#FoodieFriday – RE-Organising the Larder (Pt I)

I confess I’m not a ‘Domestic Goddess’ in any shape or form, but despite this, I have decided it’s time to bite the bullet and reorganise my larder. It’s not only a mess, but thanks to the disorganised chaos, I often miss expiry dates on products and well … just can’t find what I’m looking for!

The REALITY

A chaotic mess, yes? Above this cupboard is a double cupboard that is completely out of my reach, where Mr Twizzle Piglet keeps all the batteries, light bulbs, matches and an assortment of other useful items.

At the moment, everything in my larder is dumped randomly in the cupboard without any semblance of order, so I have made a plan.

According to AI, this is the dream

I need to buy a selection of storage baskets such as:

Getting Organised

A woman on a mission, I went shopping to buy some baskets. IKEA had a good selection of kitchen cupboard organisers. Yes, they looked very fancy and twee but I stalled at the price! It would cost at least 100€

so I skipped the kitchen section and bought four shallow robust boxes from the storage section and a few more from a shop called Teddy.

Reorganising the Larder

Armed with a selection of boxes, I was now ready to rock ‘ n’ roll and empty and clean the cupboard shelves.

1. Lighting

We’d already added strip lights to a couple of the shelves, which illuminated the cupboard when you opened the doors. Adding the lights was a game-changer, and if you have a dark store cupboard, I highly recommend considering this option.

2. Organise storage trays into Food Groups

• Bread Making
• Baking
• Pastas, Rice and Lentils
• Teas, coffee and coffee capsules.
• Popular ingredients such as tomato pulp, cooking cream, Tuna, sardines, cocoa milk, tin lentils, beans etc
• Nuts and seeds
• Vinegars and oils
• Potatoes and squash
• Sundries such as batteries, lightbulbs, matches etc.

3. Shelf Zones

Highest Shelf – This is way out of my each and even my husband has to stand on a chair. I will use this shelf for items I don’t need but hold on to just in case.

Above Eye Level – A storage tray containing all the bread-making ingredients and measures. Putting all the ingredients in one tray means I can just reach and lift down the tray rather than individual items.

Eye Level – Tea, fruit teas, sugars, instant coffee and capsules. Bread, biscuit boxes, etc., baking ingredients.Rice and Pastas

Lower Shelves -An empty box. Spare tinfoil, clingfilm, freezer bags and garlic

Floor Level – 2 trays of miscellaneous items such as batteries, lightbulbs, firelighters, matches etc. All these we previously on the highest shelf. Potatoes, vinegars and oils.

Finally!

I still have an empty box on the lower shelf, which I may or may not fill with tins or general ingredients which are currently stocked in my larder box. Before I take any further action, I will wait and see if any of the above shelves need rearranging.

I also have another cupboard above the fridge containing the cereals, nuts, seeds, etc., and behind those I don’t know, as I can’t see or reach.

That’s it for this week. Let’s see how long I can maintain the new and organised. What about you? How do you organise your larder?

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