# Week of November 2 - 8, 2014 Zone 2: The Kitchen



## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

We are back in the kitchen this week. You may notice that we circle back here often but that is because it is the dirtiest, least organized part of our homes that we must use (unlike parts of the garage or basement)

Monday: Look up and clean things up high. Good thing, too, because the spiders are coming into my house. I also need to do some cleaning of my cabinets and the shelves in front of my window.

How about you? What needs to be organized and cleaned in your kitchen. I know I need to find my peppercorns in my spice shelves. I know that there are several containers that could be combined. When my kids come home for the summer, they drop off half used containers of spices. Need to get them organized so they can be used before they are no longer any good.

This month;s habit to form is meal planning. I went through my freezer and plan very little cooking this week--just eating what is in the freezer. I even have frozen lunches for the week. I hope I can focus on organizing, instead!

I am meal planning by making a big container of salad that can be eaten alll week. It will have lettuce, spinach, carrots, red onion and red cabbage. These should last all week. When you put in tomatoes and cucumbers, things go bad faster. I cooked beans from dried beans on the weekend and stored in smaller bags so that we could put beans on our salads. We get more fiber into our diet.


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

This is a timely thread for me, as I have really let my kitchen get out of control lately. My fridge, especially, needs cleaning and organization and my freezer needs defrosted this week.


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Like Manygoats my fridge REALLY needs a good cleaning and there couldn't be a better time as I'm low/out of lots of stuff and plan to do a big grocery shopping on Tuesday. The rest of the kitchen is in pretty good shape, but it's time to get the fall window washing done and the floor could use a good scrubbing after all the many days of rain we've been getting.
I hope the weather will co-operate.


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## angiemama02 (Nov 4, 2014)

Looking forward to jumping in on this, goodness know my house could use a little (okay a LOT) of organization!  My spice cabinet is a nightmare!! We moved in last year and hubby kind of just threw things up in there, where I can't reach. About time I found a ladder and properly organized it all!


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## manygoatsnmore (Feb 12, 2005)

So far: swept the cobwebs twice (didn't manage to kill the spiders and they came back), cleaned out the fridge, defrosted the upright freezer and organized the food in it, filled the water jugs that were sitting on the floor in the kitchen and put them away, swept the floors, washed down the countertops, got the dishes done and put away, wiped out the bottom of the dishwasher (used as a dish drainer) and scrubbed the sink. It's not super shiny, but at least it's scrubbed and most of the hard water spots are gone.  I still need to pull out the stuff in the small pantry in the kitchen and reorganize it, and I need to straighten the cupboards and wipe down the shelf liners. At least I have the basics in order. 

All this has also led to getting a lot of the rest of the house back under control this week, too. I've been coasting, not doing my daily routines, and it showed! Just sweeping the floors!  The amount of down (I have down comforters, and one of them leaks), dirt and dust bunnies was amazing, and not in a good way!

I've been working on the meal planning thing, too. I baked up a big salmon roast (barely fit in a 9x13 pan), and I boiled up some chicken carcasses for pot pies and broth - that pot is in the fridge, chilling, now that there is room in the fridge for it to fit! I am back to having a shelf in the fridge for leftovers, so that should make a big difference in the amount of wasted food. I am kicking myself (not really, trying to forgive myself and move on) for wasting 3 quarts of lovely chicken broth that was shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten.

I just started re-reading Flylady's book, Sink Reflections, and it's been a nice reminder of what I USED to do. I just need to get back to doing what needs done each day.


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

Well the fridge is now clean and shiny, sink is scrubbed and kitchen and bathroom floors have been washed. If it doesn't rain tomorrow I'm planning to wash the kitchen windows.


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## Mickey (Aug 28, 2002)

It has been a lovely day here today so I washed the kitchen windows inside and out. That's the last time the outsides will be done until next spring. So glad to have that chore over with! 
The last big job I need to tackle is clean out and organize the cupboard at the back corner between the kitchen and laundry area. Also I've been wanting to make a curtain for it forever so my plan is to do all that tomorrow.


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## Mid Tn Mama (May 11, 2002)

Well, finally cleaned the kitchen and washed the floor.
-Did a kind of cleaning of the fridge--at least took out things that needed used up and washed the bins.
-Washed the outside of the fridge/microwave.
-Cleaned the inside of the toaster oven.
-Cleaned a huge mess/explosion in the breadmaker
-Found the rotten potatoes hdden at the bottom of the pantry
-Washed the kitchen window
-cleaned my chrome sink, now it's really shiny!

Also: 
-spot cleaned the diningroom hardwood floor
-Cleaned the master bathroom (stll need to do the floor)
-washed 1 load, one more to go

Anyone else want to share?


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