I know there are many of you out there just like me. You love keeping your place clean and tidy and can’t stand it when your hubby/kids/dog/enterannoyingpersonhere messes it up. Well. Truth be told I also organise my fridge (and freezer) freaky – yet true. I love a good kitchen gadget and the best one I ever bought was a vacuum sealing machine. Its an absolute time, money and sanity saver and I honestly don’t know where I would be without it.
Today’s blog is about how you too can save time and money by having a neat fridge and freezer and inserting a little organisation in your life.
Top Tips:
- When you bring home your groceries, spend a little extra time preparing your food. I swear it saves triple the amount of time at the other end.
- We buy yoghurt in 2kg tubs and Himself has started saving the tubs as they have proved to come in quite useful for refrigerator storage. I have one for assorted fruits (strawberries, grapes, cubes of rockmelon and the like), one for sticks of cheese I cut up from a big 1kg block (fabulous for fast crackers & cheese, snacks and lunchbox fillers), one for grated cheese mix (tasty, mozza and parmesan all together – great for pizza toppings etc) and several others ready for me to find something to go in them!
- Wash and dry your salad leaves and keep them in a big airtight container on a dry tea towel or several layers of kitchen paper. Make sure you dry them properly and pull out any that are going slimey as they will cause the rest to spoil much more quickly.
- When you buy meats in bulk packs, portion them up and freeze in smaller amounts (this is where my vacuum sealer works wonders!). You won’t then have to defrost the whole lot just to get a little bit out for a meal, you can portion it to your exact specs and you don’t have to worry about freezer burn.
- You can also freeze things like pasta, stirfry or other veg mix in small portions – ready for a quick meal. Even Himself’s Home Made Bacon!!
- Making up Slow Cooker/Crockpot meals in advance is super easy and saves HEAPS of time. Just pop your meats, veg, sauces and/or flavours into a zip lock bag (or again, use the funky vacuum sealer) and use a permanent marker to write what it is and how long it needs. When you need it now all you do is open the bag, dump the whole lot into the slow cooker and turn it on. Super Simple!!
- Make stock when you get the chance (i.e after a roast dinner – don’t let those flavours go to waste!) and freeze in cupcake moulds. Once frozen pop all into a large zip lock bag.
- Making flavour bases is also a great idea. So many recipes call for the Holy Trinity of flavour (or the holy 4, whichever camp your in) of Garlic, Onion, Celery/Carrot. Grab a food processor and chop up finely a stack of each. Then portion out into bags, label and freeze. Zero chopping the next time you need some and you know you always have some avail and no more worries about weather or not to use the very sad looking veg in the bottom of your crisper!
- Consider picking up s small basket and using it to store all your jars (OK then, some of your jars!). It really does make finding whatever you are looking for much easier!!
- Label your containers. No more searching through the fridge for the ham or the cheese if its got a big label yelling out its content matter for the world to see!
- Invest in a selection of different sized or stackable containers. The more you can stack and pack – the more you can fit in!
Finally – just remember – your fridge and freezer work most efficiently when they are full, so get shopping!
