Kitchen

[house_cat]

Another thread on the fashion forum sparked this one.

I've been working on simplifying all aspects of my life. Maybe it's because I'm getting older and my priorities are shifting.

Here are a couple of things I've been doing:

Avoiding the microwave.

Avoiding packaged foods - much more cooking from scratch with simple ingredients.

Baking my own bread.

It's just a start. Have you been getting back to basics in the kitchen?

In what ways?

Thanks for sharing.

[jlkz]

Cleared out the dish and glassware clutter: got rid of all the remainders of previous sets. Bought new stone dish ware with all the accessory pieces. Bought more of the glassware pattern to replace the odd leftovers from previous sets. Upper Cabinets are now neat, orderly and attractive. Got rid of mismatched plastic storage containers and the very ancient ones. Put all the spice and rub containers on 2 spin arounds. Tossed really old ones. Now, If only I could do this with the pots and pans but this is DH's domain!

[jlkz]

Had been collecting all the decor items from house and mountain place that were no longer being used. After giving some items to niece and cousins, the remaining ones were set aside for the annual local flea market. Decided to downsize the decorations in use and added them to the pile. Sold 90% at flea market. !!!!!!! Closets now have breathing room!!! And, I have $90+ to stash away. !!!

[Still Raining]

Hello, this is SR and I am a microwave addict.

Can not imagine giving mine up.

[151949]

When we moved after 28 years in the same house I really got rid of a ton of kitchen items that were not being used. I also moved into a much larger kitchen. Now my way of keeping it simple, neat and organized is to simply not buy anymore, and be content with what i have. That is as simple as it gets.

[house_cat]

Good for you, jlkz I have very little space, so I'm perpetually purging and reorganizing. When we sold my parents' home last year I was overwhelmed with how much kitchen stuff they had. I guess the more room you've got the more thing collect.

Still Raining, I never used mine much for cooking, except bacon and thawing things. In the past few years my husband and I have both had cancer. I'm not saying it has anything to do with the microwave or any food choices, but I heard some negative news about it and don't want to take any chances. I'm not a doctor and I'm not an engineer. Microwaves may be perfectly safe. I don't know.

[house_cat]

Oh, I forgot one! I've been brewing coffee on the stovetop with the classic old percolators my grandma used. I swear it tastes better. Dh is not convinced.

[Tigriss]

I cook in the microwave and did order the rangemate to make a greater variety of foods. The stove/oven is just too hot down here. i do need to clean out the plastics and toss them. There is a shelf life for those things. Cleaning out the pantry of old things you forgot you had is another must.

[chickenbutt]

I guess I haven't simplified anything lately. But then I don't cook nearly as much as I used to.

For me, I wouldn't want to let the microwave go. I don't actually COOK food in it of course, but I use it pretty much daily for warming stuff either for me or for the bird.

My husband is still on his 'not eating after 2:30pm deal' (he eats at the office) so unless it's a holiday I only cook dinner for me - something simple, but I don't use processed foods hardly ever.

I try to keep it simple pretty much all the time now, I guess. My brain isn't working right anymore and if I get into anything too complicated bad things seem to happen.

[colliegirls]

On 6/28/2014 house_cat said:

Oh, I forgot one! I've been brewing coffee on the stovetop with the classic old percolators my grandma used. I swear it tastes better. Dh is not convinced.

I am convinced!