In addition to eating healthier, the start of a new year is a great excuse for decluttering, spiffing up, and organizing your workspace. All week long, we'll be giving you tips for making sense of the most important room of the house: the kitchen. Welcome to Clean Sweep.
While some kitchen tools remain essential (we're never giving up our mandoline), you can definitely do without a small army of lidless Tupperware. We're taking a stance and so should you: Toss this junk immediately.
Copy chief Greg Robertson has no idea why or how he has accumulated so many wine keys and bottle openers, but he does know one thing: He only needs one. Sound familiar? Trash the junkiest specimens, bring a backup to your office (in case of, you know, emergencies), and keep the best of the best in your kitchen. Other "multiples" you can trash: can openers, vegetable peelers, graters, measuring cups and spoons... you get the picture.
Senior web editor Alex Beggs is saying goodbye to her well-intentioned gift of an apple peeler: "Peel your apples for apple pie with a regular peeler; that other thing is huge and cumbersome, and the amount of time saved doesn’t equal the pantry space it takes up 364 days a year." As a general rule, anything that performs just one task isn't worth keeping around. Contributor Marian Bull advocates ditching your avocado scooper (indeed "any utensil designed to help you prepare an avocado"). Deputy editor Andrew Knowlton is finally bidding adieu to this fancy cheese grater thing, because "a microplane gets the job done just fine." Senior editor Julia Kramer is trashing the bulky hunk of plastic known as the salad spinner; for perfectly dried greens, wrap the rinsed leaves loosely in a dish towel, place in a plastic bag, and whip the bag around your head like a helicopter. You know what doesn't take up two square feet of space in your cupboard? A plastic bag.
We all have one or two of what Bull calls "those dirty tea towels you’re embarrassed to hang up when company is coming over." Bite the bullet and replace them with new towels—repurpose the old ones into rags or dedicated cast-iron cleaners. Cutting board stained beyond repair? Bye. Stinky sponges? You know what to do.
Real talk: You will never, ever find the missing top to that Tupperware. Give it up and let it go. Ditto for lidless pots and anything you've been keeping just in case its mate or MIA part "turns up."
You know those scraped-up nonstick skillets kicking around? Test kitchen manager Brad Leone has some bad news: They're no longer actually nonstick. Sad but true. Toss 'em and replace with some cheapies. Better yet, invest in a cast-iron and season it well; it'll last forever. It's also time to say goodbye to half-melted spatulas, tongs that have lost their springiness, grease-lacquered baking sheets, and dented pots that don't sit evenly on the stovetop. They're all only holding you back.