How To Organize Your Pantry When You Want To Make Healthier Choices
Leading into summer, I have more inspiration to make healthier choices. I see it with my clients too! We all want to feel healthy and ready to take on those beautiful summer days!
Part of helping myself create good habits towards my summer body goals is to have a healthy pantry.
What should everyone have in their pantry?
Most nutritionists will tell you to grocery shop around the perimeter of the store, focusing on things that grow from the ground or have a mama. Most of these things end up in your fridge, so I like to focus on eating the items in my fridge first.
An organized fridge blends into an organized pantry. It truly is an entire system!
However, easy to-go options and meals that are simple to prepare are realistically a part of most of our lives. Convenient snacks are a must! That is why it's equally important to have a healthy pantry.
When organizing a healthy pantry, I like to create a specific home for each category of food. Snacks, grains, baking, etc. This makes it easier to see what you have to work with when meal prepping, helps to make your grocery needs list, and also makes it more convenient to make a healthy choice when you are running out the door.
When we are rushed and disorganized, that is when we make the worst decisions when it comes to food.
What is the healthiest thing to eat everyday?
Honestly, the healthiest thing for us to consume daily is enough water. It is something that can easily be forgotten through the day and yet it is so important for our body to function as it should.
All our bodies need different nutrition goals, but having an organized space can help us all access what is healthy for our bodies.
How can I stock a healthy kitchen?
Go through the Life Made Simple process for a healthy pantry and fridge:
Step #1. Simplify.
Go through and pull out EVERYTHING you have in your fridge and pantry. Identify what items can go…
What’s not getting eaten?
What’s not a healthy choice?
Your healthy pantry should include the items that you have consciously added there with your goals in mind.
Step #2. Systems.
Identify the foods you want to eat and make sure you have easy access to them. Create systems that allow you to actually see these items!
Fridge
The fridge is deep and it is easy for things to get lost within it.
It’s frustrating when you find the organic yogurt that was shoved in the back of the fridge that has already gone bad…
You want to make the healthy items in your fridge easy to access and visibly pleasing. When you can see it, you are more likely to eat it!
Bins
It helps to designate clear bins for one type of category of food - fruit, dairy, veggies, etc. This way things don't get lost in the back.
Turntables
Use turntables for sauces and dressings.
It also helps to make sure these items are prepped for easy grab on the go situations.
Ex. Cut up fruit/veggies and snack bentos
Freezer
Having frozen options is another way to make easier healthy choices. I like to store frozen vegetables using deep storage bins in my freezer.
Step 3. Sustain.
The key here is to do a reset often. Make it part of your routine to prep meals, or at least plan meals for the week. I like to do this right before trash pick up day so that I can get rid of what I need to from the fridge and see what I need from the grocery store.
Make a system and routine that will work best for you!
How do you make a well stocked pantry?
With a healthy pantry, you may have less items that you need to stock.
Be honest with how much you actually need to have on hand!
…Do you really need 24 cans of black beans??
Ask yourself, “what do I actually use?”
I have been in a lot of pantries where 25-35% of food goes to waste. Too much food makes it hard to see what you have and leads to waste.
You can actually save money with an organized pantry!
Check out this blog for 3 simple ways to save $300 in your pantry.
Create a mental or physical list of your standard foods.
These are the things that you always want to have on hand. These are the items that get a specific home in your healthy pantry.
In my healthy pantry, I always have quinoa, black beans, white beans, canned chicken, and enchilada sauce on hand. I can always whip up a meal out of those!
Treats
We all need a little sweet fix here and there and when you have kiddos you may even find that you have more sweet treats at home than you would like…
I like to store these treats up higher and out of my own eyesight. They are there for when we want them, but they are not in our faces every day. Out of sight, out of mind!
Same for the kiddos. By placing their healthier snacks on lower shelves, this will make it easier for them to grab a healthy choice.
Making healthier choices can be hard! That is why your healthy pantry and fridge should be all about EASE.
How can you make it easiest on yourself to make those healthy choices?
Want to learn more about saving money (and sanity) in your kitchen through organization? Check out my virtual services where we can tackle your home together and you don’t even have to leave your couch!
And, to find all my fav Amazon pantry products, check out our new Amazon Shop!
