Here are some tips to keeping your kitchen organized, and clean to make cooking more enjoyable:

Keep your kitchen sink clean (and empty):

While you’re cooking, if you quickly wash dishes as you use them, you’ll end up with a much easier mess to clean. If you don’t do them one by one, try getting the bulk of the cooking dishes done before dinner. That way, after you’ve eaten, you don’t look over at the sink and think – oh great! I remember as a little girl right after we ate, was right when the family fight about whose turn it was would start! Have your kids help clean along the way if you’ve got them.

Get Tupperware/containers that stack:

Do your kids hate the job of putting Tupperware away because they’re worried they’ll get attacked by flying containers as soon as they open the cupboard. It’s worth investing in good containers that stack together so that you can save space in cupboards and feel organized about putting dishes away. Rubbermaid makes an easy find solution you can check out here.

Move appliances/dishes you don’t use OUT:

Often times cleaning can feel annoying because things don’t seem to fit anywhere. If every thing in your kitchen has it’s own place, cleaning up is much simpler. Move dishes you don’t use often out of the main areas of your kitchen. You can also move bigger appliances you don’t use regularly (like canning appliances) out so that everything else fits nicely in your kitchen. I have a shelf in my basement for things I don’t use that often, and it has really helped my kitchen feel cleaner and more organized.

Use kneading/mixing time:

When the recipe you are making calls for kneading or mixing, use those precious minutes and challenge yourself. Every time I make bread and it needs to sit for 10 minutes, then knead for 8 minutes later in the process, I get little organizing projects done. You can rearrange and tidy up pantries in 10 minutes. You’re going to be in there anyways. Make a list of all the little things that need de-cluttering or fixing in your cupboards and use that kneading time!

Get a spice rack/spice containers:

Cooking can feel so frustrating when you are digging through a cupboard trying to find the right spices. Half the time it takes a few minutes looking for a spice before you can find it, while you spend the whole time swearing you thought you had it wondering if you were going crazy. Getting your spices, and baking supplies cupboards organized makes cooking much more pleasant. This spice rack from Amazon.com would be so great to have inside any cupboard.

Clean out your fridge every grocery shop:

Every time your come home with groceries, get in the habit of cleaning out your fridge. Putting groceries away is a good time for you to inventory what is in your fridge, make sure things aren’t rotting, and make plans for meals based on what food you may have that are starting to lose their freshness. Cleaning out fridges more often is a lot less yucky, than finding mystery tupperware meals later.

Get good cleaning supplies:

If you don’t have the right cleaning supplies and scrubbers, cleaning can be more of a chore. I was a MAJOR paper towel user before I discovered some good cleaning rags. Have you heard of Norwex yet? Well regular cleaning rags always bothered me because of how much they stink, and how yucky they feel. Norwex rags, have special antibacterial agents IN them to kill off bacteria. You can clean counters and even windows using only water. You don’t have to worry about the stink. And you can store way less cleaning agents like windex, and other soaps. Norwex even has travel pack rags for your 72 hour kits. Use these rags with only water to disinfect and clean down any surface. I just have to show you a little video about how awesome the Norwex rags are. The beginning of the video explains how they work, but if you want to skip right to 2:00 mins in, you can see Andrea take BUTTER right off the mirror using only water. You may not have butter on your mirrrors, but I’m sure you have greasy areas around. Cleaning up the pam spray mess after I make bread has always annoyed me. Now I just wipe my counters clean using only water. Watch the video- it’s nuts! Andrea has started a fun blog where you can buy the rags and sign up for her helpful newsletter and receive a FREE basic cleaning schedule to download right away. This may help you stay on top of your cleaning.

In the story, one of the most tragic situations was the main character’s daughter had Type 1 diabetes and required insulin. The supply was short and they ran out before more could be located or shipped in. While some health issues simply could not be treated, others could have been managed much better were there proper supplies on hand. Some other thoughts mentioned in the book are the logistics of feminine hygiene products, personal hygiene in general, and the health risks associated with the lack of hygiene.

QUESTIONS TO PONDER

• What medical conditions do you have that would be affected by no new medicine?
• How can you store extra medicine?
• What type of natural remedies could be learned to replace modern medicines that will not be available once supplies run out?
• What can you do TODAY to be healthier thus avoiding the need for medical intervention?
• What other non-food items will you need?
• Do you have items that can help you stay clean, and help kill germs that could cause illness?
• What plans do you have in place for proper sanitation?
• Do you have necessary tools, instructions, and items needed for building and living more primitively?

DISCUSS

We encourage everyone who participates to do so in a very respectful manner. As we read the novel, we soon became very aware that the discussions around this book could become very political, and personal. Such topics have a tendency to bring out strong opinions. Please share your opinions in a kind, and mature way. We reserve the right to, and will delete any comments that may be considered offensive or encourage illegal or unethical activities.

Click the links below to “subscribe by email” or “subscribe by rss” to help you easily follow the conversation and discussion after you make your posts.

Although Food Storage (and Christmas for that matter) are a lot about food, we can’t forget the non-food items that are important and necessary to store! Remember to share some of these ideas and cuten them up with ribbons and the Day 11 Tags:

Options that are Free or Under $1

Tube of Toothpaste

Do we need to explain much here?

An Option that is $5-$20

Package of Toilet Paper

Again, enough said

A More Expensive Option

Assortment of Paper Products or Cleaning Supplies

Put together a gift basket, full of items from our non-foods list. These kinds of things are really nice for people on a tight budget because they aren’t things you think of as life-sustaining, but you would NOT want to be without them in an emergency.

Back to the 12 Days List

Please note: This list is also on our our 3 month supply excel sheet found on BabyStep 3, but in case you’re an excel hater- we wanted you to have it in an easy to print form!

We decided it would be good to revise each BabyStep as part of our Summer Crash Course. So jump in and get started … it’s not too late! This week we are covering the following steps:

BabyStep 8: Fruits and Vegetables (click here to view the full step)
BabyStep 9: Comfort Foods (click here to view the full step)
BabyStep 10: Fruits and Vegetables (click here to view the full step)

    

• Updated each page to reflect the ideas shared in comments
  - Items with an * are new to the list
• Updated the online resources of each page

Homemade Applesauce Recipe & Canning
Best Rice Krispie Squares
Cleaning Supplies Using Food Storage

Stay tuned for some advanced posts on this topic coming later this week.

So straight from Mary’s Mouth:

Today I am sharing some of my home-made cleaning recipes. They work. I have been using them for several months and have eliminated most of the store bought, pre-made cleaning products in my home.

I bought a 3 pack of spray bottles at Costco. Each had a different color cap ring and spray trigger. I use GREEN for Floor Cleaner, BLUE for Glass Cleaner and RED for Multi-Purpose Cleaner. I also re-purposed a clear acrylic spray bottle to use for a Linen Sprayer. I cleaned it well and poured just-boiled water in it to sterilize.

A few items to keep on hand for FRUGAL and GREEN cleaning are:

• Distilled Water (when you clean you should start without stuff in your liquid)
• Vinegar (plain old cheapo white vinegar)
• Dishwashing liquid (I like Method or Trader Joe’s)
• Borax
• Washing Soda
• Baking Soda
• Essential oil (optional)

So here are a few recipes to start:

Multi-Purpose Cleaner

1 teaspoon Washing Soda
1/2 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
4 cups hot distilled water (or fill your 32 to almost full)

Put the top on your sprayer and shake it up a bit. Use this for your regular cleaning in Kitchens, baths, etc. Don’t use it on stone or granite. I haven’t made one for that yet.

Window Cleaner

1/4 cup Vinegar
1/2 teaspoon dishwashing liquid
4 cups distilled water (or fill your 32 to almost full)

Put the top on the sprayer. Give it a shake or two. Use on Windows and glass. You can also use it on ceramic tile. Use newspaper to wash your windows. I use a microfiber cloth to clean mirrors and tile.

Floor Cleaner (Not the Mop Bucket kind -Ok for sealed Wood, Ceramic Tile, Sealed Stone and Laminate)

1/3 Cup Vinegar (NO MORE)
Fill the remainder of the 32 with Distilled Water
Shake it up.

To use: Spray (don’t squirt) on dust mop for daily clean-up. For build up on Wood or laminate floors, spray the floor and use a microfiber mop or cloth to buff the floor.

Linen Spray

1 1/2 oz Vodka
1/2 teaspoon Lavendar (or fragrance of your choice) essential oil
2 cups distilled water

I used a 16 oz spray bottle so a little was left. Place in spray bottle and shake well before using. Spray on your linens when you make the bed or use to iron with.

Oven Cleaner

Make a paste with Baking soda and water. Spread a bit on baked on gunk. Let sit a bit and then scrub off. Repeat if necessary. It also does a great job scrubbing grease off the inside of the oven window.

Soap Scum

Use a little baking soda with the Multi-Purpose Cleaner to scrub soap scum off shower doors and tubs.

Toilets

Use 1/4 cup of borax in the bowl. Swish it around some. Let sit in bowl about 30 minutes. Swish again and flush. I also put the same amount of Borax in the back of the toilet every so often to disinfect the whole thing.

We have updated the Step 3 page with this new information.