Getting Started

There are a few things you can do to start health habits that will lead to a healthier lifestyle.  When in doubt, keep it simple.

Clean out fridge

Get rid of anything that distracts you from maintaining a healthy kitchen.  Now is the time to throw out any lingering soda, old chocolate sauce, ancient jellies & jams, moldy condiments, etc.

Wipe down the shelves and sanitize drawers.  Make sure any meats are separated (and on the bottom shelf) from produce so there is no cross contamination.  If you can’t see everything inside your fridge, there’s a high chance you could be wasting ingredients.

Clean out pantry

Stocking your pantry is one of the most important factors to successful kitchen organizing.

  • No artificial ingredients.  It’s best to remove all of the processed foods like chips, dips, dressings, etc. that do not contribute to a whole foods diets. If the label has more than five whole natural ingredients, consider an alternative.
  • Get rid of EVERYTHING that contains high fructose corn syrup and any trans fats.
  • Remove any pre-made sauces with added sugars or other additives.  For example, replace jarred sauces with organic, low-sodium tomato paste.  It still gives you the convenience of a quick sauce but provides a single ingredient pantry item as the starter.
  • No more canned fruits or vegetables. Frozen varieties offer more nutrition if fresh produce is not an option.
  • Replace sugars with honey or maple syrup which fall under the whole food category, unlike other processed sugars.
  • Stock up on whole grain foods like brown rice and whole wheat pasta.

Check out our Pantry 20 List

Post menus

Printing out the menu and displaying it your kitchen is a simple way to stay on track. It also gives others in your family a sense of stability and creates a good feeling about what’s for dinner.

Check your tools

When I was in college, I cooked everything with a bad knife and a old wooden spoon. It got the job done but I always felt a struggle when trying to make dinner.  Kitchen tools help make your time in the kitchen easy.  You don’t need fancy equipment but it helps to take an inventory of what you do have because sometimes utensils and pans we haven’t used in forever are ignored when we could be using them for everyday tasks.

Our list of favorite kitchen tools.

Five minute planning

If there was one habit that I could tell you leads to kitchen success, it’s planning ahead. Just five minutes of thought the night before about how dinner will be prepared the next day can save you from a life of food prep stress.  When dinner is over,  you can run through tomorrow’s plan to make sure all ingredients are present and all prep is planned.

Give it two weeks all in

Starting something new can be a challenge when life continues to happen all around us.  If you cook The Fresh 20 style for two weeks, our promise is you will save money, reduce stress and increase health.

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