Thout Design has come up with a very unique way of storing your flatware - in the wall. You can purchase a tile that comes with spots to hold 4 sets of 5 pieces of low grade stainless steel flatware (2 forks, 2 spoons, 1 knife). The flatware is held into place with magnets.

I love the look of magnetic spice holders. This storage system, however, looks too cluttered. The description on Design Public, where you can purchase the tiles for $300, states that the tiles are ideal for small space living. Wouldn't the flatware jutting out of the wall make the place look even smaller?

What do you think?

[via Better Living Through Design]

Awesome: the idea behind bulk food. Cheaper, more control over the quantity, easy.

Not-so-awesome: the collection and storing of bulk food. Most supermarkets provide plastic bags, which are not only bad for the environment, but are messy to store, can break or leak easily, and typically result in a pile of unusable crumbs.

But a friend of mine has come up with an easy solution that I'm jealous I didn't think of first: she bought a few of these Droppar storage jars (at left) from IKEA (although any small metal or glass jar with a lid would do), and brought them to her local Whole Foods store. The cashier first weighed the jar itself, which she wrote on a piece of tape and placed on the jar lid.

Each time my friend buys in bulk, she simply brings her jar with her, writes the checkout code on a sticker which she keeps on the jar, and brings it to the cashier, who subtracts the weight of the jar and charges her for just the food. Easy, environmentally-friendly, and easy to store when she gets home. (Another idea? Just wash out peanut butter or pasta sauce jars, place stickers on the sides, and reuse those).

Warning: this should work at Whole Foods and Wild Oats, or other similarly-minded food stores, but I don't know if other stores would agree - you'd have to call your local supermarket out find out.

Sometime about five years ago or so, I got in the habit of printing recipes I wanted to try off the internet. This was back in the days when I had a full-time administrative grunt job and so had free time, abundant internet access and unlimited laser printer toner. I started out storing those recipes in a three-ring binder, but quickly outgrew that storage device. I ended up with a file crate with hanging files and manila folders (complete with clearly printed labels--I can be a little overzealous with the office supplies at times).

In addition to that crate (which I often flip through for inspiration) I have a series of small wooden file boxes in which I've stashed the recipes I really like and want to be able to access again easily (without digging through several reams of paper). Sometimes I think about revamping my recipe storage system, but I hate to mess with a good thing.

If you are looking for a way to store your recipes (or want to buy a creative kitchen-based gift for a friend or family member) you should head over to Design*Sponge and check out the Recipe Storage Roundup that Grace put together. She has scoured the internet for a variety of boxes and binders that will hold your recipes neatly and in style. I am particularly smitten with that binder decorated with silhouettes of kitchen utensils.

Do you love using fresh ginger in your cooking, but feel like at times it becomes more trouble than it's worth? When a recipe called for minced ginger, do you often find yourself turning to the ancient jar of pre-minced ginger in your fridge? If you've answered yes to either of these questions, then you need to head over to Jaden's Steamy Kitchen and read through her tips for storing, processing and using ginger.

The tip I found the most helpful was to grate up a bunch of ginger and then put the ginger out in a long strip on a sheet of plastic wrap. Roll it up in a tube, tie the ends and store in the freezer. You can either snap off a bit or re-grate it into your dish. I grew up with frozen ginger, but in my family we always just through the entire root in, which made it really difficult to peel and chop it for cooking. I do believe that this particular suggestion will inspire me to keep more ginger around (frozen in a tube) and use it in my cooking more. Thanks Jaden!

Thanksgiving dinner is over, the kitchen is littered with dishes and you've got to figure out how to store a half carved turkey, a quart of gravy, a leftover loaf pan of stuffing and three half eaten pies. Not to mention Cousin Melissa's pumpkin soup that she served inside a hollowed out pumpkin. Here are some tips on how to get everything into put away and tucked in the fridge.

• Think about your storage options before the big day. Check your supplies of foil, plastic wrap, zip top bags and reusable plastic containers before you start cooking to ensure you'll have enough to get you through.
• Choose the right-sized container for the job. Refrigerator space is at a premium after big holiday meals, so using appropriately sized bowls, jars and bags will keep the jigsaw puzzle easier to solve.
  
• Make sure that your storage devices are airtight and leak-proof so that your food will stay fresh, aromas won't mingle and you don't end up with candied yam juice coating the shelves with a sticky sheen.
  
• If you use old yogurt containers or other, non-transparent vessels for your leftovers, label the carton with a sharpie. It will make the hunt for the last of the green beans much easier and when it is empty, the writing wipes off with a little bit of rubbing alcohol.
  
• Make sure that your turkey is totally unstuffed before you stash it in the fridge, because it can take too long to thoroughly cool otherwise, encouraging the growth of dangerous bacteria.
  
• Remember that it's never a good idea to store food in aluminum cans, so transfer the leftover cranberry sauce to a different container.
  

Here's hoping you find some of these tips helpful and that you enjoy your Thanksgiving feast for at least three full days!

Ever buy seasonings in those packets (not that I am particularly endorsing that behavior as they are often full of chemicals) from the grocery store but struggle with how best to store them? Then this tip from the Unclutterer might be up your alley. Get yourself one of those plastic 3x5 (or 4x6 for the larger packets) notecard boxes and pop the packets in there. Keeps them contained, orderly and bug-free (if you really want to satisfying your inner anal retentive, go ahead and alphabetize them)!

I like nuts. I like them toasted in salads, baked into muffins and tossed with roasted vegetables (toasted walnuts with oven-roasted brussel sprouts is heavenly). What I don't like about nuts is how easily they go bad if you don't store them correctly. After a big bite into a rancid almond once, I have taken to only keeping my nuts in the freezer (the middle schooler deep inside of me giggles at that sentence). The cold keeps the oils in the nuts more stable so that they don't go bad nearly so quickly (especially important for really oily ones like pinenuts). You don't have to be like me and store them in jars (although it looks so pretty) plastic containers or bags work just as well. The important thing is to make sure that whatever vessel you use is air tight to prevent the nuts from acquiring that yucky freezer-y taste.

I live by myself, so having a stocked freezer isn't something to which I am accustomed, but I do know that for large families, keeping track of a well-stocked freezer is a necessity. Otherwise, during that regular freezer clean-out, they'll find fish fillets from 1986.

Lunch in a Box has a neat way of keeping track of things in the freezer -- make magnets out of cutouts of food from the weekly circulars from the market and put them up on the freezer/refigerator door to indicate whether it's something you've got inside. Pretty cool idea!

A large turkey needs to be handled with care to make sure that it is cooked properly. The bird should be completely defrosted before cooking and need to reach a minimum temperature of 165 degrees in the breast before it is considered to be "done" and safe to eat, according to the USDA. But before the big meal isn't the only time that we should give some thought to food safety. Leftovers are often improperly stored, leading to potential hazards in the kitchen, at least as far as your stomach is concerned, and the USDA makes some recommendations for them, too.

First of all, hot food should not be left out and continuously heated and cooled throughout the day. Food, especially hot food, should generally only be left out for an hour or two before storing it in the refrigerator or freezer. Turkey meat should be removed from the bones of the bird and stored separately, well-wrapped in airtight containers. It can be kept for up to 4 days in the refrigerator and up to 4 months in the freezer, which is a good storage option if you intend to use it later for soups or other cooked dishes. Most sides can also be kept, well wrapped, for 3 or 4 days. Stuffing and gravy should be in their own containers and will only keep for a day or two in the fridge, although they can also be frozen for a period of time. Gravy will keep for up to six months when frozen.

One final thing to keep in mind is that food may not look or smell bad even though it has gone past its prime, so when it comes to leftovers - no matter how much you love turkey sandwiches - it is better to be safe than sorry later on.

After busily cleaning out the pantry, I discovered two open, but only partially used, containers that I didn't know I had. One was baking powder and one was baking soda. It's always useful to have extra on hand in case of a baking emergency, but I figured that it would be a good idea to test them to see if they still worked, since chemical leaveners can lose their potency over time for various reasons, including poor storage conditions.

The procedure for testing these two products is simple. Get out two small glasses or bowls and fill one with 3-4 tablespoons of white vinegar and fill the other with 3-4 tablespoons of room temperature water. Add about 1/2 teaspoon baking soda to the bowl containing the vinegar and the same amount of baking powder to the water bowl. Each mixture should fizz up, with the soda/vinegar producing a bigger reaction. If they both work, mark the containers with the date and check them again in 6-12 months (if you haven't used them up by then) to make sure they're still active. And if they don't fizz up, you better stop by the store before the next time you want to whip up a batch of cookies.

Have you ever grabbed a musty garlic clove, or had a green bell pepper ooze through your fingers when you pull it of the bag? Everyone has had an avocado or potato go past its prime. I find it ideal to shop according to the seasons. Once you get your bounty home, what are good rules of thumb to keep fresh and ready as long as possible? I came across the following cute Periodic Table of Produce in Simple Life magazine. It's a novel, practical approach. I even tore my copies out for future reference, but thought that you might like to take a look at them here first. I scanned them in and the full table is after the jump. The images are big, so you may have to be patient for the few seconds it takes for the images to load.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription) decided to put several food storage bags to the test to see if their claims that they would keep foods fresher, longer, really were true. They went out and bought fresh strawberries, a fruit notorious for spoiling quickly, and placed them in three different containers: Freshvac Pro containers, SimplySmart PrimeProtector Produce Bags and Ziploc Double Zipper bags.

As a control, some berries were left in their original container. Those molded quickly. The rest of the berries were checked at six and fourteen days in their respective containers. The Freshvac berries started to mold on day six, but the SimplySmart berries were still fresh and tasty at that time. Ziploc'd berries were kept mold-free for the entire 14 days, although the berries had shriveled "unappetizingly" by the end.

So, Ziplocs ($2.79 for 20 bags) are the way to go for short-term storage unless you want to pay 5 times as much for SimplySmart ($4.99 for 10 bags), but the best thing to do is try to eat the berries or other veggies soon after you buy them and not to buy more than you can eat.

Or rather, sing to your supper?

David Gu has designed the Cooking Audio Player, which is sort of misnomer since it doesn't cook anything, but is a storage container for garlic, onions, lemons, ginger, etc. However, it is audio, since it plays digital music that is streamed from any PC, home media centers, and portable media players set up with wireless transmission technology. It may seem somewhat frivolous, but let us turn to our hero and mentor Alton Brown, who pooh-poohs kitchen unitaskers. Storage and music? That's definitely a multi-tasker in my book.

[via: BornRich]

The Cupple Cup Holder is a set that includes four ceramic coffee mugs and a wall-mounted ceramic and rubber holder. These cups make me a bit nervous because, at first glance, they appear none too steady. At the same time, however, they seem like a great idea.

The cups have a projection with a round end, rather than a handle, and that end can be inserted into the rubber sockets of the holder, suspending the cups anywhere you might want to use them. For example, the piece could be mounted along the wall next to your coffee maker. Not only will the cups be at hand all the time, but because they can be stored upside down, they will always be dry and drip free.

Besides, the design is no less safe (in terms of the risk of breaking a cup) than more traditional mug racks, which could tip over and do not come with the mugs included.

Plastic bags are not going to be the most exciting part of your child's school lunch, no matter how you look at it. The bags from Mobi are a little more interesting, however. They all feature fun designs, from cupcakes to stars, that will brighten up a bag lunch and probably make whatever food is packed inside seem more fun. After all, who could resist a bag with a cupcake on it, even if it is filled with baby carrots instead of actual cupcakes? Sandwich and gallon-sized bags are available, all with a traditional zip top to keep the food secure.

Of course, if you want to get these are use them for your own lunch, we fully support that decision - just don't let your coworkers see them, or they may get jealous. They're available at Mobi and at Target.