Bento Storage

The last time I wrote about how I store my bevy of Bento Beauties was back in 2012 in a relatively newly renovated kitchen, You can read that post here. Since then we have moved town and our kitchen size has halved :-( It's taken a little while, but I'm slowly coming to terms with the space I have and how to manage all the wonderful toys tools I've collected over the past few years.

So what is in my cave cupboard of wonders? Quite a bit!

I recently re-arranged after purchasing another of the green Starmaid containers I use for my sandwich cutters. These used to live on the top shelf as they get quite a bit of use, but the three don't quite fit there, so it was a complete switcheroo. The top shelf now holds my box of 'that will be useful one day' and 'it was useful once, it could be again' goodies. Tackling that box is on my list. . .one day :-) It's also where I keep the boxes and containers I use most often, although my Easy LunchBoxes are in my Tupperware cupboard waiting for me to decide where to keep them.

My second shelf holds my sandwich cutters. I do also have a stash of biscuit/cookie cutters in my Tupperware cupboard, again waiting for a more permanent and suitable home. It's also where I keep some of my growing silicon collection, picks, egg moulds and lunch cutlery (which I will have to start sending with Miss M next year). One tip I picked up from this fantastic Pinterest Board by some of my favourite Bento Bloggers & Friends was to use some of my old/not so often used boxes to store some of my goodies in. It was a real light bulb moment! I told you some of those things in my 'useful' box would be useful again! I also learned that it's easier to store your cutter sets in ziplock bags. Why didn't I think of that?

But what about the rest of my boxes? Well. . . .

. . .most of them live above my overhead cupboards in very large Decor containers.

So what about all the washing up it creates? Considering we don't have a dishwasher I do feel like I spend a good portion of my day at the kitchen sink so it's not really too much effort to whizz through a few extras here & there. I do however tend to be a bit slack about packing away. Especially when there's offers from Mr Loving to do the washing up (how lucky am I, right?), I jump at the chance and quickly clear the 'clean' side of the sink so he can fill it again. Problem with packing everything straight into their homes (apart from there not really being enough room for two adults to work in the kitchen at the same time) is that most times things can be slightly damp still. In central Queensland packing them into storage is asking for mould to grow, so. . .

. . I repurposed a set of plastic storage drawers into a benchtop organiser! The top tier (which I left over-full for this photo) is where I pop any clean recycling to be taken outside. The second holds an assortment of fruit and/or vegetables, depending on the weather, seasons, and day of the grocery cycle. I have kept some of the plastic punnets that fruit has come in to help organise the shelf and rotate the produce quickly & easily. These punnets are also in use on the bottom tier that holds some of Honey's bibs & wash cloths as well as a punnet of things to be packed away. Again, giving you a glimpse of real life, I didn't clear it out before taking these photos.

Do you have any brilliant storage tips? I'd love to hear them in the comments section below!

Details of my tools & toys can be found on this page.

~J

Disclosure: This is not a sponsored post. This post was written for Loving Lunches. No product was received for this post. All opinions expressed are my own, based on my personal experience with the product.