The Allrecipes Kitchen Organization Challenge Day 2: Tupperware Tetris

If there's one thing that's more frustrating than trying to find your spare key in the kitchen junk drawer, it's searching for a matching lid to the plastic container you already have your dinner leftovers waiting in.

I don't think I'm alone in that every time I've ever moved into a new home, when unpacking the kitchen is well underway, I'm eager to set up a new, streamlined and functional area or system for housing my food storage containers. So tell me, HOWdoes the Tupperware cabinet inevitably evolve into such an unsettling landscape — just towering pillars of piled plastic. And for the love, WHERE do the lids disappear to?? It's a cupboard, not a black hole…

The answers to these questions may remain a mystery, but the thing we all know for sure is that the food container cabinet isn't usually a point of pride highlighted on most people's kitchen tours. But what if you could change that? Better yet — what if you could change it in less than 30 minutes?

Spoiler: You can!

Even though it's often one of the more dysfunctional and frustrating areas of kitchen storage, according to Brittani Allen — the CEO and founder of Atlanta-based home organization firm, Pinch of Help — your unruly Tupperware towers are one of the easiest issues to address when it comes to kitchen clutter. In fact, getting chaotic food container situations under control is a strong passion point for Brittani. The thing is, many people are going to have some knee-jerk resistance to her method. (Trust me, I did... but the thing is, it's hard to argue with results.)

More Kitchen Organization Tips:

• The 6 Essential Organizational Tools That Changed Our Kitchen For the Better
• Installing These Over-the-Door Racks In My Pantry Has Made Cooking So Much More Enjoyable

The Pinch of Help Approach to Tackling Tupperware & Food Storage Containers

Time Required: 10-20 minutes
Helpful Tools: Willpower

Not everyone will like it, some of you may struggle to hear it, but the bottom line is this: Most of us need to seriously clean out our Tupperware collection...

That's it, the answer is in consolidation.

"The only way — okay, I don't mean that literally, but I also kind of do — the only way to organize your Tupperware and your food storage containers is by matching the bottoms and the tops, put them on, and discard everything else," Brittani says. "If it doesn't have a lid, doesn't have a bottom — you don't need it."

For those who say that there's no possible way they can fit all of their lidded containers into the designated cabinet, Brittani's solution is a simple reiteration: You have too much. "Whatever space you have to store is the amount [of Tupperware] you need to have, as long as you can put them all on each other," she says. "It sounds simple, and it is, but it can be very life changing."

So to summarize, the idea here is to place the coordinating lid on every one of your food storage containers, and place what will neatly stack into the designated Tupperware area.

When you need a container, reach into the cabinet, grab it, and you're ready to go — no need to hunt down a matching container and lid pairing. Never again will you find yourself overrun with food storage containers while also never having a matching set.

Still feeling uneasy about adopting a minimalist approach to Tupperware? Perhaps the fact that Brittani and the Pinch of Help team have yet to have a client that this strategy didn't work for can sooth your anxieties. According to Brittani, "Most people absolutely love it... and it's mindblowing how simple it is, and how much it's changed clients' functioning day-to-day."

For some of us, addressing food container chaos in this way may reveal that you'd rather just clear it all out and invest in a completely new set of lidded storage containers. Perhaps a set that's BPA-free and friendly for the microwave and dishwasher? And that's perfectly okay too. After all, if you're putting in the work to make your kitchen a more fluid and efficient place to operate in, you deserve to treat yourself!

For Those Who Just Can't…

Brittani is the first to acknowledge that when it comes to any area of home organization, there is no one-size-fits-all solution. Just because she's yet to meet a client who didn't find success with the Tupperware organization method discussed above doesn't mean they're not out there. And so, for anyone who is unable to embrace the theory of "what will fit neatly stacked is all that you need," here are a couple of options for organizers that will allow you to nest containers within one another while keeping the lids in one spot.