Banish the clutter, not your sanity this spring!
Ah, spring! The chirping birds, the blooming flowers…. and the sudden urge to purge every corner of your home. While social media might have you envisioning a pantry filled with all of your ingredients in perfectly aligned glass jars and a refrigerator that looks like a minimalist art installation, let’s be real. We are busy. We have lives. And more often than not you are lucky if you remembered to get all of the groceries you needed, not worry about what you are going to do with the extra celery that doesn’t fit in its designated clear bin that is color coded to match the rest of the shelf.
This spring, ditch the pressure of achieving instagram-worth organization and focus on something more valuable: efficiency. I’m talking about a clean, functional pantry and fridge that saves you time, reduces food waste, and maybe even a little bit of stress.
Let’s start with the pantry:
Check expiration dates: Go through every shelf in your pantry and check expiration dates. Toss anything that is expired, looks suspicious, or you know you will never eat. This includes your canned goods and spice rack. There is some leeway on expiration dates, but if you have a bag of flax seed from 2009, it is probably time to toss it!
Categorize items: Group similar items together so you know what part of the pantry to be looking in if you need canned goods versus dry goods or spices.
Wipe it down: As you move things around, wipe down all of your pantry shelves. Look for spills as a sign of potential spoilage. Also check for any mouse/bug droppings to assess if you need to take further steps to exterminate unwanted friends sleeping in your pantry.
Put it back with purpose: When you are putting your groups of items back in the pantry, make sure there is a method to it. Put most frequently used items in easy to access locations. Put items with the closest expiration date toward the front so you will remember to use them first. If you have multiples of things, try to consolidate all of the open ones.
Refrigerator Refresh:
The refrigerator can sometimes feel like a science experiment gone wrong. Bringing some order to your storage can go a long way, without having to waste time on color coordinating or buying an army of clear plastic containers.
Pull it all out.
Just like the pantry, you are going to start with pulling everything out and assessing expiration dates. You need to be more critical of things in the fridge/freezer than you were with dry goods. If something looks or smells off it is better to toss it and be safe than give yourself food poisoning.
Give it a scrub.
Wipe down all of the shelves and bins with warm soapy water. Pay attention to sticky spots and spills. Note where the sticky spots came from and make sure to wipe down the bottoms of your jars so those same spots don’t immediately reappear.
Categorize your shelves.
Your refrigerator has likely done some of this work for you by labeling bins for fruits and vegetables or meats. Stick with this and mentally map out how you are going to group different foods and where they might fit based on bin size and shelf height. I personally have a dedicated cheese drawer so it never gets lost at the back of the fridge.
Embrace imperfection.
I despise the idea of having clear containers filling up my shelves. They take up all the space leaving little room for to go containers or tupperware for leftovers. They also don’t fit everything, so what do you do when your carrot container is full, but there are still baby carrots in the bag you bought? I opt for sturdy tupperware, resealable bags, and clean glass jars for my storage solutions. Accept that it might not be the picture perfect fridge, but all of your cheese fits in the cheese drawer, who cares what packaging it is in??
Repeat for the freezer.
Cleaning out the freezer follows the same process. Make sure to check for signs of freezer burn and thawing. Throw out anything that looks like it might have thawed and refrozen, that is a sign it might not be safe to consume. Try to put the oldest items at the top so they can be used first to minimize food waste.
Embrace a “good enough” mentality
The goal of a spring refresh isn’t to create a magazine-worthy pantry, when is the last time MTV cribs pulled up to your house wanting a tour? This is about creating a system that works for you. You want to be able to find what you need quickly and minimize items getting shoved to the back so you can reduce food waste.
Even though it is tempting to go all in for that flawless fridge aesthetic, you are going to save yourself a lot of time and headaches if you focus on practicality instead. I prefer to put that extra time and money towards things that actually bring me joy like putting more fancy cheese in the cheese drawer!
Dare to be different by skipping the #fridgegoals nonsense and embrace the chaos of real life!
Now, if you will excuse me, I have a date with the dust bunny under my couch. Happy cleaning!
Elizabeth
P.S. If you need help restocking your pantry with foods that fir your health goals, go here to set up your free discovery call and book a package.