21 Jun Five kitchen Tips To Make Your Life Easier
As a mom, business owner, and wife, any kitchen tips that I can do to make my life easier i’ll do it! After I got done grocery shopping the other day, I was thinking to myself that I do a lot of things to make my week easier on me. I tell my kitchen what to do, it doesn’t tell me. ?
I wanted to share my top five tips with you to make YOUR life easier in the kitchen, so you can happily prepare healthy meals for your family.
- Cut & Store Vegetables & Herbs
Before I put everything away ‘as is’, I always set aside my vegetables and herbs. I look to see what I can cut & store, so when it’s time to use it, I can grab and go. With most herbs like cilantro, parsley, and basil, I will cut off the stems and put them in a plastic bag in the freezer, so I can grab a handful of it when I need it without worrying about them going bad and that they are prepped to use. With vegetables like beets and ginger root, I will skin them, cut them up, throw them in a food processor to grate them up even more, and store in a plastic bag in the freezer. Again, if I need it, I can just grab some grated up beets or ginger and throw into my dish. You can also make your life easier by getting frozen already cut up peppers, cauliflower rice, etc. If I don’t use a vegetable often, it will most likely be prepped & thrown in the freezer, so it doesn’t go bad.
2. Marinate Your Meats
Before I put the meats away in the fridge, I start marinating the ones that need to be. This way you don’t have to worry about doing it the morning or day of. Marinating meats is essential if you are grilling them because marinating helps reduce the carcinogens that are produced during the high-heat grilling process. Use delicious spices & use fats like coconut, avocado, or butter. Using coconut aminos is also super delicious as well.
3. Get Organized
Get into a habit of rotating your fruits, vegetables, and any perishables. This will save time in the long run, so you won’t have to set time aside to clean out your fridge with rotting food. Make a specific place for them in the fridge and pantry, so they are easy to find and you can make meals based on what needs to be used first. This doesn’t just go for your fridge, but also your pantry & freezer as well. Go to the dollar store for a budget-friendly way to get organized. Purchase their colorful baskets and organize into an oil basket, nut basket, flour basket, potato basket, onion & garlic basket, etc. It also saves time on making a grocery list. You’ll see right away what is low and needs to be restocked.
4. If You Have Kids, Designate A Lower Drawer of Ready-To-Eat Snacks
Let me tell you, kids LOVE snacks. They are eating machines. Find a lower drawer that they can reach into and fill it with healthy snacks they can grab and go. You can fill it with organic carrots, celery, apples, berries, grapes, oranges, homemade paleo banana bread, organic squeeze yogurts, cut up grass-fed cheese, snack-size Justin’s almond butter packets, grass-fed beef jerky, etc. Make snack time easy time. It’s a relief when they can grab a snack themselves vs. “Mom, can you make me _____?” “Mom, I’m hungry!”
5. Batch Cook
Since you already have the oven on or the grill heated, throw on extra! This way you’ll have extra leftovers, so lunch times or fast dinners can be made! If you have extra chicken breasts, you can use it on top of salads, chicken lettuce wraps, etc. If you have extra roasted potatoes, you can just heat some up along with eggs for breakfast in the morning or have a side already ready for dinner the following night. If you are failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.
You got this! It’s not hard, it’s just thinking ahead and what you can do to make your life easier. I love the saying, ‘Work Smarter, Not Harder.’ You’ll be eating healthy in a breeze before you know it.
In Health,
Lahana Vigliano
