Rubbermaid Blog
Welcome to the Rubbermaid blog on Leanneely.com! Leanne will be doing a kitchen makeover with Rubbermaid products! Check back here daily for the latest tools and techniques to spruce up your kitchen!
Day 10
It’s time for a last look around my kitchen…the makeover is complete as of today and my silverware drawer and the pots and pan cupboard will attest to that fact in just minute. This is going to be a great show and tell, so tray tables up, put your seats in the upright position, buckle your seatbelts and let’s go!
First up, check out this drawer:
It wasn’t easy to reach my serving pieces sitting behind the silverware caddy. It was awkward and like I said, while it worked somewhat, there was definitely room for improvement.
Next we’re going to my pots and pans. Now I am the lucky recipient of some great Calphalon Unison pots and pans. And as much as I love them, it was crowded in there with my old set (yes, I use BOTH!)
There you go, a Two Week Kitchen Makeover! What do you think? On Monday, I’m going to answer some questions I’ve had sent in, share a couple of random photos I’ve got left and give you ONE LAST CHANCE to get your entries in to win $100 in Rubbermaid! Here’s how in three easy steps 1) Download your COUPON 2) Take your Before and After pics (we’ve got some great ones, so the competition is ON, people!!) 3) Send them in to me and I’ll do the rest: Kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com
See you on Monday!
Day 9
If you’ve been following along on this Kitchen Makeover adventure, Day 8 had me in a bit of a freezer funk. My freezer wasn’t friendly or fun; it was frigid and frustrating. But that was yesterday…today is whole new day!
Take a gander below. Are you smiling yet? You should be! That’s what I call a transformation! The UFO’s (Unidentified Frozen Objects) are gone, the freezer is fabulously organized and everything is easy to find! It’s absolutely glorious!
I wish I had happened upon this solution years ago. I have the stuff that needs corralling in the bins; and that’s a Dinner Kit from our Five for the Freezer Chicken, Volume 3 on the right (http://www.savingdinner.com/index.php/cPath/18)
Another view from the side…
The bottom drawer of my freezer is deeper, but that just means more can get lost. The solution once again was those wonderful Rubbermaid bins. Look how they make everything visible at one time!
Come back tomorrow for more fun in my kitchen and for heaven’s sake, get your coupon and get your own makeover on…it’s simple and FUN! Then once you’ve take a few before and after pictures, you send them to me (Kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com) and I’ll do the rest. You could win $100 in Rubbermaid!!
Day 8
Before we begin, let me confess right here and now that my freezer is full of UFO’s—Unidentified Frozen Objects. It’s bad. There’s food in there I cannot identify, there’s stuff in there that I can (cringe) identify and it really shouldn’t be in there. Not only that, but I found 3 half used bags of berries and other fruit that I use for my smoothie. There has to be a better way!
Did you see what was sitting in the top half of my freezer? Did you? Are you going to call me out? Don’t worry, you don’t have to…I’m outing myself. And I’m crying FOWL right now!! Did you see what I found in my freezer? Oh yes indeed…it’s the dreaded turkey carcass leftover from Thanksgiving. You know the one…the one you’re supposed to make soup with? This is from November, 2008. That was a whopping 10 months ago, folks.
The Dinner Diva’s freezer is shameful in these photos. But it’s all fixed now. Tomorrow, I resume my throne and dignity too and unveil the after pics, of how a freezer SHOULD look. It’s so much better now…wait till you see it! Great ideas and inspiration to get your freezer in tip top shape.
I sure hope you’re doing this makeover, too. You can get your COUPON HERE. Take your own before and after pics, send them to me (Kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com) and you become eligible to win $100 of Rubbermaid! Yee haw…you know you want it! So hurry and get going. This contest ends MONDAY, September 14!
That’s all for now, see you tomorrow for the all new and improved Dinner Diva Deep Freeze!
Day 7
Hey, real quick…Are you doing your own makeover yet? I hope so! I’ve been getting some really neat pictures! Get your COUPON, do your makeover and send me your pics, Kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com. You could win $100 in Rubbermaid!! How cool is that? Now let’s get down to business…
Day 7 and I have a PRETTY PANTRY!! I’m so proud of it…it’s breathtakingly beautiful! Okay, okay…I know I’m getting carried away, but let me tell you, just opening the door makes me one happy camper. See for yourself—look!
That was the goal and I did it! I’m loving knowing that nothing is hiding in there, especially deceased potatoes (see DAY 6 photos, blech!)
One of the things particular to my pantry is the grab-ability of snacks. I eat raw almonds in these little bags and before my pantry makeover; they were all over the place. Now that I’ve rounded everything up, the solution was this Adjustable Over the Door Organizer from Rubbermaid.
Everything is organized—it’s all easily accessible, it’s easy to see and there are no more surprises. Here’s one last shot—
Tomorrow, we head into the cupboards and drawers…eeek!!
Day 6
Before we get started with Day 6, let me remind you there is a whole week of my Kitchen Makeover already in the hopper—just jump over to the left sidebar on this page and stroll through Days 1-5.
Also, you can do this makeover with me you know—the rewards are great! First off, we’ve got a COUPON and second of all, if you send in pics of your own Before and Afters, you’ll be eligible for the grand prize of $100 in brand new Rubbermaid! Send me your pics; it’s easy! Simply email them to: Kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com I’ll do the rest. How fun is that??
Alrighty then…on with the show (and tell!) Today we’re going on a Pantry Raid! Yes, it’s time for the Big One and let me tell you, it definitely was TIME. My pantry needed a little TLRC…tender loving Rubbermaid care! My personal pantry goal is to be able to see everything at one time and know what I need a glance. Clearly, I didn’t have that going in…
I was treating this important closet as a random warehouse and not a working pantry. See what I mean—there’s peanut butter on two shelves for example. This is where the words “willy nilly” take on new meaning.
My pantry has two Rubbermaid bins that I’ve had forever (that didn’t need changing) holding my ‘taters and my onions (you can see these bins, bottom left of the first picture). When I was doing my redo, I wiped down shelves and swept the floor, including under the shelves and look what I found!
The lesson here is this: even if what you have is working for you, you still need to do an occasional pantry purge and look around for renegade escapees. Remember, if you smell something funny, there’s a reason!
I have my own grocery bags that I use most of the time. This is how it works: I take my bags with me (keep them in the car) take them into the store (most of the time), and then, after I’ve unloaded my groceries, I pile my reusable bags all into one bag and place that bag in the hallway at the door that leads to my garage so I’ll load them back into the car. Somehow though, I still end up with plastic grocery bags making their way home with me. I keep them to use for other purposes or else I stick them in my recycle bins. The goal of course, is to go completely plastic bag free.
Enough already! You have to see the “after” pics! Wait till you see how incredible my pantry turned out—there is space for everything AND it fulfilled my goal of being able to see everything at a glance! You’re going to love it!
Day 5
TGIR y’all! Thank Goodness its Rubbermaid! And it’s Friday too, while we’re at it, LOL.
Today I thought I’d give you a quick wrap up of this past week. If you’re doing the Makeover with me–and seriously, you SHOULD be by now…get your coupon HERE, take before and after photos, send them to me kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com and I’ll put them up so we can all oooh and ahhh. And if they’re extra special, you could win a prize of 100 bucks in Rubbermaid! What’s not to love about that?
Anyway, back to the task at hand. Let’s wrap up the week with some great success:
BEFORE Rubbermaid overhauled where I kept my food storage containers:
AFTER The Rubbermaid had landed. YES dear friends, 21 containers, PLUS their accompanying lids all fit into this one puny drawer! It’s MAGIC!
After attacking the storage cupboard (and turning it into a drawer) we went north and headed to the cold country. The Big Chill, the refrigerator that is…
PATHETIC! No food, lack of organization and boy oh boy, there were a few things that had definitely “aged out” if you know what I mean!
The shelves are stocked, leftovers deftly dealt with via the glorious Easy Find Lid storage containers (LOVE them!) and of course my very favorite of all, Produce Savers where my raspberries and arugula are safely ensconced!
There you have it, that’s a wrap for the week! If you haven’t started yet, don’t worry, you have all weekend! Next week, we have the appalling pantry to purge, drawers to decipher and a freezer full of UFO’s (Unidentified Frozen Objects). As the song goes, we’ve only just begun…
Day 4
The “after” pictures are so much more fun, wouldn’t you agree? I have to say, I was very happy with how “picture perfect” my refrigerator looked after I had 1) bought some groceries and 2) the storage—very snazzy!
So here’s the whole fridge. Pretty isn’t it?
I’ve been hankering for a spinach salad and was going to buy some organic baby spinach at the grocery store. They were out, but they did have arugula–love that peppery leafy stuff. It lasts about as long as spinach (not very long). So I transferred half the arugula out of the clamshell it came in and put the other half in Rubbermaid’s Produce Saver. I think the secret to the stunning success of these Produce Savers is in the little green stand that sits on the bottom of the container—I don’t know that for fact, but that’s my theory. Anyway, Produce Savers help to save your produce up to 33% longer—so the race is ON, let’s see who wins! Will it be the Produce Saver or the clamshell it came in? I already know the outcome, but feel free to place your bets!
The big Produce Saver contains my arugula. The little one has fresh raspberries in it. Generally fresh raspberries last a couple of days, max. Let’s see how these delicate berries last…I’ll report back.
Love the genius of these bins. I have them in my pantry too—you’ll see that later. On a whim I tried using one in my produce drawer and it snuggled in just right and keeps the apples from rolling all over the place. The foil wrapped celery (stays fresher longer when wrapped in foil) and carrots are to the right of the bin.
Okay, just had to share how you deal with miscellaneous produce. In each one of these bags (there’s kale, red leaf lettuce and broccoli rabe) I’ve placed a paper towel to pick up excess moisture. This helps keep the slime factor down and keep it fresher longer. And FYI, I’ll eat the red leaf first, followed by the broccoli rabe, then the kale. I eat the most delicate produce FIRST. Makes sense, doesn’t it?
I sure hope you’re doing this Kitchen Makeover with me! You should—here’s a COUPON and if you send me pictures of your before and afters, you could win 100 bucks in Rubbermaid, yee haw! All you have to do is send them to me; I’ll put them up for you! Kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com
Day 3
As my daughter went back to college, the contents of my fridge dwindled down to practically nothing. There’s not much in there, sadly. But even with the lack of food, there are still better ways to store it, especially the produce.
I don’t know if you can see it very well, but if you look on the second shelf at the container holding leftover chicken on the far right, you can see the corner of the lid creeping up. I didn’t see this till after I took the picture. No wonder it was all dried out!
On one of the last nights my daughter was home, we had Chinese takeout and watched a movie. The remains of that meal can be seen bottom left shelf.
Chinese Food Confessional: there is WHITE rice in those containers! I am practicing the 90/10 rule. 90% of the time, the rice is brown, I promise!
See? I wouldn’t lie to you!
How many times have you opened your produce drawer in your fridge to get something out for dinner, only to have to throw out slimy or flabby produce because you didn’t use it soon enough? Me too…it’s such a dreadful waste! Tomorrow we’ll fix that problem.
This is not the best way to store your produce.
So now you’ve seen my “before” fridge. Tomorrow you get to see my “after” fridge. After seeing how sadly empty my poor little fridge was, I went grocery shopping to boost my spirits (I needed to anyway). Going to the grocery store is like going to the mall for me—I just love me a good grocery store! Wait till you see how I put my new groceries away and how slick it all is! It’s so COOL—yes, pun intended. See you tomorrow!
Day 2
We all know how precarious plastic containers can be when all stuffed in a cupboard with no elbow room whatsoever. Why is it that we think we need to keep all this ancient plastic for all time and eternity? Everything in life has a shelf life, let’s keep that in mind, LOL!
So I bared my soul (and my cupboard) to you yesterday and now I bet you’re ready for the after shot right? Not so fast…I’ve got some pontificating to do first!
Let’s do a simple review of how we set up our kitchens in the first place—in particular the storage containers that we are inevitably going to need. If at all possible, I think having your plastic stuff all in a drawer is better than stuffing into the nether region of a cupboard. Why? Because you can see it all at one time and really, if you have the right stuff to start with, you totally don’t need to have boatloads of food containers! This really is a simple thing.
When you have a cupboard stuffed full
(See Kitchen Makeover Day 1), it’s difficult to find anything or worse, you have to pull everything out to get to that one container you need. That just isn’t an efficient way to get the job done. Rethink this and try a drawer:
Check out my drawer filled with Rubbermaid! There are Produce Savers, Lock-its, EasyFind lids and Premier storage containers. In this one drawer, I have all I need! There are 21 containers AND their lids!
Just to clarify, this drawer isn’t a big deep drawer, just a standard issue 6” deep drawer.
Contrast the difference between a drawer and a cupboard. Everything is there, stacked neatly, easy to find…this is how I like it! What about you? Have you started yet? Get your Coupon and get going!
Take before and after shots of your kitchen storage and you could win 100 bucks in Rubbermaid! Now that’s what I call an incentive! Send us your pics; we’ll put them up for you: kitchenmakeover@savingdinner.com
