While we certainly cannot call ourselves minimalists, we have spent a lot of time reducing our belongings as part of our travel therapy journey. We have learned that we use less than we thought we did!
Over the next three weeks we are going to focus on our minimizing process and what we bring with us on the road! Inspired by my Tidying Up binge watching and our preparation to move to a new place again we are going to share what we have, how we simplify, and our packing process. Our posts will focus on kitchen items/food, clothing, and miscellaneous/packing. First up: Kitchen and Food!
One big thing that we have learned is that people accumulate a LOT of stuff, but typically people need very little of what they have. The things we travel with are a mix of things we need and things that bring use joy (thanks Marie Kondo). Having less saves money, and reduces clutter anxiety… how can you go wrong! Hopefully this post inspires you to declutter and feel better!
Kitchen and Food Items
It’s no secret, Patrick and I LOVE food and we cook a LOT. We initially packed a few things we thought we would need and added what we really wanted as we went. In an effort to organize after our first assignment I bought a bin. My rule is that whatever fits in the bin goes, and what doesn’t gets left behind. There are a few exceptions like our blender, kettle, and tupperware, but everything else MUST fit in the bin!
We haven’t skimped on the specialty stuff we really like, but we have cut corners where we need to in order to save space. Things like cups, plates, bowls, and utensils are provided in short term housing or shared living environments so we have been able to travel without them. (We do have camping cups and plates with our gear for when we are out and about… but that’s for another post.) We also only travel with a stock pot, 2 frying pans and 1 small saucepan. We have found that everything we want to cook we plus using whatever oven safe containers we find where we are living.
Here is most of our kitchen collection:
We try to use up all perishable food items before each move. This being said, we do take what we can of non perishable items… buying new things in every place gets expensive! We keep things like spices, baking supplies (baking powder, vanilla, etc), and commonly used sauces/oils.
So far our last two weeks in each place has been eating all the food that we have left over in an effort not to waste. This makes for some interesting meals, and is also a good reminder of the excess we buy so we can shop smarter.
These are the food items we typically travel with:
Although we are a restricted out of necessity, our minimizing in the kitchen has not limited our cooking at all. You may have different demands based on your family and kitchen size but anyone can minimize and still not cut corners!
Our Tips for Minimizing in Your Kitchen
Consider Your Specialty Gadgets Carefully: Some single purpose kitchen tools may seem like a great idea, but how often will you take the time to find them and then use them. Also most of the time a more universal tool, like a knife, can do the same job.
We have chosen a few specialty tools that we use regularly and then try to stay away from getting sucked into more. Our gadgets of choice are a cheese slicer, garlic masher, and a milk frother. Limiting these items saves space and prevents us from accumulating things we will probably never use.
Clean As You Go To Minimize What You Need: As I’m sure my parents or Patrick would tell you, I typically would avoid dishes like the plague. This leads to needing a lot of duplicate dishes, utensils, pots and pans.
During our first assignment Patrick and I were inspired by a podcast to adopt a DO IT NOW attitude with cleaning. When we cook or empty our tupperware we hand wash dishes right then. This leads to needing far fewer kitchen items, and saves a lot of space. Also, as a result we significantly reduce the anxiety of having clutter around and we don’t have to carry the thought of needing to do it later.
I will admit I still hate dishes… I compromise by trading the duty with Patrick so he doesn’t have to do laundry. We still have mess to clean up and end up accumulating extra, but we try to minimize as much as we can!