Professional Kitchen Organizing

Organizers Guide to Reduce Food Waste

Posted on June 27, 2024July 24, 2024 by jillmoore

In today’s world, food waste has become a significant issue that impacts many households. With the rising cost of groceries, reducing this waste can help your family save money. With a bit of creativity and planning, you can reduce food waste in your home while still enjoying a variety of delicious meals. The goal is to enjoy what you have in stock while it is fresh before purchasing more. So how do we do that? Here’s our guide to turning potential waste into delicious meals.

Kitchen Inventory

This first step to really taking control of your food waste is to know what you currently have in your pantry, cabinets, and fridge. Taking stock of what you have already purchased will help you avoid buying duplicates and ensure you use the items before they expire.

This is also a great opportunity to declutter and organize your food storage areas. Discard any expired items and place items to the front that have the closest expiration date. Group similar items together to help you quickly see what you have to work with when beginning to plan your meals.

Meal Planning

Now that you have a solid inventory of your kitchen, let’s reverse the meal planning process. Instead of planning meals and then shopping for ingredients, plan meals based on the ingredients you already have. You can look up recipes on Google that include the ingredients you need to use up. Get creative and consider flexible recipes like stir-fries, soups, casseroles and salads. These can easily be adjusted to work with a variety of ingredients. Set aside time each week to create a menu. It’s important to plan meals that fit your schedule. Choose quick and easy recipes for those busy evenings where time for cooking is limited.

Let’s go shopping for missing ingredients! Using the menu you created from the food you already have in stock, write down your shopping list. Taking the time to create a menu and shopping list will help you buy only what you need. This reduces the likelihood of impulse or unnecessary purchases which inevitably leads to food going bad before you can use it.

Leveraging Leftovers

Getting creative with your leftovers can lead to exciting new dishes all while reducing food waste. If you know you will have leftover meat from a meal, incorporate recipes into your menu for the week to use that food. Turn last night’s roast chicken into a chicken salad or tacos. Soups or stews are also great ways to repurpose your leftover meats and veggies. This can also help you to plan a quick meal for one of those busy, time crunched evenings.

Another great option to utilize leftovers is preserving them in the freezer. This works well if you don’t like eating leftovers immediately. Pop them in the freezer and when you pull them out to enjoy later, it will be like you are enjoying a new meal.

Precise Cooking

Not a fan of leftovers? Learning the art of cooking only what you need is a simple yet effective way to minimize waste. The key to this process is learning the right portion sizes for you and your family. Each member may have differing needs and preferences in the amount of food they consume at each meal. A seven year old will likely not have the same appetite as a teenager, right? This will take some trial and error that can be helped by measuring tools. If you’re working from a recipe that serves more than you need, adjust the quantities. By planning portions carefully and preparing just enough food for your meals, you can enjoy fresh dishes without the worry of excess leftovers.

We are living in a time of plentiful grocery availability. There is less need to stock up on processed food. Reducing food waste starts with a mindful approach to what’s already in your kitchen. Embracing these habits will help you save money, enjoy new recipes and contribute to a sustainable kitchen and a healthier planet. Bonus ~ you get to enjoy having a clutter free and organized kitchen that works for you!

If you need a hand decluttering and organizing your home, we’re here to help!
Are you local to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and surrounding areas?
Contact Organized Jill for a complimentary consultation.

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Pantry Happiness

Posted on April 25, 2023July 24, 2024 by jillmoore

professional home organizing, professional home decluttering, kitchen organizing tips, organized jill professional organizer winston salem north carolina

Sweet sunshine and pantry happiness! This week was such a fun week- I got to break out my drill, TWICE, to install new pantries for two awesome families! Pantries come in all shapes, styles, and sizes; but some things are similar- including my favorite pantry storage enhancements.

Pantry storage containers are all the rage on social media platforms like TikTok and Pinterest. You can often see perfectly organized pantries full of aesthetically pleasing canisters holding dry goods. Have you been wondering how to imitate the look in your own home while staying on a budget? If so, you’re in the perfect place because I’ve done the research for you!

My Top 5 Favorite & Inexpensive Storage Containers to Achieve Pantry Happiness

Product #1: OXO POP Containers

OXOs have been a favorite in my home long before I became a Professional Home Organizer (I used to do boring office work before I became a certified organizer). Not only are they on trend, but they’re also airtight. An airtight seal is an important feature for keeping all your dry-goods fresh over time. Another great feature: they’re easily stackable! Being able to stack them makes this set perfect for apartments and homes with smaller kitchens.

Product #2: Water Hyacinth Baskets

It’s very likely that you have items in your pantry that aren’t dry goods or not designed to fill a container like the previous set. These baskets are perfect for miscellaneous snacks, chips, baked goods, fruits, and vegetables. Most basket options also come with handles and are deep enough to hold all your various odds and ends, as well as backstock items.

Product #3: Can Risers

Storing canned goods is always a hassle. They can take up a whole shelf in your pantry even when double stacked. A can riser is a great solution! These risers can hold cans of various sizes and you can organize your cans by the purpose and their contents.

Product #4: Adjustable Door Racks

One way to increase your pantry space is by hanging the rack to the inside of your pantry door or by mounting it to a wall within a walk-in pantry space. These racks can hold anything from bottles of wine to baking supplies. They’re one of the only ways to truly increase your space!

Product #5: Stackable Plastic Bins

What’s great about stackable bins is their versatility. You can store an array of items in these bins such as individually wrapped snacks and like items. Also these bins are available in deep sizes as well, which can help you keep miscellaneous pantry items up off the floor.

It’s not always easy to maximize the space you have in your kitchen pantry. Luckily, the right storage products can assist you in doing just that while also allowing you to organize all your pantry items. If you need help getting your pantry organized, we would be happy to work with you! Are you local to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and surrounding areas? Contact Organized Jill to schedule your complimentary consultation.

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The Ketchup Drawer

Posted on April 25, 2023July 24, 2024 by jillmoore

how to declutter, home organizing tips, organized jill professional home organizer winston salem north carolina

This week, it is time for a kitchen intervention. I would like to talk about kitchen drawers and a phenomenon that I see in 98% of homes that we organize. And that is the ketchup drawer. An entire drawer in kitchens that people across the Triad (and elsewhere, too, I suppose) have decided to dedicate exclusively to extra ketchup packets, soy sauce, and Chick-fil-A dipping sauce.

What has caused this to occur? Why have we all declared that ketchup packets deserve a place of honor in our limited kitchen drawer space? Do we not all have a perfectly happy bottle of ketchup in our refrigerators and a backup Costco sized ketchup in the pantry? Of course we do. And yet, the ketchup drawer exists. Believe it or not, I’ve been in homes where multiple kitchen drawers are dedicated to ketchup packets that remain untouched and unloved and totally forgotten about.

In the world of limited kitchen drawers, how did ketchup merit an invite. I get it, we all hate to be wasteful and Chick-fil-A isn’t open on Sunday for that chicken dipping happiness, but imagine the possibilities in a world where extra packets just end up in the trash. Gasp, I know.

What if by throwing out years worth of packets, we freed up space for kitchen tools we actually want to see & enjoy and have easy access to. What if we had a lovely spice drawer or coffee pod drawer. Maybe our foil rolls & ziplocks could be more accessible in that drawer. Perhaps our spatula collection could be spaced out and breathing. Truly, the possibilities are endless.

Friends, my home organizer challenge to you this week is to say GOODBYE to the ketchup drawer. Think about the things in your kitchen that bring you joy and what you’d like to enjoy in that coveted drawer instead. If you need help with your decluttering journey, we’re here to help! Are you local to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and surrounding areas? Contact Organized Jill to schedule your complimentary consultation.

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The Land of Long Lost Leftovers

Posted on April 25, 2023July 24, 2024 by jillmoore

professional decluttering, organizing kitchen tips, organized jill professional home organizer winston salem nc

Is your fridge the land of long lost leftovers? Does food often get shoved to the back and forgotten about? If so, this post is for you. If there is one thing that has been sweeping the social media feeds, it is videos of people meticulously organizing their refrigerators, served fresh with a side of ASMR for a little flare. Assorted fruit & vegetables in a rainbow of colors, the exact right amount of yogurt containers, neatly stacked cheese wheels and sticks, all aligned for show in lovely clear drawers that fit like a glove.

As a Professional Home Organizer, I spend a lot of time in other people’s refrigerators and I promise you, even in the most lavish homes, I have yet to see any one’s fridge look like meal prep heaven straight out of a lifestyle magazine. Primarily, the refrigerator is full of half-full condiments and juices in the mis-matched bottles they were sold in, forgotten leftovers, and well-intended produce past its prime.

The refrigerator, although a space absolutely in need of organization, is not one of the places that I would typically invest in a lot of storage containers. There is so much weekly fluctuation in menu and meal prep that it is better to follow a few easy tips to keep your refrigerator from becoming the land of forgotten leftovers.

8 Refrigerator Decluttering & Organizing Tips

Start fresh and take everything out of the old ice box. Clean the drawers, shelves, and door caddies to remove and debris, crumbs, and spills.
Take inventory of what you have. Sort into categories- condiments, dairy, meats, produce. If you own a bottle of ketchup, now is the perfect time to let the fast food ketchup packets go to the trash.
Check expiration dates and dispose of expired goods, shriveled produce, and other questionably scented items. Let go of the ingredients for that recipe that didn’t quite work out that you don’t intend to try again. Throw out the extra little packets from meal kit programs that only have half a handful of almonds left. Throw out last week’s restaurant leftovers and sad looking pizza.
Check the settings on your refrigerator to make sure the temperatures are set correctly for the inventory that you primarily keep on hand.
When reloading the refrigerator, keep like items together. Leave a designated space at eye level for left overs to be not just stored, but actually enjoyed.
Remove excess packaging, so you can see how many items are left. One of the most often items that I see taking up space in refrigerators are cardboard soda boxes with only one can left inside.
Lather, rinse, and repeat with the freezer. Say goodbye to anything covered in frost burn. Let go of the items lost long ago to the deepest corners of the freezer. Categorize and reorganize the freezer so you can see the contents.
Designate a time every week to clear out the refrigerator to make space for new grocery purchases. Don’t push last week’s items to the back. Rotate the older items to the front so they will be enjoyed before they spoil.

As with any food storage, whether it be the pantry, fridge, or the drink fridge and meat freezer out in the garage, the most important thing to remember is that you need to be able to see your entire inventory. If you can’t see what you have, it gets forgotten about and expires. Evaluate your grocery store purchases. It may seem like a great deal to buy items from bulk warehouses, but unless your family can finish the item before it expires, it is not a good deal. It is better to have fresh ingredients and inventory rather than stocking up on bulk purchases of items that you are sure to be tired of long before they run out.

I hope these tips will help you keep your fridge fresh & fabulous all year long. For more tips, check out this article that I contributed to! If you need help with your decluttering journey, we’re here to help! Are you local to Winston-Salem, North Carolina and surrounding areas? Contact Organized Jill to schedule your complimentary consultation.

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