To me the most important part of the home is the kitchen. Many moms do not like cooking or spending too much time in this room, but it is one of the necessary places for our family’s good health. When the kitchen is unorganized and unclean we tend to avoid it. But woman of old have called the kitchen the heart of the home.

We can bless our family tremendously from this room. We can feed their bodies, train their hands and enjoy being together. Whether or not you enjoy cooking you still have to do it, and these tips to organize your kitchen will speed up your time spent there.

My first tip to organize your kitchen is one that is a non-negotiable for me - music! We have our CD's in a rack on one counter. Our children listen to their choices while doing dishes, I enjoy my favorites when I cook and we all enjoy the classics at breakfast time. Go on - give it a try!

Wherever you can, involve your children in the happenings of the kitchen. Boys and girls all need the valuable skill of cooking and cleaning. I know that you can do it faster on your own…but then you miss out on the fun.

Children can read to you while you prepare lunch, little ones who are not being schooled a yet will cherish the time spent helping mom with lunch or dinner.

Break your kitchen into areas and pack your cupboards according to what happens in that area. That means, keep your pots at your stove and your glasses, plates and casserole dishes in the most convenient spot.

Locate a drawer or a cupboard that is convenient for your older children where you can have a choice of spreads, bread, rice cakes or crackers so that they can learn to make their own sandwiches and snacks. Train them to clean up after themselves.

Keep all you spices next to your stove where they are ready to be used as you cook.

More tips to organize your kitchen?

Keep your baking items all together in one cupboard and all the small items (like food colouring, 100’s and 1000’s and choc chips) in a plastic container.

A another of my tips to organize your kitchen is to keep all your appliances in a cupboard next to your plug points. Do not be tempted to leave them all out unless you use them daily – like a juicer or blender

Have sufficient chopping boards for use so that your counters do not get damaged.

When your cupboards are empty, just before you do a grocery shop, clean them out, wipe the shelves with a clothe and repack. Make note of what needs to be replenished at the same time.

When I return from grocery shopping I fill up any empty containers immediately. For instance our muesli, sugar and flour canisters.

Do not hold onto broken or chipped cups and plates, They are unhygienic and take up space. Throw them away.

When you are about to start cooking, make sure you have a sink filled with warm soapy water so you can wash as you go.

Make sure your dishwasher is empty before you begin meal preparation. This way you can stack as you go and after dinner just rinse the dinner plates and stack them and switch the machine on.

When you are preparing vegetables and salads keep a plastic bowl with you for all your peels. These can go to the compost heap or taken to the rubbish bin in one trip. It keeps your chopping board clear and simplifies the cleaning up.

While Tupperware has its uses it can also be a challenge when left-overs are hidden in the fridge and resurface a few weeks later – uneatable! Make sure you clean out your fridge on a weekly basis.

The last of my tips to organize your kitchen is in the hated plastic container cupboard! It needs to undergo a blitz once a month. This is a great paid chore for children. Get them to match the lids and then throw the orphaned lids away.

Other pages you may be interested in are:

Meal Planning
Organize your home
Getting organized with laundry
Free Chore Charts
Lifeskills books for Kids

For extra help and some ideas that really work...you can sign up for a series of organizational tips to help you take some steps to becomming a more organized mom! Sign up below.

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