Having a clean, organised and decluttered kitchen makes cooking a breeze. Often we end up with utensils that we don’t need or use, or we have a pile of tupperware tubs with no lids or out of date food items that we’d rather not eat. By getting rid of anything that we don’t need we can save money because we can clearly see what we DO have so we don’t end up rebuying something we’ve already got in stock.

Here are my top tips on how to declutter and organise your kitchen for maximum efficiency

Before you start gather up what you need

Before you start it’s a good idea to gather up a couple of strong boxes. One to put food bank donations in and the other to put donations in.

Have a roll of bin bags to hand as well as simple cleaning products like a bowl with some hot soapy water in and some cleaning cloths.

Buy some glass storage jars with screw on lids for things like pasta and rice

Have some snacks to hand and maybe some great music or the radio on.

Start with your food cupboard

Take everything out of it and using the hot soapy water and a cloth wash down all the shelves. Dry the shelves with a clean teatowel.

Put back anything you want to keep.

Empty packets of rice or pasta into the storage jars so you can see how much of each you have.

Put any food that’s in date but that you don’t want to keep in the food bank donation box and bin anything that is past its best before date and looks like its seen better days. Use your judgment on each item.

Remember that best before dates are a guide and so you can decide for yourself whether it is still edible or not.  Discard anything that is past its use by date.

Declutter your fridge and freezer

Throw out anything past its use-by date. Buy some clippits to clip up your bags of frozen vegetables or transfer them into ziplock bags.

Get rid of any freezer burnt or unidentifiable food in the freezer.

Go through your utensils

Sort your utensils into three piles. Those you use the whole time, those you only use on occasion like at Christmas or for BBQs etc and those you never use at all.

Gather up cookie cutters and piping nozzles and put them in a separate box.

Donate or sell anything in your never used pile.

Put the occasionally used items into a box and put away in a cupboard ready for use when necessary.

Declutter your pans

Which pans do you use regularly? Which ones don’t you ever use? Realistically how many pans do you need? Sell, donate or re-gift any that you don’t need.

Marry up pans and their lids and discard any spare lids that don’t appear to belong to a pan.

Declutter mugs and glasses

Take all the mugs and glasses out of your cupboard and decide realistically how many you need.

Unless you have a big family or regularly host 20 people you probably don’t need a massive amount of mugs or glasses.

Keep your favourite ones and donate, re-gift or sell the rest.

Declutter plates and bowls

Go through your plates and bowls and discard any that are chipped.

Decide how many plates and bowls you need for your family and regift, donate or sell the others.

Declutter Tupperware tubs, food storage and takeaway tubs

Marry up lids to tubs and declutter any that have no lids (or lids that have no tubs), those that are a bit tatty or stained.

Decide how many tubs you realistically need and rehome the rest.

Declutter any unused kitchen gadgets 

If you have a donut maker, bread maker , waffle machine, spiraliser or other gadget that you don’t ever use and that is taking up space in your kitchen, sell or donate to charity or rehome.

Declutter your Junk Drawer

If you have a drawer that you just throw all your junk in, sort it out and discard any items that you no longer need.

Put things like paperclips, staples, screws etc into individual tubs with clear lids so you can see the contents.

Gather up an emergency kit 

So you’re not running around trying to find a candle in a power cut or a new light bulb when one pops it can be useful to have an emergency kit to hand.

In this you could have some light bulbs, candles, matches or a lighter, fuses, batteries of various sizes, a couple of loo rolls, some sanitary products, spare dishwasher tablets etc so you don’t ever actually run out of anything.

It’s also a good idea to create a first aid kit and a small selection of pain killers and antihistamines in case of medical emergencies.

Further Reading

You may like my article about money saving tips

https://www.mamacoopskitchen.co.uk/top-money-saving-tips/