had a chest freezer as well as a fridge freezer and loads of cupboard space and had reduced our grocery spends brilliantly. Just before xmas we had to move (not going into it!!) and we have ended up in a 3 bed flat on the 2nd floor!!
So...I now have 1 small freezer (3 drawers) a small fridge and 4 cupboards in a tiny kitchen. :eek:

I just cant get my head around it. I cant do the monthly shop like I used to and have ended up in the shop every week and the freezer looks empty after 3 days. My batch cooking is a waste of time as I cant store it anywhere. :mad:

I havent shopped like this in years and I am spending a fortune both on food and petrol as the nearest Mr T is 14 miles away and the nearest Asda is 24 miles away. We do have a Coop but apart it is not really suitable for a decent or affordable weekly shop. I was thinking about online shopping but even I hate lugging all the shopping up 2 flights of stairs so I doubt the delivery guys will want to do it.:o

There are 6 of us (me, DH, DD1 17, DD2 13, DS 4, and DD3 2) so as you can imagine we get through a lot of food.

I still get a sack of tatties and trays of eggs from the farm but with a small kitchen I am forever moving them from one side to another when doing other things.

Does anyone have any advice how to get a bit more organised please.

Don't worry about the delivery men - they're paid to carry the stuff up the stairs - in my old flat, I occasionally overheard the odd sigh when they realised it was the top floor, but if they are in employment and able to pay their rent/mortgages because of people like me ordering online, they don't really object.

TBH, your present kitchen sounds much bigger than mine was - it measured 120cm by 180cm on its largest part, and 60cm x 120cm on the other two sections, as the back of the boiler cupboard, the electricity supply, the gas supply, the central heating feed pipes and the soil outlet of my flat, the rising mains to my flat, the central cold water tank for the block and the hot water feeds down to the other neighbours all protruded into my kitchen. My cupboard space was one half size wall cupboard and a 120cm X 45cm wide sink cupboard without any shelving. Oh, and there was one scrap bit of worksurface measuring 120cm.

I'm not trying to criticise, just telling you this to show that I do know what it is like with next to no space.

I recommend online shopping (I used Ocado) where you paid a set amount each month and that gave you unlimited deliveries in that time. I then divided the monthly shopping up into fortnights/minimum order value and planned deliveries with careful attention to what would fit in where.

Toilet rolls were bought at roughly 18 rolls a time and stored in the electric meter cupboard with kitchen rolls on special offer. The soap powder took up too much room, so was swapped to washing liquid instead. Cleaning products were kept to one bottle at a time, as you don't use more than one in the period (unless on BOGOF).

The children were used to having only one or two varieties of cereal at a time. I had a fridge that had a huge amount of storage space (the Bosch easy access) and kept the majority of fresh veg in there rather than in a rack. I also used an organic veg box scheme, so had fresh veg delivered every week, thus reducing the amount I needed to store at any one time. I grew herbs in pots on the kitchen windowsill, so didn't need to store vast quantities of them each month, I just snipped a few off as and when I needed them. The top shelf of the fridge stored all the jars of condiments, jam and the like that we used regularly - and they kept fresher that way.


When it came to Christmas, I had to be a bit more inventive - I ordered a frozen turkey, wrapped it in blankets and kept it on the 4' X 2'6" 'balcony' well covered but defrosting for the couple of days before cooking.


Sometimes you just don't need to have everything there in advance. If you are only going to use one pack of pasta in a fortnight, you don't actually need to have four packs taking up space. If you don't regularly run out of baked beans, you don't need 12 tins, but one of the jars of beans that goes in the fridge could be perfect.

Buying regular shaped things (standard size tins, tetrapacks and boxes) makes loading the cupboards you do have much easier, bottles are a pain for taking up space or falling out and threatening to break something (themselves or a bone in your head/foot, for example) and there is no reason that you have to buy 4 of something because they are on special offer.

It's hard, but you do get used to not needing to have everything there in advance.


I've just 'upsized' (if that's a word) and I don't have a clue what to do with 11 cupboards, a cupboard under the stairs, shelves AND a shed!

zarazara

Your kitchen sounds identical to mine. I get by by having more tins than before,less frozen. i store tins and jam and pasta and stuff under the bed and in a cupbaord upstairs. i have beams in the sitting room and kitchen and have put cup hooks up and hand kitchen utensils and pans there freeing up more cupboard spece. we do a big shop once a month,toilet rolls washing up liquid,tins,jars,bottles,pasta,flour and so on. i just leave bags in the bed room if theres no room elsewhere. fresh meat and veg i buy from the local shop during the week, i also have an allotment and get eggs from neighbours.

NEH

reallylost wrote: »

Hi

I am having a real problem at the mo.... for most of our lives we have lived in houses with outbuildings or a garage (mass storage was happening), had a chest freezer as well as a fridge freezer and loads of cupboard space and had reduced our grocery spends brilliantly. Just before xmas we had to move (not going into it!!) and we have ended up in a 3 bed flat on the 2nd floor!!
So...I now have 1 small freezer (3 drawers) a small fridge and 4 cupboards in a tiny kitchen. :eek:

I just cant get my head around it. I cant do the monthly shop like I used to and have ended up in the shop every week and the freezer looks empty after 3 days. My batch cooking is a waste of time as I cant store it anywhere. :mad:

I havent shopped like this in years and I am spending a fortune both on food and petrol as the nearest Mr T is 14 miles away and the nearest Asda is 24 miles away. We do have a Coop but apart it is not really suitable for a decent or affordable weekly shop. I was thinking about online shopping but even I hate lugging all the shopping up 2 flights of stairs so I doubt the delivery guys will want to do it.:o

There are 6 of us (me, DH, DD1 17, DD2 13, DS 4, and DD3 2) so as you can imagine we get through a lot of food.

I still get a sack of tatties and trays of eggs from the farm but with a small kitchen I am forever moving them from one side to another when doing other things.

Does anyone have any advice how to get a bit more organised please.

Your town sounds like mine, we have a large co-op, Tesco 12 miles away in a city and Asda 22 miles away in another town, as we both live in Scotalnd beginning to wonder if we live in the same place! lol

I can sympathise in that when we moved her last September our freezer is tiny and even though we have a small outbuilding we have been advised not to keep a freezer in it as apparently freezers can't actually withstand some minus temperatures...I tend to concentrate the freezer we have on keeping meat and then always having tins and sauces in so it makes more meals iyswim, means a fair bit of cooking on the night rather than in advance but needs must...

Is there a hallway in your flat or a cupboard of some kind that perhaps you could fit in a second hand freezer off freecycle or something..? Perhaps a bedroom or a corner of a living room...?

Delivery men do have to deliver, there are usually two options to your door or to your fridge and that means your fridge even if it is up several floors...

Sassers

I have Wales smallest kitchen. Seriously. A metre and a half by two metres.
My fridge freezer is in an alcove halfway up the stairs (third step up)...
To save space...which is what I’ve done or suggesting is:
Cut thick MDF and loads of coats of yacht varnish as a sink cover extra prep or chop space.
Buy metal curtain pole and ends, cheap kitchen hooks from Ikea and cut to fit an alcove to hang your pots and pans off and free up cupboard space. No expensive contraption for me!
Screw hooks onto a bit of beading and hang underneath cupboards for cups.
On higher cupboards you can do this for utensils.
Screw hooks into the ceiling and buy French wire egg baskets to store and hang them in.
Small shelves over a doorway
Rolling plastic storage boxes under beds to put in dry goods groceries, loo rolls etc.
Put piano hinges onto the bath panel, so lift it open and store dry goods inside.

adelight

My Nan keeps plates in racks on the wall and all the glasses and mugs are hanging off hooks or grates. Any "special" glasses like wine glasses are hanging by the base off a wire mesh on the ceiling out of the way.
Do you have tonnes of crockery? If so, take some to the CS or throw it out.
Do you have space on top of the cupboards? The cupboards in my parents house have almost a foot above them before the ceiling where they store extra cereal boxes, cake tins, tupperwear etc

Freezers produce quite a bit of heat out the back don't they? A small one for storing the batch cooking as suggested could maybe serve as a mini heater in the living room.

reallylost

Thanks so much for the helpful replies..:beer:
I will try to remember everyone....

Midnightraven3...the wardrobe idea has inspired me, I have a really heavy duty chest of drawers I was thinking about taking down the skip..after I read your comment I had another look and have decided to fill this with dry goods so thanks again.

Annie123..never even thought about the plinths that sounds like something I could sort out.

ALIBOBSY..Thanks for all the ideas..great thought about the freezer in a corner..one that particularly hit me was I have empty suitcases and bags under all the beds so I could fill them up with toiletries and the like.

JulieGeorgiana..My sofa is hard up against the wall so we can have a dining table. But it is a place that could be used if we ever get to move again.

Jojo...I see what you mean about the delivery men..I didnt see it as critisism....love the turkey story...and I know I dont have to stock up so much its just a hard habit to break and I sort of went from one extreme to the other..dont worry about the extra space everything suddenly expands and in a few weeks you will be complaining you need more.

Zarazara...Thanks I have been buying more tins too and was worried I was being too lazy and not old style enough.

Thanks to everyone so far...I went and took out my frustration on some bread dough and now have some rolls and a lovely fresh loaf for lunches tomorrow.

S