Organization of cupboards

mah_jong · 10 August 2005 at 6:39PM

I don't know...I seem to have bits of this and bits of that all over the place!
As i do more cooking from scratch I have more ingrediants, esp as I am starting to be far more adventourous !!

however the down side is the cupboards are a mess ...stuffed with things on top of each other! Part of the prob I think, is the high cupboards just have one shelf (I would prefer two). So I am asking for inspiration to get a bit more organized. I was half thinking of wee baskets to put all the spices in, then all the seeds, then all the dried fruit, etc. But not sure if this would work, and would prefer not to part with cash if there is something more obvious I could do instead!!!

Mah

squeaky · 10 August 2005 at 6:52PM

One of my pantry "shelves" for spices and herbs is a three inch 8cm wide length of wood. It's stood on two cheap and nasty (9p) tins of beans at each end...

..one day i'll find some brackets to fix it.

Stiff card board from a box can do quite well - and my local store always has those box-tray-thingies that you can take home.

I've got all my various sauce bottles stood lid down in cut down plastic milk cartons and by stacking cans like for like (remembering to put the new stuff at the back) I don't do too badly

apprentice_tycoon · 10 August 2005 at 6:54PM

I would hold on to ice cream tubs and use those for the groups of stuff (spices and herbs are best kept out of the sunlight anyway) Ice cream tub lids are great for putting on the shelves that hold bottles that would get messy drips on them like oil and soy sauce etc, much easier to clean!

moggins · 10 August 2005 at 6:57PM

LOL I was just about to say that I use old ice cream tubs

I also have a couple of the undershelf storage basket/shelf things from Betterware.

I'm also so anal that I have ingredients stored on the shelf in country order eg: Chinese ingredients, indian, jamaican, italian etc. Yes I know I'm sad.

Lyndsay_21 · 10 August 2005 at 7:16PM

i am an expert on this having re-arranged and sorted the cupboards out just the other weekend, i went down to the local cheap/£1 shop and bought some plasitc tupperware type containers spent about £4 and sorted things into sections ie put all baking stuff into big container with lid (to keep nasties out), put rice, pasta etc into one (in packets still) did it like that look really oranised now it really helps especially if u hae a TINY kitchen like mine

pol · 10 August 2005 at 7:56PM

Moggins, I don't think that's sad, I think that's a great idea. I often cook Italian or Chinese and I keep all my spices together, but what a good idea to put them all in separate containers, but together on the shelf

thanks!

pol

maryb · 10 August 2005 at 8:03PM

I have a tall cupboard as well and I find that the big plastic sweety jars go in perfectly on their side with the lid pointing towards you and you can stack two on top of each other to fill the space. I keep pasta and rice in them instead of in the packets which spill contents everywhere. This has freed up so much room it would be my one tip above anything else

Gingham_Ribbon · 10 August 2005 at 8:07PM

I'm having the same trouble. But my problem is labelling everything. I have a spice rack but it doesn't have anywhere to write the contents. The same with the jars, boxes and tubs that hold everything else.

I have a pen that I can scrub off but some cheap labels that you can peel off would be ideal. If anyone can suggest any or a cheaper idea I'd be grateful. My husband has already put salt in his tea! :doh:

Great tip about the spices. I used to do that years ago, then a 'helpful' boyfriend decided to tidy up for me and rearranged them all in alphabetical order! I've never managed to get the blend for my curries the same since! (Bless him, he's a house husband now and I bet he runs a very tight ship!)

squeaky · 10 August 2005 at 8:11PM

I got 500 sticky labels for a fiver from daxon - that's a penny each - and in fact often cut them into two or even up to four when using them.

Check out the Kitchen Appliances section of https://www.daxon.co.uk

Penny-Pincher!! · 10 August 2005 at 8:50PM

Hi

I try and organise my cupboards and try to sort one/two each week(also clean it out,check stock etc)so they are normally all donw out every 4/6 weeks.

I have a cupboard that has a shelf at the top-this I use for breakie cereals, porridge, squash etc. The bottom shelf is strictly for tins-in line order there are soups, beans, spagetti, rice pudding/custard, tinned fruit, tomatoes (chopped & plum)sweetcorn, mushy/garden peas, tuna. My mum always taught me to have one in reserve...but I normally keep 3/4

They are either smart price or on offer so only cost pennies and always think, if I have nothing in the freezer, we'll always have food

Another cupboard has jams, marmalades, peanut butter, marmite, spices, curry pastes, ketchup, HP, chilli powder, about 4 jars of cooking sauces, biscuits, gravy, salt, pepper, vinegar, etc etc.

My problem is the bloomin rotunda! How do I sort this out? It is broken and cant hold alot of weight, but have flour, suet, pasta, packet sauces, coffee. tea, sugar, baking stuff, stuffing, jelly, etc.

Have I got too much stuff??? LOL!! How can I sort the rotunda out??

Cheers

Penny-Pincher!!
xxx

SnowyOwl_2 · 10 August 2005 at 10:35PM

Gingham_Ribbon wrote:

I'm having the same trouble. But my problem is labelling everything. I have a spice rack but it doesn't have anywhere to write the contents. The same with the jars, boxes and tubs that hold everything else.

I have a pen that I can scrub off but some cheap labels that you can peel off would be ideal. If anyone can suggest any or a cheaper idea I'd be grateful. My husband has already put salt in his tea! :doh:

Perhaps a look at the Freebees board might yield some free samples of labels. I know that the company Avery are good for sending free samples. You could cut them up to fit, stick new ones on top of old etc etc until you find a cheap source of removable post it note type thingies.

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Organization of cupboards

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