A Kitchen Spring Clean

A Power Cut – Kitchen Tidy Up And The Man Drawer!

Yesterday I had a power cut that started in the early hours of the morning and lasted 18 hours. A connection had become detached and the workers had to dig a trench just meters from my house and worked all day to fix the fault.

Meanwhile I could not do any work on the computer – no power, no screen time and no internet. I could, of course, have gone to the library or taken my notebook into a cafe but that would have been limited. I could also have put my feet up and read a book, or gone for a walk..In fact there are quite a lot of things I could have done. But for some reason I decided to Spring Clean my Kitchen!!

I had been thinking about giving the kitchen a good sort out – and today just seemed to be the day. I often put these things off because I always want to keep working on my Penny’s Recipes. Today I could get on with it, with no guilt.

I knew that the kitchen wasn’t too bad but I knew there were some areas that definitely needed attention! In my work I organised my herbs and spices (and even though I don’t have any Five spice spent time recollecting the Michael McIntyre sketch) and discovered we have a Man Drawer!

Plastic Boxes

I collect containers. Those items that might be useful such as ice cream boxes, plastic containers that salad and fresh foods come in such as olives and containers that once contained soup. they are all really handy to keep my home made food in the fridge or freezer.

However, over time, there were boxes without lids, and lids without boxes. I get so frustrated at the time I have to spend – and waste – playing match the lid to the box – or the box to the lid!

So I committed myself to to matching them up and boxes and lids that did not have a corresponding partner would go into recycling. I now have a neat cupboard where all containers have a lid and they are all neatly stacked. I have of course, pledged to myself to keep them that way….

Herbs and Spices

As I was tidying up I was reminded of the ‘Five Spice’ sketch by Michael McIntyre and chuckled to myself. If you have a minute, do watch but beware, you may get the giggles and just a warning – there is a little bit of strong language.

Happily my herbs and spice see a little more action – but I couldn’t resist taking the opportunity to share that sketch. I am am sure it will make everyone who ever cooks, some amusement!

I use my herbs and spices a lot and keep them in a cupboard next to the oven. However they have got a bit muddled and I waste time trying to find the herb or spice that I want. Although I keep all the spices in small spice jars, these days I usually a large bag and refill the smaller container from it. This is much more economical, so long as the spices are used within a year and are kept sealed so as not to lose their flavour. These bags needed tidying up and I did an audit of any more I needed to buy. Goodness I feel organised!

My Organised Spice Cupboard

The Man Drawer!

First another Michael McIntyre sketch….

I realised we have a Man Drawer in the house – containing many man drawer items from Michael McIntyre’s hilarious sketch on the subject. We have light bulbs, batteries (who knows if they are alive or dead!), Allen keys, tape measures and a radiator bleeding key. A few coins too. Only thing missing are the old mobile phones as I sent them off recently for a charity – (brownie points for that!)

Some of these items had got scattered to other drawers but they are now all safely contained to the Man Drawer!

The Man Drawer

Do you have a Man Drawer pretty much like this one?

The Rest..

The rest of the spring cleaning is probably too tedious to mention much about. Wiping out cupboards, finding the odd packet with a use by date that was a surprisingly long time ago and re discovering the odd seemingly lost item (one of the bottoms from a loose bottomed cake tin, scissors, an egg slicer – you know the kind of thing.)

I ended up with four bin bags of various items – Plastic, Glass, Paper and Landfill. I was surprised that that much junk could have fitted in my kitchen cupboards! However it was with a great sense of cleansing and achievement that I wiped down the surfaces.

And it is with a renewed sense of zeal that I now have when clearing up after cooking. I now need to keep it all tidy and follow Jasmine’s 30 Minute Rule and One Minute rule in her article on Four Tips For Delcuttering Your Kitchen to make sure I keep on top of everything an ensure that I keep my kitchen in tip top shape!

Have you done any Spring Cleaning? Have you recently had a clear out?