 Eggs are one of the great products that come to us already nestled into perfectly organized, sturdy-yet-gentle, recyclable, reusable containers.*
So why do refrigerator companies and stores that sell organizing supplies try to convince us that we need to buy rigid plastic (non-recyclable) "egg organizer" containers into which we must transfer our already-contained eggs? So, you get home from the grocery store and then have to transfer each little egg into a hard plastic container (careful not to break it!) just to put them into your fridge? What if you still had a few eggs left so the new dozen doesn't completely fit? Do you have to buy a second plastic egg bin? If you do happen to crack an egg, now you have to take all the eggs out and wash the container instead of just leaving it and tossing it into the recycling bin when you're done with the other eggs. And what about the sell-by date from the original carton? When you transfer the eggs into the fancy bin, you have no idea which eggs are the freshest and when they'll go bad. So maybe you have to take out a pencil and individually mark each egg with its freshness date. What a waste of time! One rule of thumb I have for organizing anything is: make it easy to maintain. Organizing should be simple and should follow your natural habits so it'll be easier for you to keep up with it. Ok, so are we all in agreement that we don't need to transfer eggs from their cardboard supermarket containers into fancy plastic ones? Now what do you do with that fancy egg bin you bought or that came with your refrigerator? Here are a few ideas:
Even if you didn't succumb to the shopping pressure and buy a fancy egg bin, you can repurpose a plain plastic or cardboard egg carton for any of these uses. When my children were little, I had them paint a different color in each well of a cardboard egg carton. We took the carton with us when we went for walks and hunted for little treasures along the way to match the colors they had painted. Every young child seems to go through a phase of interrupting walks by stopping to examine every single blade of grass or pebble, so this collecting activity made the walk more purposeful and enjoyable for grown-ups and children alike. The moral of this story? Release yourself from the make-work of over-organizing things that area already perfectly well organized! *To be fair, eggs can come in a variety of containers, not all of which are great: cardboard, styrofoam, or light plastic containers. Styrofoam is the worst as it's not recyclable and it cushions the eggs but isn't rigid enough to withstand being stacked, so you'll often find broken or cracked eggs. Light plastic is OK, but these usually have double lids (one domed to nestle the eggs, one flat to form the top) which are a pain to open. Plain old cardboard containers are my favorite for ease of recycling and ease of use.
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It's nearly back-to-school time, so be sure to check out some of my previous posts about that (like this one, this one, and this one). In the meantime, don't forget to enjoy the last gasp of summer with fun tips like this one! Here’s a quick and organized way to serve lunch to your kids.  When my kids were little (and occasionally even now that they’re bigger), they loved the surprise of a muffin-tin lunch. The novelty of having several different foods in separate little compartments got them to try new things and to eat a more balanced meal.
After all, who doesn't like cute, tiny food and meals that give you a taste of everything? We grownups just call it tapas! You can put all kinds of things in the tins, but it works best for two kids (or as a snack for 3-4, dividing the holes by row) with each child getting 6 muffin holes-worth of food. Pictured here is a lunch of salami, tortilla chips and salsa, Kalamata olives, cheddar cheese, and watermelon spears. Other cute ideas are mini-salads, trail mix, crackers and cheese, nuts, beans, dried fruit, baby pickles, sandwich bites, whatever will fit. Even small servings of soup, pudding, or mac & cheese will work. Let your creative juices flow and see how excited your kids will be to eat lunch!  1-2-3: Now's the time to air out your kitchen and do a deep cleaning! You can either do this all at once in a one-day marathon cleaning session, or do it in pieces: fridge, freezer, pantry, and a few cabinets or drawers at a time.
1. Kitchen Cabinets and Drawers
2. Refrigerator and Freezer
3. Pantry
Now enjoy cooking in your nice clean kitchen! *Please do not attempt to donate expired food to your local shelter or food pantry as they cannot accept foods that are past the expiration date. Stainless steel appliances are great looking, except when they get all those smudges and fingerprints on them. Instead of buying expensive cleaning products with harsh chemicals, try this easy recipe: mix equal parts rubbing alcohol and baby oil (mineral oil). If you can find it, try lavender scented baby oil for a lovely, fresh fragrance. Each time you use it, shake it up to mix it and then dab it onto a microfiber or other soft cloth and swipe it across your stainless steel surfaces for an instant clean!
 A quick tip for keeping your spices organized: alphabetize them!
If you have the space, it’s great to keep spices in a shallow drawer, making it easy to line them up alphabetically so they’re a cinch to find. As you can see from the photo, I love square spice jars because they don’t roll around. Don’t have a spice drawer? Try a rack that fits on the inside of a cabinet door (click here to see some). This will still keep all the spices visible (rather than when they’re stacked in a cabinet or on a lazy Susan) and also keeps them away from the heat of the stove, which leaches the flavor out of them. Alternatively, if alphabetizing doesn’t make sense for the way your brain is organized, you can group spices by category. For example, make a row of baking spices (allspice, cinnamon, clove, ginger, nutmeg, etc.), a row of Italian spices (bay leaves, basil, pepper flakes, oregano, rosemary, etc.), a row of French spices (chives, dill, fennel, tarragon, thyme, etc.), and a row of your favorite go-to spices. Have fun organizing your spices this week. Don’t forget to throw away any that are past their prime (Sniff them – if they have no odor, they have no flavor.) and don’t forget to use them to add extra zest to the next dish you cook! As I was writing about freezer organization last week, I started thinking of some of the many ways you can use your freezer as a shortcut to help with meal preparation. Here are a few ideas.
1. A hot breakfast from your freezer: If your morning is rushed but you like a hot breakfast, create a grab-and-go breakfast area in your freezer. You can freeze oatmeal (with fruit, canned pumpkin, spices, whatever you like already added), breakfast sandwiches or burritos, and mini frittatas or quiches made in muffin tins. Reheat in the microwave for an instant hot breakfast. 2. If you’re a big smoothie drinker, make your own smoothie mixes (fruit, veggies, protein powder, etc.), put single-serve portions in freezer bags, and store them horizontally until they are frozen flat. Once frozen, you can store them vertically like file folders. In the morning, grab a bag, break the frozen food into chunks, pop the pieces in a blender, and add liquid for an instant smoothie. 3. Convenience lunch: My cousin invented this clever idea when she was a busy high school student. Take an entire loaf of bread, make pb&j (or other) sandwiches, wrap each sandwich in wax paper, put them back in the bread bag, and freeze. Pop a sandwich into your bag in the morning and it will be thawed and ready to eat by lunch. Bonus: you won’t need an ice pack to keep the rest of your lunch cool. 4. Dinner: Of course, you can make entire meals and freeze them or make double the amount of one meal and freeze half. But I don’t have a huge freezer to store lots of meals, so what I prefer to do is freeze foods so they are recipe-ready. I freeze meats in marinades so that when I thaw them they can go right into the oven or skillet. I blanche or pre-cook vegetables so they are ready for the next step such as mashing (mashed cauliflower = yum! Potatoes don’t freeze well.) or adding to a soup or casserole. Your freezer should be set to 0°F. I once had an argument (spirited discussion?) with someone who insisted that the freezer could be set at 32°F because that’s the temperature at which water freezes. I guess that would be fine if all you stored in your freezer was ice, but the freezing point of many things is lower than 32°F, which is why my ice pops (sugar water) were still liquid in the 32°F freezer. Even if food freezes solid at a higher temperature, keeping your freezer at 0°F slows the food’s deterioration so much that it can keep for months or even a year (though taste might suffer). Unlike the fridge, which requires good air circulation to maintain temperature, the freezer likes to be full. All those frozen-solid foods packed together help the freezer stay at temperature more efficiently. To get the most out of your freezer, you’ll want to create zones for different types of things.
[OK Renee, here’s the organization part that you really wanted to hear.]
How do you keep the fridge tidy and make it easy to find things? Follow these steps.
Next week, in the third installment of the Refrigerator Organization series we’ll tackle your freezer. Today’s tip is a request by my friend Renee. I’m going to break it into three tips, so be sure to check back here for the next two weeks to get your fridge in tip-top shape.
How do you organize the refrigerator? It’s not so different from organizing other things like desk drawers and bookshelves. The tricky part is that the contents of the fridge are always shifting as you use things up and buy new things. The first aspect we’ll tackle is temperature, which guides the basic layout of the fridge. Even though you set it to the recommended 35-38°F, the temperature isn’t constant or consistent throughout the fridge. Here’s the breakdown:
One big rule for the fridge is not to overcrowd it. The cold air needs to circulate to keep things fresh. Better to have to make another trip to the store later in the week than to have to throw out a whole bunch of spoiled food. Next week, I’ll help you de-clutter the fridge and group items for convenience. Stay tuned! With Thanksgiving fewer than two weeks away, it's time to whip your pantry, fridge, and freezer into shape. You'll need to make space for the holiday staples you'll stock up on, the cookies you'll freeze, and the leftovers the big meals create. This is the perfect time to use up all those items that might be close to their expiration dates or those canned goods you bought thinking, "This might be good to have on hand." Step 1: Quickly sort through your fridge and pantry, tossing anything that's past the expiration date. Check those condiments! Step 2: Get creative and come up with meals based on whatever is left that you want to use up. Sites like Allrecipes and Supercook that allow you to search for recipes based on ingredients you have can be a big help. For the next week or so, try to shop only for perishables (e.g. milk, eggs, vegetables) to round out the meals that you'll make with all those pantry finds. Need help coming up with ideas? Here's my fancy-ish take on tuna noodle casserole (no noodles) that my family loves, even though my kids don't like canned tuna served any other way. It uses up canned tuna and frozen peas. As long as you keep the butter, flour, milk, and eggs the same, everything else is flexible and you can vary the ingredients and quantities to suit your needs.
Tuna Souffle 4 tablespoons butter 1/4 cup flour 1 cup milk pinch of salt pinch of pepper 1/2 teaspoon Herbes de Provence or other herbs that you like (dill is yummy) 4 eggs 1/2 cup grated cheese (Parmesan, cheddar, gruyere, swiss, or a combination) 2 cans of tuna (Best if packed in water, but whatever you have will work.) about 1/2 bag of frozen peas, thawed (or canned if that's what you have) Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a 1-quart souffle or casserole dish. Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in flour and blend until smooth and cook over low heat until golden. While whisking butter and flour, add the milk all at once. Stir constantly and cook until thick. Add salt, pepper, and herbs. Remove from heat and cool for 10 minutes. In a large bowl, beat eggs. Add cheese, tuna, and thawed peas. Stir to combine. Add cooled milk mixture and stir. Pour into buttered dish and bake 30-40 minutes until eggs are set and top is puffed and golden. Serve immediately. Souffle will fall a little, so don't worry about that. It's great with a simple green salad and some French bread. |
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