As part of my Lenten cleaning and purging, I decided to go through my
cookie cutters, cookie stamps, jello molds, candy molds, cake decorating
items and other tools I inherited from my mom. I was blessed to receive so many wonderful items, including candy molds shaped like little Bibles, cookie cutters shaped like churches and Nativity figures, and many other items that could give normal food a liturgical touch.
I live in a small house with limited cupboard space in the kitchen, so I've been storing these treasures in two large Rubbermaid bins in the basement. It really wasn't the best solution because the items were disorganized and jumbled together. The mess discouraged me from using them. I didn't want the hassle of digging around in the box until I found the chalice cookie cutter, the lamb shaped candy mold or whatever other item I needed.
So I spent a Saturday going through the boxes. I sorted them first into two broad categories: "secular" and "liturgical" items. I divided the secular pile into seasons and holidays, depending on how many items I had. I kept the "liturgical items" together.
For example, my "fall" pile has items that I probably wouldn't use for most liturgical holidays, like an acorn shaped cookie cutter or a leaf shaped muffin molds. My "liturgical" pile has cross shaped cookie cutters, my lamb butter mold and other items I might use for holidays like Easter, a Jesse advent tea, etc.
I purchased some smaller stackable boxes which would fit on top of my refrigerator, and created labels for each box. I listed the items in each box so I can quickly access what I need without digging through different boxes.
So far, the system has worked well. I find that I'm using the various tools more often because I can quickly locate them.
Have you figured out a way to organize your cookie cutters and similar tools? I'd love to hear about it; please share in the combox.
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