HOW TO GET ANY INDIAN KITCHEN SUPER SORTED

Save Money and Amplify your Productivity

Did you know that one of the studies by Harvard states a link between a clean space and better productivity?

It goes something like this: “When people cleared the clutter from their work environment, they were better able to focus and process information, and their productivity increased.”

Therefore, it is highly recommended to boost your own productivity by organizing the disarranged areas in your life.

I have this bug inside me for a very long time. I tend to keep things arranged. Although that’s not what you call OCD, I like to access things that are sorted, and honestly, it feels great to have things spick and span in your life.

My work environment, area, or station is the Kitchen, where I discover myself and create spectacular recipes. And it is a no-brainer that sorting your kitchen means ensuring that your pantry is set in the right tone.

Just because I am a Culinary Artist and a lot of my work involves the kitchen, it should not discourage you from arranging your own kitchen pantry. A chef or no chef, everybody needs to keep their kitchen space neat and tidy because that’s the area that brings out the food, feeds the entire family, and keeps them up and running.  

I often do a cleanup and sorting of my pantry and would be glad to share my bit and run you through the process and also provide some tips and tricks to help you succeed. So let’s dive in.

First, you want to categorize everything

Before you even start to organize your pantry, you want to categorize all of your ingredients.

For example, one shelf would be reserved for your jars of aromatic whole spices like black or green cardamom, cinnamon or star anise. Another shelf could be used to store jars of flavoring whole spices like clove, cumin seeds or coriander seeds, and so on.

Another category will be of ingredients which you pair together to use all at once when cooking your meals. For example, we Indians adore our Dal-Chawal (Lentil-Rice) or Khichdi (Indian Risotto). So keeping the various lentils and rice on one shelf will be super helpful.

Not to mention, your spice box should be pristine and have all the daily use spices in there. Reaching out to different locations for each spice jar is not part of the kitchen efficiency.

Doing this will help you come up with a quick and interesting pairing for your meals.

Next, you want to inventory everything

After you categorize everything, you want to see what you have and what you need to buy from the store.

After you categorize your lentils, nuts, spices, flours, rice, etc. you will be able to easily see what you have enough of and what you need more of. You will also want to get rid of anything that has expired in this step. Letting stale ingredients stay in your kitchen is like doing serious damage to your own health.

After you have inventoried everything, you’ll be able to know what you need to buy and what you have plenty of.

This will prevent you from unknowingly stocking packets of flour, boxes of lentils, bags of rice, etc.

Finally, it’s time to sort

Here comes the fun part. Now that you have optimum stock levels, you get to start sorting. What’s great is that you don’t even need exceptional organizational tools to do so.

The approach I use in my kitchen is to give each category of items its own shelf. Now, your pantry might be set up a bit differently from mine, as everybody stocks according to their palates. However, this approach is still beneficial.

Give each category its own shelf/drawer/section, and then organize items by size, color, type, or whatever else you’d like.

Let’s me share with you how I organized my pull-out pantry drawers/ shelves

To the right of my working area, I have jars of all my whole spices set in different rows as per usability. It’s easy access and super convenient while cooking. Basically an effortless reach.

A pro tip here is to put the daily use whole spices in a row which is at your eye level/ have easy access. Spices like cumin, fennel, or coriander seeds might come in this category. This way you won’t be struggling with at least the basic cooking.

For the ones who are a novice, putting name labels on cute transparent jars would be a great idea. Name labels anyway doesn’t harm even the experts. It amplifies your organizational skills.

Next, I have one section of all my breakfast options

Everything healthy which can be cooked in a few minutes is kept here. From natural rolled oats (not the flavored ones) to beautiful vermicelli, then your all-time favorite Poha (flattened rice) and not to forget the freshest pack of luxurious eggs.

The key takeaway here is to line everything up neatly and group it in a way that makes it easy to find each item.

Next are some miscellaneous snacks, condiments, and nuts

It is completely ok to have a shelf of random stuff, but it will be easier if you can see everything clearly. Even with a random snack drawer, you try to separate everything into sections.

For example, on a single shelf, I have my pickles on the left side and all the nuts on the right side. The back of this shelf houses the random snacks, which are purposely kept there so that it stays out of sight and thus out of mind (wink wink)

Even though there are a variety of things on this shelf, I can still see everything I have.

The takeaway is to make sure you can actually see everything in your pantry.

Finally, there will be this shelf/ drawer somewhere on top (doesn’t mean it should be out of your reach and a chair is needed to grab stuff from there).

I’d like to call this the Indulgence shelf. It has some of the stuff I reach for special occasions. Like funky shapes of pasta, various dried herb seasoning bottles, certain canned foods, etc. Sometimes you do feel like to make an exotic meal for your loved ones. So this will be the place where you will stock for that special meal.

Final Thoughts

Not only will a clean and tidy place make everything look beautiful, but it will also help you to get rid of the distractions and boost your overall productivity in the kitchen and life.

Leave your comments and tell me how you manage your kitchen. I would be more than happy to learn new hacks from you.

Stay happy with food!!!

Until next time! 

XoXo

ABOUT AKSHAY NAND

I am a Happiness Culinary Artist and Fusion Food Designer. I make people cook with a smile on their faces. Food styling & photography are my favorite picks, as a gorgeous looking dish will win half the battle.

Do you need a joyful experience with food? If you say YES then I am listening.

Hit me up @ www.akshaynand.com or

just drop a WhatsApp @ +91-9711662532