Woohoo! We are at the half-way point of our 28 Day Challenge! Does it seem like it’s going fast? It sure does for me. Want to know what we’re up to today? Today we’re back in the kitchen to declutter our food storage containers. (Clearly, this is a step in the right direction from yesterday, right?)
Day 14: Declutter your food storage containers.
This is a terrific task to-do before the holidays, especially if you are having guests who may take home some leftovers or if you plan to give some food gifts. Take the time today to declutter your daily use food storage containers, and take an inventory of any containers or disposable tin bake-ware you would use to share food with friends.
Here are my favorite tips for decluttering your everyday food storage containers:
Sort + Match. Pull your storage containers out of storage and match the lids to the containers. You may be surprised to find that you aren’t missing as many lids as you think.
Eliminate. After you have your containers matched with the lids, let go of any containers that are stained, missing a top, or are otherwise past their prime.
Store. I’ve mentioned this on my blog before, but I like to store my regularly used food storage containers with the lids on in a bin. It’s true that this approach takes up more space, but if you have food going bad in your refrigerator you probably have more food storage containers than you need anyway. When you have fewer food storage containers and your clean container supply starts to run low, take it as a sign that it’s time to clear out your refrigerator. For me this approach also saves time. No more rummaging around the kitchen cabinets searching for the right lid. Instead, lids and containers get paired up as I empty the dishwasher.
Alternatively, you could stack and nest your containers and store the lids in storage bin nearby. Or, consolidate by using containers with a universal lid. Whatever you decide, take time today to declutter your containers. You’ll create some order in your kitchen cabinets, and be one step closer to a guest-ready home.
Just yesterday I added this to my to do list – and it is one of the jobs I hate to do the most. I currently keep my containers piled in a very narrow cabinet in my island. That was a great place when my kids were little and I needed to be sure that the cabinets they could reach had “safe” items in them. But I realized that this isn’t really working for me (and my youngest is 13!!). After disposing of the yucky containers and the plethora of take out containers I am going to try your bin method. I already have an unused large bin in my pantry (no more bags of chips and junk food that I bought the bin for), so this may be the answer I have been looking for. Thanks so much for all your great ideas and motivating articles.
Decluttered the containers, I store the lids and the containers separately and I noticed I have way more lids than containers, weird right?
I was able to put to trash a lot of lids and few containers that looked poor.
I have a lot of containers, especially small ones that I use for the kids lunches. Ever since my youngest started school full time I had to just about double the number that I had. I try to get ones that have lids that snap together to keep them under control. This posting is a reminder that I also have a bunch of large pans that I rarely use in the same drawer and I should find a different home for them.
Where did you find the plastic label holder that appears on your storage bin? I’ve seen these in other pictures you’ve posted but I don’t know where to find them.