Kitchen Organization: Plastic Containers

In almost every kitchen there are usually one or more cabinet or pantry that has the nightmarish clutter of plastic containers. No matter how you try to get them organized, they somehow seem to have a mind of their own and opening the cupboard to get something can turn into a battle. There are a few simple tips you can use to safely and easily store these plastic containers so they do not become kitchen clutter.

Empty your plastic container cabinets and get the bottoms and lids all in one place. What you should do first is try to find a matching cover for every bottom that you have. At the end of that task if something is missing a cover or bottom, throw it away.

Also look at all the plastic containers that you have and toss out anything container that you received because it came with your food. This means any Chinese food or butter containers that may have crept up on you over time. These containers may seem to come in handy but stop and think of how often you actually use these "free" containers. Saving every piece of container that you received because you bought something is not a good idea and these plastic containers will in the end turn into clutter.

Go through the plastic containers and throw out any container that has wholes in them and also throw away containers that are damaged from the microwave or have burns in them because hot food or even the stove burned them. Certain foods can also leave discoloration on your plastic containers. Throw these stained containers out. If however you have come across a container that goes with a set and is in good overall condition except for discoloration, you can try to clean them with hot water and a little bleach. If it is still stained you should toss it out.

To store your plastic containers in a way that eliminates clutter and allows you to easily get to them every time, make sure that none of the containers have a cover on them before you put them away. Take the larger pieces of plastic containers and put them on the bottom. Grouping your containers in this way will give you a lot of extra room to work with and leaving the covers on them can make it hard to store oddly shaped containers.

Now that the bottom pieces of the plastic containers have been put away, it is time to work on the lids. The perfect places for lids are to put them drawers. Keep lids that have similar shapes grouped together. Stack them neatly in little piles.

You can also toss out or donate the majority of your plastic containers and get a new set that can easily and neatly fit into a top cabinet. There are new systems that spin and allow you to easily reach each piece of container. Newer models also have lids that fit all of the bottoms so you that you will allows be able to find a lid and bottom that match each other.