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Want to Eat Healthier? Simply Organize Your Kitchen!
Today my friend – and the creator of the fabulous, Dish Dish, an on-line cookbook website – Melanie Carr, is sharing her tips on how to organize your kitchen. These tips will allow you to create a space that will help you live a healthier lifestyle in the new year.
Click here to get your FREE “Healthy Grocery List”
As we start the New Year, are you feeling the need for eating healthier, approaching meals and snacks with a healthy mindset? That’s great!
These 10 ideas for organizing and setting up your kitchen for healthy eating for the New Year (or any time of year) will help you get moving with simple steps in the right direction.
- Arrange fresh fruit and vegetables where they look pretty and are easily accessible – think about a colorful, unique bowl or cake stand on the table or counter.
- Keep items in the pantry organized in an attractive fashion, focusing on keeping healthy items front and center along with low-cal snacks that are easy to grab (if you have to keep a couple of unhealthy items on hand for periodic cravings, hide them in the back where it’s difficult to locate or access in order to minimize the temptation).
Take a moment to throw out any expired items and keep items that are closest to expiring, nearest to the front. Any items (especially processed foods) that you no longer need or don’t expect to use, box them up and donate to a local food pantry. - Clean out the fridge and keep your fresh produce and healthy snacks in the front in clear, easy to grab containers. Prep small bags or containers of cut-up vegetables or fruits for the week, so you can quickly grab some when feeling a bit hungry, without being tempted to grab a less healthy option. Slice some cucumbers and celery, peel and section citrus fruits, separate heads of broccoli or cauliflower, or bag up small portions of baby carrots; cut sections of grapes and package in small portions so they’re all ready for you or the kids for a quick snack either at the house or on the go.
- Keep small appliances handy, so when you’re ready to cook or make your next smoothie, you won’t have to hunt high and low (or ditch the effort completely to go grab fast-food) before finding your crockpot, food chopper, blender or food processor.
Remember that having healthy food options at eye level makes that healthy eating choice easier both for adults and kids, so think about making those options easy for the children as well – where can you store those healthy items in both the fridge and the pantry where the kids can access them easily and see them first when looking for a snack?- Organize items in the freezer so that what you use most often is most easily available – if you regularly use frozen fruit for smoothies or generally thaw out meat every day for dinner, place those items within easiest reach, storing less frequently used items towards the back or bottom.
- Have a regular space in the kitchen where you sit down at least once a week to plan upcoming meals, make your grocery list, and keep a shopping list in process (in the same place so when you use up an item, you can easily add it to your grocery list for next week). This will make meal times easier (planning ahead and having healthy ingredients on hand) and save you time and money at the grocery store (since you’ll know exactly what you need and be less tempted to pick up extra items that may be unhealthy and only complicate your organized spaces).
- Use clear containers for storage so you can see what’s available, how much is left, and make the healthy choices more visible and tempting.
- To make sure the family is drinking enough water each day, set out a pretty pitcher or clear container in the fridge or on the counter filled with fresh cool water and a mix of slices of your favorite fruits or vegetables (think oranges, cucumbers, mint, strawberries, clementines, lemon, lime, kiwi, etc.)
- Keep a healthy kitchen by using green cleaning products for cleaning countertops, sinks, and cooking surfaces; keep them organized and easily handy under the kitchen sink; if space is limited, use a stacking wire shelf to make more items visible and accessible from the front of the cabinet.
These tips have proven helpful in our home for making healthy eating and healthy habits a part of our daily lives. If you’d like to get your recipe clutter organized, too, and convert your stack of paper recipes to a digital recipe album (so you can find them when you need them for planning healthy meals and recipes), come see us over at Dish Dish and save 30% with code SAVE30.
