Welcome to the November edition of the Professional Organizers Blog Carnival! Our theme for this month is Food, Glorious Food, and we have some wonderful tips for organizing pantries, kitchen cupboards, refrigerators, recipes, menus, and even food itself!

Before you can properly organize your client’s (or your family’s) food supply, you need to prepare the storage area, and Jennifer Crutchfield gets you started by describing her own Weekend Project – Kitchen Cupboards (no longer available). Jennifer explains that,

Part of the goal of working on this project in the kitchen was to help my family more easily move in a new direction with our food choices. I thought making the cupboards a little nicer looking would help with that goal.

Another important step is to make sure that everything in the fridge and pantry is still good to eat. As Ramona Creel says in Kitchen Magic,

We all know how disgusting it is to pull an item out of the fridge – only to discover that it has mutated into something no longer edible and (quite frankly) a bit scary. However, we often mistakenly confuse “non-perishable” with “indestructible”. Even Twinkies have an expiration date! This article will lead you through creating an organized (and non-lethal) kitchen environment!

With the holiday season fast approaching, several bloggers have shared posts to help us get ready:

Ellen Delap – Thanksgiving Preparations: From Early Bird to Procrastinator

For Thanksgiving, which are you, early bird or procrastinator?  Helpful hints for both!

Audrey Cupo – Organize The Fridge Before Thanksgiving

In order to prepare for the large amount of food you might be preparing for Thanksgiving (including the storage of that pre-cooked turkey), I suggest that this is a good time to organize the inside of your refrigerator to accommodate the room you will need to store all that food.

Angela Esnouf – Fuss-free Festive Food

Keep in mind, here in Australia we have warm weather for the festive season. The downside is no picture-postcard snowdrifts and no desire to be slaving in a hot kitchen. The wonderful upside is lovely fresh fruit and vegetables and the ability to entertain outdoors.

If cooking is not your passion, or you just need a break, you’ll want to read Julie Bestry‘s strategies for Organizing Your Take-Out Menus, or How NOT To Order Like Bob Newhart. Julie says that,

Food is glorious, but the culinary arts do not come naturally to all. For those of us disinclined to make dinner, we can make reservations…or make phone calls and pick up our take out or delivery orders.

Whether you’ve made a regular family meal, spent hours preparing a holiday feast, or simply ordered in, you’re often going to have leftovers.

Jeri Dansky talks about safe storage in Another Scary Thing, as We Approach Halloween: BPA. Jeri says that,

We’re past Halloween now, but the concerns about using plastic containers (especially those with BPA) for food storage still remain.

Please join me in congratulating Jeri for becoming our latest Professional Organizers Blog Carnival Star Blogger!

The Professional Organizers Blog Carnival for December will be published on Tuesday, December 14, and you are welcome to submit your post on Calendars any time, up until noon EST on Monday, December 13. At that time I will be announcing the monthly themes for 2011, and I welcome any and all suggestions! If you’ve got an idea for a future Professional Organizers Blog Carnival, please leave a comment or contact me directly.

Until next time, please take the time to read the posts that were submitted this month, leave comments, and get to know one another. You never know where you’ll pick up some new ideas – or even a new friend!

Thank you to everyone who participated in this month’s Blog Carnival! See you next time!

Photo © iStock.com / duckycards