Organizing your kitchen for success

“With organization comes empowerment." -Lynda Peterson

Organizing your kitchen is one of the best things you can do to become successful at cooking. Really! When most people think of cooking, they think about food preparation. That's stuff like chopping, mixing, and baking. But cooking actually involves a lot more steps than that. You have to choose a recipe, check what foods you have, buy groceries, find your cooking equipment. Then you get to the actual food preparation. And of course, there’s clean up when you’re done.

At Cookable Kitchen, we focus a lot on mental load - the idea that each of these things takes thinking energy. This affects every one of us. Ever found the idea of making dinner stressful?

Organizing your kitchen takes away some of the work your brain has to do when you cook. Your brain doesn't have to remember which drawer that measuring cup should go in or where the pasta is. Instead, your brain gets trained to go to the same spot every time. This reduces stress, energy, and motivation needed. Have we convinced you yet? Keep reading for our top organizational tips.

Kitchens can be really full of stuff. It took us a whole weekend (like, 2 full days) to organize our kitchen. It was tiring and felt a bit overwhelming. It’s okay if you feel that way. It may help to do tools one week, food in the cupboards the next, fridge later if it feels like too much at once. Doing it with someone can be a bit more fun and not as overwhelming.

Seems straightforward - but challenge yourself. Do you need 3 sets of the same size measuring spoons? Do you have things that are decorative but rarely used? How long has that seafood seasoning been sitting in the cupboard? Less stuff = more space = less clutter = happier brain. Go through your food cupboards, refrigerator, and your kitchen tools. Donate or toss out what you don’t need.

Putting things together in a way that feels logical to you will help your brain make sense of things. You might group into “tools for measuring,” “tools I use with the stove,” “pasta, rice, and beans,” etc.

You might already do this. Try to think about the groceries and foods you buy most often and make sure there are regular places to put them. Think about the tools you use most and put them in the easiest to reach places.

Things get lost or go unused when you can’t see them. And it’s annoying to look for them. There are lots of great ways to organize your cupboards. We like to use plastic bins, drawers, baskets, turntables, and racks. Sometimes it might mean adding some storage space to spread things out.

This might seem like overkill, but do it. This helps to train your brain and make sure you and your family stick to the new system.  Our favorite methods are painter’s tape, permanent markers, and notecards. They’re cheap and easy to change if you decide later that you need to do adjust.

Photo labels can be helpful for some people. They can also help you remember to cook and eat if you place them on the outside of the cabinets.

You or the person you support may only need a small number of tools. Consider choosing a specific cabinet or area of the kitchen to put those things in. This makes it simple to know where to find the things that can use without getting confused. Doing the same thing for food can make it less overwhelming to find something to cook or eat. This could be a shelf in the fridge, a separate mini-fridge, a shelf in the cupboard, or whatever works best. The point is, limit options to only what is needed and make it as easy to find.