I really do love to cook. I just don’t get the opportunity to cook three meals a day here anymore, with having a full time job on a whack-o schedule. However, when I have enough time at home to produce a good, home cooked meal, it’s mainly because I’ve got things arranged in my kitchen so it’s not a chore just to get utensils and ingredients ready.

For a kitchen, phase 1 environmental readiness means keeping like things together. I use my cabinets to organize myself.

  • Beverages. This includes Kool-aid, coffees, teas, cocoa mix, and powdered creamers.
  • Baking. This includes everything I’ll use for baking - baking soda, baking powder, yeast, flour, sugar, cocoa, shortening, etc.
  • Beans, rice, pasta. What the name implies and includes macaroni and cheese mixes, barley, all kinds of beans, all kinds of pastas, and dehydrated fruits and veggies.
  • Snack and breakfast. Hot and cold breakfast cereals, cereal bars, granola bars, cookies, popcorn, crackers.
  • Canned. Includes canned meats, canned vegetables, canned fruit, and home canned foods.
  • General cooking. Includes cooking oils, vinegars, seasoning packets, cornstarch, jars of herbs and spices, salt and pepper.

By keeping things this way, I or my children always know just where to find the items we need. Also, as you can see, I don’t have an abundance of cabinets but these assignments still work very well!

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