March 27, 2025 • 19 mins
At least twice a year, I like to do a deep dive in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. Clean out anything that’s expired, unused, or quite frankly forgotten about. I usually do one of these in the springtime, right before the end of school year craziness sets in. In this episode, I dig into my system for how I approach a deep spring cleaning and share tips on how you can make your life easier with your own spring cleaning.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Hi, everybody. I'm Kelsey Nixon and this is Kitchen Prescription,
the podcast you listen to and you don't know what
to make for dinner Today is episode one hundred and
twenty one, Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen. We had the
most exciting weekend celebrating my husband Robbie's fortieth birthday. We
kick things off with a big surprise from all of
his siblings who flew into town. Now he's the youngest
(00:27):
of seven, so there's a whole crew of them, and
they're kind of scattered. They live in four different states
and as a result, they really don't see each other
super often. But a few years ago they started this
tradition to surprise one another on their fiftieth birthdays. Now,
Robbie didn't turn fifty, and because he's quite a bit younger,
they thought they'd really get him good when it came
to the surprise if they surprised him a decade earlier.
(00:50):
So they surprised him on his fortieth instead, and he
was shocked. One of my favorite qualities about Robbie is
that he's incredibly sentimental, and I not by default, and
so I like having this in our marriage and for
our children. But when you're sentimental, this is like the
perfect way to celebrate on such a big birthday. My
(01:12):
kids also love spending time with their aunts and uncles
that they rarely see, and it was really just so fun.
So while that was on Friday and Saturday, Sunday we
drove to Palm Springs to beat my sister and her
family who happened to be on vacation for their spring break,
and we joined them at their resort and we had
a fun day of swimming and capped it off with tepin'
yaki dinner for Robbie's birthday Eve. And the best part was,
(01:35):
hands down watching our kids take in the show. They'd
clap after every trick and are still talking about it. It
was very cute. And then finally Monday was the big
day and my official gift to Robbie was a milestone
portrait session. So I came across this photographer who does
these on film for big life events you know, you
(01:56):
beat cancer, retired, whatever, forty, and once again I attempted
to tap into the sentimentality that I know my husband loves,
and I booked the session since I also turned forty
this year. I also had my portrait taken, and then
we had a few taken together and it was really fun.
But after all of that, we are a little birthdayed
(02:17):
out and excited to get back into a bit more
of a routine, and part of that routine includes some
planned spring cleaning this upcoming weekend. We're going to target
a few areas over the next couple of weekends to
kind of get us set up for crazy May and summer.
And this weekend is the kitchen. Then we'll do the
garage and the kids' bedrooms and so on. So I'm
(02:38):
excited to chat with you today a bit about how
I like to approach spring cleaning in the kitchen. But
before we get into that, let's share a few recipes
that you could throw on your meal plan for the
week if you are stuck trying to decide what to make.
First on my list are salmon and rice bowls. My
kids are in a big at Amai phase right now,
which was also served at the tepping dinner. But they
(03:01):
love at amammte and I love it because it's got
a lot of protein, it's green, and I just like
that it kind of varies up a few of our
standard vegetables that my kids will usually tolerate, but they
love it. So Penny and Nora also call salmon pink chicken.
For whatever reason, they are embracing pink chicken and we're
(03:21):
going with it. And they love rice, so this recipe
is literally for them. It's very simple, it comes together
embarrassingly fast. It's so so quick and easy, and it's
nice to mix up the regular rotation of chicken breasts
and grand beef and stuff like that. So salmon and
rice bowls are happening. Meatballs and orzoto, this is my
favorite spring meatball to make. You make it in a
(03:44):
big old skillet. It's got some lemon, it's got some dill,
some really bright flavors, and then the orzoto is like
a cheater risotto, but it's this creamy, delicious side that
goes with those meatballs, and it feels just kind of
like an updated, lighter take on spaghetti and meatballs. I
love it. We haven't made it cheese in at least
six months, so I'm excited to make this again because I,
(04:06):
for one, particularly love this. And then on Friday we
always do pizza night, but I am bringing back our
sheep pan pizza chicken to throw it in there to
mix things up from takeout or going to get pizza,
because there was a time when we went hard on
sheep pan pizza chicken. What it is is you take
(04:27):
like a chicken cutlet, which is a thinly sliced chicken breast,
and you treat it almost like you out a piece
of pizza, and you do it on a sheet pan,
and you do delicious marinaio sauce like rayos, you do cheese,
and you do all of your favorite pizza toppings, pepper
and chini, peppers, sliced olives, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and
you bake it off and it is so good. You
(04:49):
serve it alongside a caesar salad, throw some good croutons
in there, and it's a really nice way to play
with that flavor profile of pizza in a different vehicle.
And hey, there's a lot healthier so she pan pizza
chicken that's also coming back. There are your recipe ideas
for the week. You can find imprint them on recipe
Club individually or in our weekly meal plan, where we
(05:11):
have an easy to follow a shopping list that's broken
down by recipe. Recipe Club is a resource that allows
you to access family tested, quick and simple recipes on
the Internet without being bombarded with banner ads, long blog posts,
or drawn out stories. That was my biggest complaint when
it came to accessing recipes as an overwhelmed mom trying
to cook for my family was I thought accessing recipes
(05:34):
was really annoying. So I have intentionally created a space
where I try and make that easier. Our wildly popular
recipe binders are finally back in stock. Although we have
gone through we're going through them faster than expected, which
means if you are interested in getting a system in
place before the crazy late spring happens, and you want
(05:55):
a system in place before summer kicks off, grab our bundle,
which is a recipe binder plus an annual membership to
recipee Club. You save twenty bucks and it's a great
way to kind of reset, especially if you're doing spring
cleaning and you want to hit the reset button on
a few things in the kitchen. This would be a
great way to do that. All right, let's jump into
the back half of the podcast and discuss how I
(06:16):
plan to give my own kitchen a spring refresh at
least twice a year. I like to do a deep
dive in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. I clean out
anything that's expired, I'm used or quite frankly forgotten about.
I usually do this in springtime, right before the end
(06:37):
of the school your craziness sets in, and right before
the holidays in late October or early November. I literally
have the event scheduled in my Google calendar annually, so
I don't forget because it makes such a difference. Now
that I have a system, it's not that bad. So
I want to chat about my step by step process
that I like to follow when it comes to cleaning
(06:58):
out these spaces in my kit. So we're first going
to talk about, like I said, the fridge, freezer, and pantry,
and without fail, I think these are the best steps
to follow. You got to take it all out, so
in each of those places, you got to toss anything
that's old, expired. You may want to donate some items
to a food pantry that you know you won't use,
(07:20):
think old condiments, forgotten leftovers in the fridge, expired spices,
or half used boxes of bread crimbs. I know I
have some of those, or anything with freezer burn in
the freezer. I probably have some of that, but my
suggestion is to be ruthless and just a note. I
have noticed if you can time this with the day
before garbage day, that's always a plus. But at least
(07:43):
twice a year it is worth doing this. I always
feel like I learn a few things too, like oh
my gosh, I keep buying cans of coconut milk. I
have plenty of coconut milk. I don't need to buy
coconut milk for a while. Or why do I have
so many Italian bread crumbs? I have three boxes half opened.
Just stuff like that. So it's just a good practice
to do. After you've taken everything out and decided what's
(08:05):
going in the garbage, what's being donated, and what you're keeping,
you should categorize. So group like with like and categorize
according to the way you cook. This is what works
best for me. That might include like a bin or
a basket for breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, or grouping
all of your pastas and grains together. For me, what's
most important is that the categories are simple and easy
(08:28):
to stick to. I first started doing this years ago
when we lived in Portland, and I've used the same
category baskets that I established there now. So like in
my breakfast bin, I have like all of our oatmeal,
I have any boxed muffin or waffle or anything like
that that goes in there. In the lunch I have
(08:49):
things like the quick easymac for my kids, or tuna packets,
just stuff I can I can reach for. And then
in my dinner basket, I have a lot of stuff
that makes good dinner sides. So like I have a
couple of favorites from Trader Joe's that are like like
I have a rice peeloff. I have a couple of
boxes of that that I keep in there. I have
the farrow I keep that in there. Anyways, categorize group
(09:12):
like with like third, you're gonna fill in the gaps.
So purging and decluttering really can help identify what you're
low on. So like I said, or what you have
too much of, stalk what you and your family like
to eat, and focus on those items that you cook
with most often. For me, that includes things like for
sure our favorite marin aresauce which is Rayos, and that
(09:33):
favorite grain I just mentioned the quick cooking farro, because
I know that those can turn into quick dinners. Okay,
now we're going to transition from the fridge, freezer, and
pantry to the other areas of the kitchen. And this
one can feel a little bit more overwhelming, and sometimes
(09:54):
it can be a bit of a dread, but I
am telling you it's it's worth doing. I like to
start in one corner of my kid and quickly take
stock of each cabinet and draw The goal is to
not get too hung up on any one space. And
there are going to be cabinets and drawers where they're
perfectly fine, but you just want to do a once
over and be like, Okay, let me ask myself a
(10:15):
couple of questions. In fact, these are the questions I
ask myself. Do I use this? You shouldn't really have
to think long about this. It's either yes I do
or no I don't. You should not keep it if
it's well, I might one day, so I keep it,
or I use it or I don't. If you use it,
you keep it, If not, donate it. Is this item extra?
(10:37):
For example, how many wooden spoons do you really need?
Do you really use all six sheet trays? You might?
I do evaluate what you need and use on a
regular basis, but remember that you can always borrow items
from friends or family for those one time events. Maybe
you've got a snow cone maker that you never use
or an ice cream maker that you rarely use. Choose
(10:59):
your favorite and don't be afraid to donate the extras.
The next question I asked myself is what I buy
this today? I find it's a really helpful question when
looking at seasonal items in particular, ask yourself if you
still love it, if it still fits within the way
you cook in your kitchen. Is it adding function or
(11:20):
is it just taking up space. Really good example of
this the last time I did my kitchen refresh was
those mini waff lions that are on every end cap
and target. Somehow I had collected five of them. Five.
I had a Valentine's Day one that was in a heart,
I had an Easter one that was in the shape
of a bunny. I had a Halloween one in the
(11:40):
shape of a pumpkin. I did not need that. I
kept the one that was a circle, and I lovingly
donated the others. So clearly I didn't need all of them,
and it felt really good to get rid of a
few of those. Then, my last and most favorite question
is does this make my life easier? There may be
some items that you don't technically need, but you use
(12:03):
regularly enough to help simplify things like my rice cooker.
Could I make rice on the stove? Absolutely, But that
little cooker saves me time every single week, so it
gets to stay. I plan to get through the whole
kitchen in one morning, maybe two three hours. I'll probably
spend an hour doing the fridge, freezer, and pantry, of course,
(12:24):
while listening to a good audiobook or podcast, and then
spend another hour going through the cabinets and drawers. You
might need to spend a bit more time if you
haven't done it in a while, but if you can
do this twice a year, it goes pretty quick, all right. Finally,
let's finish with the weekly gimme five. This is five
things that made my life easier or more enjoyable this week.
(12:46):
I have been doing a ton of recipe testing for
breakfast recipes this next month in Recipe Club, I am
coming out with a handful of new breakfast recipes. So
I have been try I've been oh my gosh, so
much breakfast. But one of those things in particular, I've
been trying to nail down the perfect fluffy pancake. I
(13:08):
didn't want it to have buttermilk in it, because it's
annoying to have buttermilk on hand. I went back and forth.
But that's the story for another day. But let me
tell you what I did fall in love with was
my griddle. I bought this I don't know, maybe twelve
eighteen months ago, and I bought it to replace another
one that kind of shorted out, like only one side
of it work. This is the best griddle. I love it,
(13:31):
and when I am making weekend breakfast for my family,
I will do like pancakes on one side and bacon
on the other side. It's great for making breakfast sandwiches.
It's just awesome. So I really was reminded of how
much I like that griddle. I like how it functions,
I like how it stores. It's just great. Next on
my list is a knife sharpener. Now, part of my
(13:55):
spring cleaning routine and also my fall cleaning routine, is
to check in on my knives. Now, I do a
lot of cooking, so I typically will sharpen my knives
a little bit more than twice a year. But I
would say most home cooks twice a year would be
pretty good. But I do recommend getting a knife sharpener. Now.
(14:15):
For years, my advice to people was just take your
knives in, take them to Serlatob, they'll sharpen them for
you a dollar an inch. Take them to your local
hardware store. And that you can absolutely do. It's not expensive.
It's just kind of a pain to remember to do it.
I so much so that I wasn't remembering to do it,
and so I finally bought a knife sharpener. I did
(14:36):
a ton of research, ended up using one that is
really easy to use, because there are I mean, if
you get into it, there's like what stones. And I
just needed it to be easy for this chapter of life.
And so I found this great electric knife sharpener that
has a reputation for being really good to your knives,
not ruining your knives. It's got thousands of positive reviews,
(14:58):
and I've been so happy with it. Part of that
spring cleaning routine is definitely sharpening my knives, and that
will be happening this weekend. Okay, next a role on fragrance. Okay,
part of part of what my husband and I both
independently wanted for our fourtieth birthdays. Was he wanted it
(15:22):
kind of a new cologne, like a new scent, and
I wanted to kind of It may sound silly, you guys,
but this is where we're at. Forty I after my pregnancies,
I got really sent sensitive and I stopped wearing any
sort of perfume or fragrance four years. It wasn't until
about eighteen months ago. I was not looking for a fragrance,
(15:46):
but I was in a boutique. We were celebrating my
mom's birthday, and I came across a fragrance that I
was like, oh my gosh, that's the first thing I
like the smell of since I was pregnant ten years ago.
So it is a small brand. You likely have not
heard of it before. It's called Rittle Oil or just Riddle,
(16:06):
and I first bought the spray lotion because the spray
lotion is even less intense than some of their others.
But I have been wearing that for the past year
plus and I really like it so much so that
I wanted to be able to travel with it, and
so I just bought the role on oil fragrance, and
(16:29):
I'm excited about it. It's like my sin. I also
like this idea of my kids just knowing what I
smell like. I don't know, maybe that's silly, that sounds
so sentimental, like my husband and my husband he did
all this research and it was fun. So we kind
of both got fragrances this weekend and it was great
spring cardigan. So going back to this whole birthday weekend,
(16:49):
I mentioned the portrait photo and my husband got one
and I got one, And obviously I wanted these portraits
to be timeless, right, hopefully they're capturing us in our
prime of life. And so I didn't want to wear
like some trendy shirt. But I didn't want to wear
just a plain white T shirt either. And as I
looked into my closet and I was like, okay, what
(17:09):
is timeless, what's a timeless neckline? What looks nice? I
immediately went to one of my favorite cardigans from Sezon.
It's the gas cardigan, and it's got these really cute
little buttons, and I just I ended up feeling so
happy that I selected it. And I just had it
in like a tope color, but I kind of wish
that I'd had it in a brighter color. So I
(17:31):
think I'm going to get I'm going to treat myself
for another color of this really classic sweater. It's one
of their most popular items, and it's because it's just
so flattering. So that is on my list to have
just another option to pull from. And then finally one
more thing in the kitchen that it's just a reminder
(17:52):
to me. I had a bunch of my sisters in
law here and I did a little bit of cooking.
But one of the things they did I someone pointed
out as I was chopping, slicing and dicing, and someone said, oh,
I love those cutting boards, but I don't have one
that big, And I was like, oh, a big cutting board.
Not enough people talk about this. Too. Many people are
trying to cook on little flimsy cooking boards, little flimsy
(18:14):
cutting boards. You need a big board. It makes cooking easier.
Then you're not trying to especially like if you're cooking
with those Ikea boards that you got in college, it
is time to move on. I love my Epicurean boards.
I think that at least it should be like a
thirteen by seventeen size. Because of the wood composite nature
of these boards, they are not They're not very heavy,
(18:38):
which I feel like is a big complaint about a
big cutting board. So I love these. They can go
in the dishwasher. I love the company. I've been using
them for years and just cannot speak highly enough of them.
So there you have it. Five things. That's it for today.
You guys, make sure you are subscribed to the podcast
so that you never miss an episode. This podcast is
(18:58):
always meant to be just a quick twenty to thirty
minute listen while you map out your own wheels for
the week, and support helping you set up a simple
dinner system if you're looking to finally get a system
in place. Like I said, busy time of year coming up,
join us at sp club and better yet, snag the
bundle with a recipe binder. And I just want to
thank you for being here, Thanks for listening. I'm glad
(19:20):
you're here. Until next time, happy cooking. I'm Kelsey and
look forward to chatting with you all next week.
Hi, everybody. I'm Kelsey Nixon and this is Kitchen Prescription,
the podcast you listen to and you don't know what
to make for dinner Today is episode one hundred and
twenty one, Spring Cleaning in the Kitchen. We had the
most exciting weekend celebrating my husband Robbie's fortieth birthday. We
kick things off with a big surprise from all of
his siblings who flew into town. Now he's the youngest
(00:27):
of seven, so there's a whole crew of them, and
they're kind of scattered. They live in four different states
and as a result, they really don't see each other
super often. But a few years ago they started this
tradition to surprise one another on their fiftieth birthdays. Now,
Robbie didn't turn fifty, and because he's quite a bit younger,
they thought they'd really get him good when it came
to the surprise if they surprised him a decade earlier.
(00:50):
So they surprised him on his fortieth instead, and he
was shocked. One of my favorite qualities about Robbie is
that he's incredibly sentimental, and I not by default, and
so I like having this in our marriage and for
our children. But when you're sentimental, this is like the
perfect way to celebrate on such a big birthday. My
(01:12):
kids also love spending time with their aunts and uncles
that they rarely see, and it was really just so fun.
So while that was on Friday and Saturday, Sunday we
drove to Palm Springs to beat my sister and her
family who happened to be on vacation for their spring break,
and we joined them at their resort and we had
a fun day of swimming and capped it off with tepin'
yaki dinner for Robbie's birthday Eve. And the best part was,
(01:35):
hands down watching our kids take in the show. They'd
clap after every trick and are still talking about it. It
was very cute. And then finally Monday was the big
day and my official gift to Robbie was a milestone
portrait session. So I came across this photographer who does
these on film for big life events you know, you
(01:56):
beat cancer, retired, whatever, forty, and once again I attempted
to tap into the sentimentality that I know my husband loves,
and I booked the session since I also turned forty
this year. I also had my portrait taken, and then
we had a few taken together and it was really fun.
But after all of that, we are a little birthdayed
(02:17):
out and excited to get back into a bit more
of a routine, and part of that routine includes some
planned spring cleaning this upcoming weekend. We're going to target
a few areas over the next couple of weekends to
kind of get us set up for crazy May and summer.
And this weekend is the kitchen. Then we'll do the
garage and the kids' bedrooms and so on. So I'm
(02:38):
excited to chat with you today a bit about how
I like to approach spring cleaning in the kitchen. But
before we get into that, let's share a few recipes
that you could throw on your meal plan for the
week if you are stuck trying to decide what to make.
First on my list are salmon and rice bowls. My
kids are in a big at Amai phase right now,
which was also served at the tepping dinner. But they
(03:01):
love at amammte and I love it because it's got
a lot of protein, it's green, and I just like
that it kind of varies up a few of our
standard vegetables that my kids will usually tolerate, but they
love it. So Penny and Nora also call salmon pink chicken.
For whatever reason, they are embracing pink chicken and we're
(03:21):
going with it. And they love rice, so this recipe
is literally for them. It's very simple, it comes together
embarrassingly fast. It's so so quick and easy, and it's
nice to mix up the regular rotation of chicken breasts
and grand beef and stuff like that. So salmon and
rice bowls are happening. Meatballs and orzoto, this is my
favorite spring meatball to make. You make it in a
(03:44):
big old skillet. It's got some lemon, it's got some dill,
some really bright flavors, and then the orzoto is like
a cheater risotto, but it's this creamy, delicious side that
goes with those meatballs, and it feels just kind of
like an updated, lighter take on spaghetti and meatballs. I
love it. We haven't made it cheese in at least
six months, so I'm excited to make this again because I,
(04:06):
for one, particularly love this. And then on Friday we
always do pizza night, but I am bringing back our
sheep pan pizza chicken to throw it in there to
mix things up from takeout or going to get pizza,
because there was a time when we went hard on
sheep pan pizza chicken. What it is is you take
(04:27):
like a chicken cutlet, which is a thinly sliced chicken breast,
and you treat it almost like you out a piece
of pizza, and you do it on a sheet pan,
and you do delicious marinaio sauce like rayos, you do cheese,
and you do all of your favorite pizza toppings, pepper
and chini, peppers, sliced olives, fresh tomatoes, fresh basil, and
you bake it off and it is so good. You
(04:49):
serve it alongside a caesar salad, throw some good croutons
in there, and it's a really nice way to play
with that flavor profile of pizza in a different vehicle.
And hey, there's a lot healthier so she pan pizza
chicken that's also coming back. There are your recipe ideas
for the week. You can find imprint them on recipe
Club individually or in our weekly meal plan, where we
(05:11):
have an easy to follow a shopping list that's broken
down by recipe. Recipe Club is a resource that allows
you to access family tested, quick and simple recipes on
the Internet without being bombarded with banner ads, long blog posts,
or drawn out stories. That was my biggest complaint when
it came to accessing recipes as an overwhelmed mom trying
to cook for my family was I thought accessing recipes
(05:34):
was really annoying. So I have intentionally created a space
where I try and make that easier. Our wildly popular
recipe binders are finally back in stock. Although we have
gone through we're going through them faster than expected, which
means if you are interested in getting a system in
place before the crazy late spring happens, and you want
(05:55):
a system in place before summer kicks off, grab our bundle,
which is a recipe binder plus an annual membership to
recipee Club. You save twenty bucks and it's a great
way to kind of reset, especially if you're doing spring
cleaning and you want to hit the reset button on
a few things in the kitchen. This would be a
great way to do that. All right, let's jump into
the back half of the podcast and discuss how I
(06:16):
plan to give my own kitchen a spring refresh at
least twice a year. I like to do a deep
dive in my fridge, freezer, and pantry. I clean out
anything that's expired, I'm used or quite frankly forgotten about.
I usually do this in springtime, right before the end
(06:37):
of the school your craziness sets in, and right before
the holidays in late October or early November. I literally
have the event scheduled in my Google calendar annually, so
I don't forget because it makes such a difference. Now
that I have a system, it's not that bad. So
I want to chat about my step by step process
that I like to follow when it comes to cleaning
(06:58):
out these spaces in my kit. So we're first going
to talk about, like I said, the fridge, freezer, and pantry,
and without fail, I think these are the best steps
to follow. You got to take it all out, so
in each of those places, you got to toss anything
that's old, expired. You may want to donate some items
to a food pantry that you know you won't use,
(07:20):
think old condiments, forgotten leftovers in the fridge, expired spices,
or half used boxes of bread crimbs. I know I
have some of those, or anything with freezer burn in
the freezer. I probably have some of that, but my
suggestion is to be ruthless and just a note. I
have noticed if you can time this with the day
before garbage day, that's always a plus. But at least
(07:43):
twice a year it is worth doing this. I always
feel like I learn a few things too, like oh
my gosh, I keep buying cans of coconut milk. I
have plenty of coconut milk. I don't need to buy
coconut milk for a while. Or why do I have
so many Italian bread crumbs? I have three boxes half opened.
Just stuff like that. So it's just a good practice
to do. After you've taken everything out and decided what's
(08:05):
going in the garbage, what's being donated, and what you're keeping,
you should categorize. So group like with like and categorize
according to the way you cook. This is what works
best for me. That might include like a bin or
a basket for breakfast, lunch, and dinner items, or grouping
all of your pastas and grains together. For me, what's
most important is that the categories are simple and easy
(08:28):
to stick to. I first started doing this years ago
when we lived in Portland, and I've used the same
category baskets that I established there now. So like in
my breakfast bin, I have like all of our oatmeal,
I have any boxed muffin or waffle or anything like
that that goes in there. In the lunch I have
(08:49):
things like the quick easymac for my kids, or tuna packets,
just stuff I can I can reach for. And then
in my dinner basket, I have a lot of stuff
that makes good dinner sides. So like I have a
couple of favorites from Trader Joe's that are like like
I have a rice peeloff. I have a couple of
boxes of that that I keep in there. I have
the farrow I keep that in there. Anyways, categorize group
(09:12):
like with like third, you're gonna fill in the gaps.
So purging and decluttering really can help identify what you're
low on. So like I said, or what you have
too much of, stalk what you and your family like
to eat, and focus on those items that you cook
with most often. For me, that includes things like for
sure our favorite marin aresauce which is Rayos, and that
(09:33):
favorite grain I just mentioned the quick cooking farro, because
I know that those can turn into quick dinners. Okay,
now we're going to transition from the fridge, freezer, and
pantry to the other areas of the kitchen. And this
one can feel a little bit more overwhelming, and sometimes
(09:54):
it can be a bit of a dread, but I
am telling you it's it's worth doing. I like to
start in one corner of my kid and quickly take
stock of each cabinet and draw The goal is to
not get too hung up on any one space. And
there are going to be cabinets and drawers where they're
perfectly fine, but you just want to do a once
over and be like, Okay, let me ask myself a
(10:15):
couple of questions. In fact, these are the questions I
ask myself. Do I use this? You shouldn't really have
to think long about this. It's either yes I do
or no I don't. You should not keep it if
it's well, I might one day, so I keep it,
or I use it or I don't. If you use it,
you keep it, If not, donate it. Is this item extra?
(10:37):
For example, how many wooden spoons do you really need?
Do you really use all six sheet trays? You might?
I do evaluate what you need and use on a
regular basis, but remember that you can always borrow items
from friends or family for those one time events. Maybe
you've got a snow cone maker that you never use
or an ice cream maker that you rarely use. Choose
(10:59):
your favorite and don't be afraid to donate the extras.
The next question I asked myself is what I buy
this today? I find it's a really helpful question when
looking at seasonal items in particular, ask yourself if you
still love it, if it still fits within the way
you cook in your kitchen. Is it adding function or
(11:20):
is it just taking up space. Really good example of
this the last time I did my kitchen refresh was
those mini waff lions that are on every end cap
and target. Somehow I had collected five of them. Five.
I had a Valentine's Day one that was in a heart,
I had an Easter one that was in the shape
of a bunny. I had a Halloween one in the
(11:40):
shape of a pumpkin. I did not need that. I
kept the one that was a circle, and I lovingly
donated the others. So clearly I didn't need all of them,
and it felt really good to get rid of a
few of those. Then, my last and most favorite question
is does this make my life easier? There may be
some items that you don't technically need, but you use
(12:03):
regularly enough to help simplify things like my rice cooker.
Could I make rice on the stove? Absolutely, But that
little cooker saves me time every single week, so it
gets to stay. I plan to get through the whole
kitchen in one morning, maybe two three hours. I'll probably
spend an hour doing the fridge, freezer, and pantry, of course,
(12:24):
while listening to a good audiobook or podcast, and then
spend another hour going through the cabinets and drawers. You
might need to spend a bit more time if you
haven't done it in a while, but if you can
do this twice a year, it goes pretty quick, all right. Finally,
let's finish with the weekly gimme five. This is five
things that made my life easier or more enjoyable this week.
(12:46):
I have been doing a ton of recipe testing for
breakfast recipes this next month in Recipe Club, I am
coming out with a handful of new breakfast recipes. So
I have been try I've been oh my gosh, so
much breakfast. But one of those things in particular, I've
been trying to nail down the perfect fluffy pancake. I
(13:08):
didn't want it to have buttermilk in it, because it's
annoying to have buttermilk on hand. I went back and forth.
But that's the story for another day. But let me
tell you what I did fall in love with was
my griddle. I bought this I don't know, maybe twelve
eighteen months ago, and I bought it to replace another
one that kind of shorted out, like only one side
of it work. This is the best griddle. I love it,
(13:31):
and when I am making weekend breakfast for my family,
I will do like pancakes on one side and bacon
on the other side. It's great for making breakfast sandwiches.
It's just awesome. So I really was reminded of how
much I like that griddle. I like how it functions,
I like how it stores. It's just great. Next on
my list is a knife sharpener. Now, part of my
(13:55):
spring cleaning routine and also my fall cleaning routine, is
to check in on my knives. Now, I do a
lot of cooking, so I typically will sharpen my knives
a little bit more than twice a year. But I
would say most home cooks twice a year would be
pretty good. But I do recommend getting a knife sharpener. Now.
(14:15):
For years, my advice to people was just take your
knives in, take them to Serlatob, they'll sharpen them for
you a dollar an inch. Take them to your local
hardware store. And that you can absolutely do. It's not expensive.
It's just kind of a pain to remember to do it.
I so much so that I wasn't remembering to do it,
and so I finally bought a knife sharpener. I did
(14:36):
a ton of research, ended up using one that is
really easy to use, because there are I mean, if
you get into it, there's like what stones. And I
just needed it to be easy for this chapter of life.
And so I found this great electric knife sharpener that
has a reputation for being really good to your knives,
not ruining your knives. It's got thousands of positive reviews,
(14:58):
and I've been so happy with it. Part of that
spring cleaning routine is definitely sharpening my knives, and that
will be happening this weekend. Okay, next a role on fragrance. Okay,
part of part of what my husband and I both
independently wanted for our fourtieth birthdays. Was he wanted it
(15:22):
kind of a new cologne, like a new scent, and
I wanted to kind of It may sound silly, you guys,
but this is where we're at. Forty I after my pregnancies,
I got really sent sensitive and I stopped wearing any
sort of perfume or fragrance four years. It wasn't until
about eighteen months ago. I was not looking for a fragrance,
(15:46):
but I was in a boutique. We were celebrating my
mom's birthday, and I came across a fragrance that I
was like, oh my gosh, that's the first thing I
like the smell of since I was pregnant ten years ago.
So it is a small brand. You likely have not
heard of it before. It's called Rittle Oil or just Riddle,
(16:06):
and I first bought the spray lotion because the spray
lotion is even less intense than some of their others.
But I have been wearing that for the past year
plus and I really like it so much so that
I wanted to be able to travel with it, and
so I just bought the role on oil fragrance, and
(16:29):
I'm excited about it. It's like my sin. I also
like this idea of my kids just knowing what I
smell like. I don't know, maybe that's silly, that sounds
so sentimental, like my husband and my husband he did
all this research and it was fun. So we kind
of both got fragrances this weekend and it was great
spring cardigan. So going back to this whole birthday weekend,
(16:49):
I mentioned the portrait photo and my husband got one
and I got one, And obviously I wanted these portraits
to be timeless, right, hopefully they're capturing us in our
prime of life. And so I didn't want to wear
like some trendy shirt. But I didn't want to wear
just a plain white T shirt either. And as I
looked into my closet and I was like, okay, what
(17:09):
is timeless, what's a timeless neckline? What looks nice? I
immediately went to one of my favorite cardigans from Sezon.
It's the gas cardigan, and it's got these really cute
little buttons, and I just I ended up feeling so
happy that I selected it. And I just had it
in like a tope color, but I kind of wish
that I'd had it in a brighter color. So I
(17:31):
think I'm going to get I'm going to treat myself
for another color of this really classic sweater. It's one
of their most popular items, and it's because it's just
so flattering. So that is on my list to have
just another option to pull from. And then finally one
more thing in the kitchen that it's just a reminder
(17:52):
to me. I had a bunch of my sisters in
law here and I did a little bit of cooking.
But one of the things they did I someone pointed
out as I was chopping, slicing and dicing, and someone said, oh,
I love those cutting boards, but I don't have one
that big, And I was like, oh, a big cutting board.
Not enough people talk about this. Too. Many people are
trying to cook on little flimsy cooking boards, little flimsy
(18:14):
cutting boards. You need a big board. It makes cooking easier.
Then you're not trying to especially like if you're cooking
with those Ikea boards that you got in college, it
is time to move on. I love my Epicurean boards.
I think that at least it should be like a
thirteen by seventeen size. Because of the wood composite nature
of these boards, they are not They're not very heavy,
(18:38):
which I feel like is a big complaint about a
big cutting board. So I love these. They can go
in the dishwasher. I love the company. I've been using
them for years and just cannot speak highly enough of them.
So there you have it. Five things. That's it for today.
You guys, make sure you are subscribed to the podcast
so that you never miss an episode. This podcast is
(18:58):
always meant to be just a quick twenty to thirty
minute listen while you map out your own wheels for
the week, and support helping you set up a simple
dinner system if you're looking to finally get a system
in place. Like I said, busy time of year coming up,
join us at sp club and better yet, snag the
bundle with a recipe binder. And I just want to
thank you for being here, Thanks for listening. I'm glad
(19:20):
you're here. Until next time, happy cooking. I'm Kelsey and
look forward to chatting with you all next week.
Host
Kelsey Nixon
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