Declutter Diaries: Pre-Pesach Kitchen Reset

By Y.M. Lowy

Welcome back to Declutter Diaries! Before we start kashering and swapping in Pesach essentials, let’s take stock of what’s actually in our kitchen cabinets. Too many mismatched dishes? Broken utensils? Pots you haven’t used in years? Now’s the time to clear it out and make room for what you need.

Organize This:

1. Go through your dishes and get rid of cracked plates, chipped mugs, and anything you don’t use. Using a tiered shelf insert is a simple hack for more dish storage.

2. If your cutlery drawer is overflowing with random pieces, take a moment to match up sets and remove the extras or replace the cutlery organizer you have with one that expands in the drawer to store extras. 

3. Lunch boxes and water bottles can accumulate over the years. It’s okay to keep only the ones your children prefer most, but if you are okay with storing them it’s worth investing in a water bottle holder or even a lid organizer which gives the cabinet a clean look. 

4. Make space for your Pesach dishes, pots, and utensils now so the switch is smooth when the time comes. If you lock up your Chometz cabinets and need creative storage to keep small Pesach items a stovetop cover might be the solution!

5. Check kitchen gadgets, if they’re never used, they don’t belong in your kitchen.

6. Use dividers for your pot and pans to keep everything accessible and easy to store.

One-Item Purge Challenge:

Do you have a pot that burns everything, no matter what? If every meal ends in a charred disaster, it might be time to throw it out. We don’t always think about replacing pots and pans, but it’s necessary more often than we realize!

 

Myth Buster:

Myth: The more kitchen gadgets you have, the easier cooking becomes.

Truth: Too many gadgets can clutter your space and slow you down. A few well-chosen, multi-purpose tools often make cooking faster and more efficient than a drawer full of one-task wonders.

Did You Know?

The first forks were used in the Middle East over a thousand years ago, but they didn’t become popular in Europe until the 1600s. Before that, people mostly ate with knives and their hands!

How Do You Do It?

How do you store your Pesach dishes and cookware for the rest of the year? Do you keep them in labeled bins, a separate cabinet, or another system? Share your tips!

Photo: Shutterstock