Staying Minimalist in my Kitchen

A friend recently asked me about my kitchen.

How am I a minimalist in my kitchen?

Let's start with plates, bowls, cups, mugs, spoons, forks, knives, mixing spoons, serving spoons, spatula's...you name it, and most people probably have one, if not two, of everything they need in a kitchen. I know I did!  

We have: one small plate, one large plate, one bowl per person and approximately one butter knife, two forks and two spoons per person.  Because they are both hot and cold, we use mugs and jars as our drinking glasses.  Mugs were tough to narrow down because I had a few favorites and I had slowly been collecting Norman Rockwell mugs.  I kept all but one of my Norman Rockwell collection (6 all together) and then I kept two mugs I really liked.  My kids each have a mug (my son has two now) and my husband uses jars. 

As for mixing spoons, ect., I kept my favorite Pampered Chef bamboo spoons, a soup server, whisk, pizza cutter, can opener, pie server, spatula for the grill, garlic press, ice cream scoop (though my husband keeps insisting I can use a regular spoon and save space!), thin cheese grater, basting brush, small and large tongs, rice spoon and kitchen scissors.  I still need, no WANT, to purchase a slotted serving spoon. We've survived a year and a half without one, but it would be make serving some things a lot easier!

Just recently my husband added this shelf perfectly sized to our pint and quart size jars.  It's perfect for all the odds and ends in a kitchen and for now I'm also using it for spices.

Unfortunately for him, I found these ADORABLE mini jars you can see closest to the cherries.  They are just TO cute AND they're perfect for the spices I don't use often.  No, they don't fit the space perfect but sometimes we have to sacrifice space saving for mental health and these make me smile :)







Moving on to spices and other kitchen things. I kept a LOT of spices because I use a lot of spices.

I love loose leaf teas so I bought little jars that fit perfect on my shelves.  Then I waited to buy more until I had emptied a jar.

I kept a few decorative things...Norman Rockwell mugs, cream and sugar pottery and Regina teacup...all of which I also use for holding teas, tea spoons or other misc. small items.

My ziploc bags and garbage bags are stored in jars to save space.

My jar lids are also stored in a jar...although I need to downsize these again.

We can't do much about the water jug yet; the water around here is awful.  








Onto the other side of my kitchen where I keep my Tupperware container foods.

I bought all those modular mates p.k. (pre-kid) when I worked full time and had the extra money.  I am SO very glad I did.  I still love them for storing food and they're a great use of space.

In these containers I keep (starting at the top from left to right): oatmeal, pancake mix, gluten free flour, steel cut oats (I want to get down to one kind of oats but I don't eat them very fast), pinto beans, dried cherries, chocolate chips, nutritional yeast, pecans, sugar, chips (yes, I take them out of the bag), coffee, almonds, flax meal, brown rice, lentils, raisins, cereal, flax seeds, flour, white beans, dried mangos, split peas, powdered sugar, arrowroot, baking powder, measuring and baking utensils, baking soda, brown sugar, marshmallows, cocoa powder, popcorn and black beans.







The items and containers are often changing.
I move things around to best fit the food and situation BUT I only buy enough to fill a container.  This keeps my house uncluttered as possible.

   

As for pots and pans, I have one 6 qt sauce pan, one medium size cast iron skillet (not pictured), one small cast iron skillet, one small saucepan, one cast iron waffle maker, one cast iron griddle (works for multiple purposes - pancakes, eggs, steaks, etc.), one regular cookie sheet and one square cookie sheet, one 9x13 cake pan, one 8x8 cake pan, one pie dish and one bread pan.                                                                


As you can see in the picture above, I also have a pressure cooker (tiny house life saver!!!) and my Kitchen Aid (which I use A LOT!).  My other kitchen essentials not pictured include our BlendTec blender, my food processor and my 9-tray dehydrator (actually you can see in the picture on the right my dehydrator under the stove and between the fridge and freezer is the blender and processor).

Handy storage for cookie sheets and griddle

Moving on to bowls and leftovers containers:

Since this picture was taken I have added 7 glass rectangular containers with sealable lids from IKEA.  They stack great right behind these two storage rack things (also IKEA).  I kept one mixing bowl with a lid that I plan to replace with a collapsible mixing bowl, 3 small collapsible bowls with lids and my collapsible colander.  

This is really all I have needed.

And last but not least, here is the rest of my pantry!!  

Not kidding you.

It is amazing what we can get along with NOT having in our pantry. 

First, the crate on the bottom shelf is my daughters snack bin.  She has some past trauma surrounding food and feels much safer having a bin of food all her own.

You can see the jars of popcorn on the far right??  We buy popcorn by the 25lb bag and fill every large container we own until my husband starts using it up...he makes it nightly so it goes pretty fast!  

I keep some basics: 1-2 cans refried beans, 1 can black beans, 1 can corn, 1 small can olives, coconut oil, one loaf of bread (sometimes I buy the 2-pack from Costco and pop one loaf in the freezer), canned peaches, 1-2 jars apple butter and miscellaneous other items depending on what is on sale, such as g.f. cake mixes, organic oatmeal snacks, craisins, grape juice, top ramen and evaporated milk.

Also, you can only see the corner of it on the far left on the top shelf, but we have a small rubbermaid bin with easy grab foods such as fig bars, protein bars, canned sardines, seaweed paper and snack bags of dried fruit.

Thankfully, we live in a day and age where most of us live near a grocery store.  Also, since I like to have lots of fresh fruits and veggies on hand, I'm usually at one of those grocery stores at least once a week.  This means if we eat that 1 can of black beans, I can easily replace it with another can within the week!

Think "ONE or TWO" and "REPLENISH OFTEN" and you have my food motto in a nutshell.

It would figure: my "minimalist" post includes more words than any other post I've written!