Shabby yet Chic: Never eat more...

"Never eat more than you can lift.."-Miss Piggy

Yes, that quote has nothing to do with what this entry is about, but can't you just picture the beautifully famous puppet, stuffed into a purple satin gown giving advice on how to determine when too much is too much. I laughed out loud sitting at a table by myself, like a big loser.

Anyway, what I really wanted to talk about was the disastrous state of my baking cupboard and drawer. The very important places where delectable spices and cookie cutters live in my apartment. It was borderline embarrassing. Here I was with a fancy new Kitchen Aid mixer named Betty and countless cute aprons yet I had a cupboard that rained cup cake wrappers whenever it was opened. Sticky, cluttered, unorganized and unlabeled (trust me, garlic powder and ginger may look the same, but boy do they taste different), something had to be done.

Here is what I did. I tackled those bad boys with mister clean and then I re-lined the shelf with the sticky washable paper I had lined my drawers with when I moved in. I also used the same stuff to label all of my spices which was important as basil and oregano have been been used interchangeably in my kitchen for months now (they look and smell almost the same!). I boogied over to the dollar store and picked up baskets and more spice jars. 1.5 hours later, everything finally had its own place, was accessible and easy to find. Check it out!
-m

Tips:

#1 -Use mason jars to store dry spices. They keep moisture out and keep scents (like garlic) contained.

#2- Do away with expensive bag clips and "chip-clips". Go to the dollar store and pick up a bag of almost free clothes pins. My sugar, cereal, and flour all have clothes pins on the folded top to keep the freshness in!