Organizing your pantry for healthy eating…

Everyone wants to eat healthier.  Organizing your kitchen and pantry makes this process more doable.   Check out these tips to get started.

1. Invest in your wellness. Get the highest quality blender/food processor you can afford. If wrestling with a subpar blender or food processor makes it difficult to make a healthy smoothie or prepare ingredients, you’re much less likely to take the time and effort.
2. Splurge on a set of quality plastic containers.  Plastic containers make your healthy eating portable  – these containers are perfect for bringing a salad and veggie snacks to go.   If you’re spending five minutes trying to find a lid to match your container, you’re wasting time. Recycle the unmatched, stained, and misshapen containers cluttering up your cabinets. Dedicate a space to your plastic and glass containers (for reheating) for easy use.
3. Group like foods together in your cabinets and pantry. Shallow bins and baskets are great for keeping smaller containers of nuts, seeds, and other add-ins together. Small mason jars keep these fresh and they’re easy to access.
4. I recommend decanting food items into clear, reusable containers.  This keeps the items fresh and you can see when you are running low on cereal and other staples.  Ideally, choose a set of containers that are stackable and often have interchangeable lids.  Also, take bars and packets out of the original boxes and organize in containers or baskets.  Again, you’ll be able to better “see” what you have and these storage options are easily organized vs. lots of half-empty cartons and boxes.
5. Create a section for any health foods you use consistently. Protein powders, supplements, and vitamins can all be grouped together. If you have to rummage through the cabinets and shelves looking for all the ingredients, it won’t happen consistently.
6. Frozen is your friend. Keep a stash of frozen fruits and vegetables which have nearly the same nutritional value as fresh. You’ll always have the ingredients for a healthy smoothie or dinner stir-fry on hand.  These will keep in the freezer for months so there’s no throwing out unused, wilted fruit and veggies.

Looking for some doable projects to get your organizing kicked off?  Check