You don’t have to be an actual chef, or even a good cook for that matter, to set up your kitchen as if it were a restaurant. The fact is that restaurant kitchens are built for efficiency and make so much sense. You can replicate the entire experience at home and make cooking in your kitchen a real pleasure again.
When it comes to getting meals ready, saving a few extra minutes because you are more organized is a real bonus. Those extra minutes will make it seem like less of a chore to be able to put a meal together for your family. You can source some great kitchen preparation equipment and storage items here that will help you on the way to culinary success!
In this article, we will go over several ways that you can set up your kitchen as a chef would.
1 – Put things into containers
One way to not only make getting your ingredients easier to get ready but also save on space is to put everything into containers. Any dried goods should go into a sealable jar or container. Beans, grains, pasta, rice, and so much more should be taken out of their package and put into their own container to keep them fresh and also stackable.
Use P-Touch label makers to put the type of food on the container so you know exactly what it is. For pasta, you can also include a label with the cooking time on it. If the food has any special cooking instructions, then cut out that section from the box and tape it to the container.
2 – Keep everything visible
The first thing that many people notice when they first walk into a professional kitchen is that there are no cabinets. Everything is on open shelves so you can see what things are.
This makes staying organized very easy as well as speeding up prep time when putting a meal together. You can see what you have for pasta and other pantry items just with a quick glance at the shelves.
When you have clear containers you can also see how much you have of something without having to open the container to investigate. Getting your shopping list ready gets so much easier when you can do this.
3 – Keep like with like
The best way to organize for speed and efficiency is to make sure that you always have things that belong together in one spot. For pantry items, keep your canned goods all in the same spot and organized into types of food, ie beans with beans, corn with corn, etc.
Then, have your pasta in another spot and grains in another. This way you can grab things all in the same area.
This also goes for pans and gadgets. Anything that you would need for baking should all stay together and pots for sauces should stay with other pots of various sizes. Make sure that any heavy items will be placed on lower shelves so they are easy to pick up and you don’t risk injury from anything falling on you.
