How to Pack Kitchen Items for Moving?

You will find a lot of fragile things and appliances that should be secured for transport. It is very important to prevent breakage since it will result in financial losses, and even more importantly, you may harm yourself. This is an easy-to-follow guide to help you pack your entire kitchen, from the smallest items to big appliances.

How to Pack Kitchen Items for Moving – Best Tips

First, once you figure your reasons to move, pick the best time of the year to move, make a detailed plan for moving your kitchen. Sort out the things that should be packed first and those that need to be packed the last. Start by preparing a box with essentials for the last few days in your old home and a few days in your new home, since you won’t be able to access everything from the start. After that, sort things according to categories such as glassware, delicate items, silverware, food, appliances, miscellaneous, unwanted items to donate, etc. Getting rid of things will no doubtfully lower your moving expenses. If you make a list of belongings and some packing tips and tricks well in advance, the actual packing process will be a lot easier and you’ll surely avoid some of the common moving mistakes.

Tips for Packing Food

Since a lot of food has a very short expiration date, it is usually not a great idea to stack it up a week before you move. It is best to try and use up as much food you already have as possible. If you’re moving alone to another state and you want to avoid relocation depression, you can throw a dinner to say goodbye to friends and spend all those groceries. Make sure to go through your freezer and cook most of the stuff you find there since it won’t survive the long-distance transport. Your canned or dried food should be ok, but consider that it will take additional weight and space in your moving truck.

Tips for Food Sorting

Start with your freezer. Take out as many contents as you can and use them to prepare meals. You can find many great recipes online if you lack cooking ideas. Your canned and dry food can be transported to your new home, but you should try to include it in the recipes as much as possible. Making pasta is always a good way to use as many of these ingredients as possible. If you have a lot of fresh produce a few days before the moving day, you can donate them to local charities and soup-kitchens.

Tips for Packing Appliances

There are many appliances in your kitchen that might require uninstalling or disassembling. You should take photographs of how they are set up in your old home to make the assembling process in your new home much easier.

If you have the original packaging for your smaller appliances, use it. If not, try to find various packing supplies like a box that is similar in size but has enough room for padding materials you are going to use. Use packaging peanuts or some other soft material to secure your appliances inside the boxes. If they have a lot of parts that may get lost during transport, encase them in some shrink wrap before you put them in a box.

How to Pack Large Appliances

You should have a user manual for your big appliances. Carefully read how to uninstall and unplug them from the power source. You may need the proper tools to prepare them for relocation. Your fridge and freezer will require defrosting before you move them. If you are not sure how to do all this, it is better to hire professionals than to risk damaging your expensive electronics. You might even need some additional equipment like a hand cart or a sack truck when loading them in the transportation vehicle. Always keep your large appliances in the upright position, and place them against the walls of the truck. This way, they won’t tumble and shift during transport. If you decide to get insurance for the expensive items, don’t forget to create a photo inventory.

Tips for Securing Glassware

Your glass items are the trickiest to pack, so what is the right way to safely prepare glasses for transport? You should secure all those things individually with packing paper, packing tape, bubble wrap, and shrink wrap. For the less expensive glassware, you can use only packaging paper, while you should invest some more in bubble wrap for expensive glasses.

Don’t stack heavier things on top of delicate ones. If it is possible, place your most delicate and expensive glassware in boxes with compartments.

Tips for Packing Other Fragile Belongings

When it comes to ceramics, it is usually enough to wrap them in paper and place them in a box filled with some packing peanuts. When it comes to plates, a great tip is to stack them vertically in the box. They are less likely to break or chip that way. Pots and pans can also easily get chipped, and that is why you want to secure them with a layer of paper at least.

Other Kitchen Items

It is very important to secure your knives and other sharp objects with a guard when you store them. Besides damaging other objects in the boxes, they can seriously hurt yourself when unpacking them later.

Moving and Packing Essentials

You should prepare sturdy, strong boxes to store things from your kitchen since you will be dealing with some heavy objects. Not to mention that you could break a lot of things if they open at any point. Prepare some tape to secure and reinforce them. You will also need a lot of packaging paper, bubble wrap, shrink wrap, packaging peanuts, and other padding materials you have on hand. Plastic containers are also a perfect option to pack your delicate or small things.

How to Organize Items and Boxes

The most important rule here is not to force anything. If something cannot fit in the box comfortably, find another, more suitable one. When filling the boxes, remember to put heavier things at the bottom, and lighter at the top. Make enough room for padding material.

It is crucial to label all the boxes. You can create an organizer to know exactly what is in which box. When loading them into the moving truck, try to put them in a separate corner and never put something heavy on top of them.

Hiring Cross Country Movers Will Make Relocation Smooth

Even if you’re moving into a smaller home, hiring a highly recommended and reputable professional moving company with top-notch moving and packing services can help you a lot to alleviate moving stress. They will have all the tools and supplies to pack your clothes, box up your furniture and protect delicate items, as well as storage space in case you’re still checking the safety of your future neighborhood and house-hunting or for the things that won’t go into your new home straight away.

In case you want to transport your car across the country with you as well, which we recommend if you’re relocating to the suburbs, they got you covered – professional companies will explain to you how does car shipping work for the auto transport services they offer. Also, many of the moving companies have staff that is trained to disassemble and install your appliances. This way, you will save a lot of money from your moving budget that you would otherwise spend on hiring handymen to install your appliances, just as you would save when choosing the cheapest time of the year to relocate. That might turn out to be one of the cheapest ways to move out of state.