Often, the place that needs most organizing becomes the place that is most disorganized in your house. This place is most often the kitchen. With the maximum number of items stuffed in a relatively smaller space, you tend to find yourself fighting for workspace or fretting over where you've kept something. The best way to tackle this problem is think like a chef. Chefs have a way of organizing their kitchens in a way that their workflow remains smooth and everything they need is handy and placed properly. Here are some tips you can use on how to organize your kitchen like a chef.
You need to take a good look at what you've piled around your workstation and cut out on things that you don't really use. Ask yourself if you really use so many spoons, knives and ladels? Does that juicer or oven get used everyday? Try and move things that don't belong in the kitchen out of your precious kitchen space. Things like corkscrews, wine glasses, keys etc. tend to make their way into the kitchen through other family members. Make sure to regularly shift them out, which will give you more space to work.
1) Organize according to cooking temperature. For example chicken cooks at a higher temperature than fish and hence will go below it. Vegetables cook at a lower temperature than fish so they go above it. This way, you will avoid cross contamination
2) Store liquids like stocks, sauces and soups in the freezer neatly poured in zip lock bags and placed flat.
3) Use the freezer to increase shelf life of most items.
Label and date all items in your kitchen, whether in the fridge or out. This will help you get easy access to what you're looking for and also help you discard items as they reach their shelf life.
Group items that come under the same category in baskets or organizer trays so that they don't stray away in separate loose packets. You could group grains and rice together, legumes together, masalas in one and miscellaneous items in one.
Chefs always organize their kitchen in order of their work flow. Each person's style of cooking is different, so identify yours and organize in such a way as to reduce fatigue. There should be a logical progression in your kitchen so you're not running all over everyday. Also keep in mind that you're right-handed or left-handed.
Get the Tupperware out. They are over-rated and are a mess when you have to keep running around for the lids. Choose a set of half-pint, pint and quart containers which are easy to stack on top of each other.
Peg boards are a great place to organize your frequently used pots, pans and other utensils in the kitchen as they do not take up extra space in the kitchen and are easy to access. Arrange them vertically on a free wall space in the kitchen.
