18 February 2010
As I begin on my journey of making baby food, and graduating to making family food, the amount of food stuff grows. I was getting tired of always having to unwrap packaging and wrapping them back again with rubber-bands, etc. I have to find a way of organising them, and I think I have found a good way from the internet. A labelling machine from Brother really helps if you like. I love to organise things and perhaps administration is my greatest strength. Thank God I managed to organise my kitchen and food stuff before I have to start work in a month's time!
Here are some tips from my experience:
1. Choose transparent containers for ease of overview. The containers should have function over design, although I am pretty happy with the design of my containers. And the containers must be air-tight. I prefer glass to plastic, it is just a personal preference. (Though glass is not as child-friendly, so dumb of me to prefer it).
2. Consider the ease of opening containers. Avoid screw-top containers, as it takes longer time to open them and you need to use two hands. Use the One-Hand Test: you should be able to open them with one hand. If you need to use two hands to open a container, then it is not user-friendly enough. This is even more important if you have to hold a baby in another hand :-)
3. The container should not be top heavy such that when its cover is open, it will tilt over easily.
4. Place them in the kitchen where you will see them everyday, so that you will remember to use it in your cooking. Or place them in a cool dry place and away from direct sun-light.
5. The cheapest place to buy such containers in Denmark seems to be from IKEA (although I bought mine more expensive from the local kitchen-ware store called HV-Hjørnet in Lyngby).
6. Label them if you have time for ease of overview. I labelled mine in 2 different languages on different sides of the container (i would have loved to label a third language - Chinese on the other side, but my Brother labeller could not do it). It will also be a fun way for your kids to learn the various food items when they are at the appropriate age.
7. For food stuff that is not consumed so fast, label the expiry date as well. I stick the expiry date discreetly at the back of the containers.
8. Consider very carefully the size of the containers to the food stuff that you will be storing. You don't want to use too big a container and get too slow a turnover of goods. Neither do you want to use a too small container that you have to refill it all the time! Who has time to do that anyway :-) I utilise this concept from my logistics warehousing experience way back in Singapore Hempel, although I don't think you need logistics experience for such things :-)
References:
Here is a very good video demonstrating how you can organise your food stuff:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gsMzybsnFVw
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