Katie’s Top Tips For Raw Kitchen Organization
– by Katie C.
Living in this fast paced and high demand society, it can be so easy to let your eating habits fall by the wayside. It can also be infinitely frustrating if you feel like you’re constantly fighting an uphill battle, swimming against the current of time.
Thankfully, there are easy tips that you can follow that will help you stay committed to your healthy diet and lifestyle choices!
Dave and I spend a few hours in the kitchen getting our raw goodies ready for the week. Yes, that means a small chunk of your day goes to one activity. But again – it’s worth it! If we don’t commit that segment of time, the rest of the week we are scrounging for healthy food and allowing ourselves to be lazy and slack, grabbing a slice of left over pizza or swinging through the fast food joint instead of eating what he have!
We like to pour some tea, crank up some music (or pop in a good audio book!) and get to work. This weekend, while listening to some Artemis Fowl, we washed, we tore, we cut, and we stored. And we have been reveling all week in perfect produce green glory!
So here’s a closer look into our refrigerator and all its secret wonder — not to mention our favorite tips that help keep me and my husband on the raw track!
1. Pre-wash Your Produce!
Pre-wash produce so it’s ready to go when recipes come calling. I wash all the greens ahead of time, then stick them in clean plastic bags with a few paper towels to help with moisture. This is good if you run out of salad and need more – but mostly, I use it in smoothies for breakfast! I get up at 4:30am most mornings so that I’ll have time to exercise, shower, and prepare then down a smoothie before work. I do NOT want to take any extra time to work on that smoothie! The greens are washed and ready to go!
2. Prepare Giant Salads Ahead of Time
You can also see the big salad we were working on. That’s my Easiest Veggie Weapon in the fight for good health! A huge tub that will last all week! I throw a bunch in a Tupperware container each morning, top with selected add-ins, and am all set for lunch at work. The giant container has all the leafy greens, then we make little containers with extras so we can just mix and match depending on our preference that morning. These add-ons can be radish, cucumber, onion, sprouts, or any other veggie we may have.
I always keep a giant tub of prepared salad inside my fridge . See?
Top shelf: A giant tub of salad, some pre-cut carrots, and all our dairy and alternatives (coconut milk, almond milk, organic yogurt).
Middle shelf: A giant bag of carrots (we always get curious looks at the grocery store when we get this massive 25 bag of carrots), all the salad add-ins (radish, bulbs and leaves, garlic stems, cucumber, berries, seeds, nuts, etc – which we keep tucked behind those are wheat bran), hemp protein powder, and some ground flax and flax oils.
Bottom Shelf: Pre-cut celery, pineapple, broccoli, cauliflower …and the cheese and lunch meat drawer. (Shhhh! We go light on those!)
Lower drawers: On the right are extras – some unwashed lemons and apples, dates, etc. These last longer in the fridge, so as the bowls on the table begin to empty, I’ll wash off more fruits from the fridge and then set them in the bowls. The left drawer is full of the pre-washed greens.
3. Keep Fresh Ready-To-Eat Fruits & Veggies On Hand
Keep quick snacks on hand to tame the hunger monster! I have two bowls where I put all the washed produce. Remember: Pre-wash, people! It is soooo hard to pass up fresh fruit and vegetables when you literally have nothing to do to prepare it! It doesn’t get faster than grabbing an apple. It is such a life saver having ready-to-eat produce on hand after work. When I come home and am hungry, ready to dive head-first into anything that gets in my way! But if I have some clean fruit on hand I will grab that first, tame my hunger, and then proceed to plan a healthy dinner.
4. Have an Accountability Pal!
Get your friends and family to help keep you accountable! Have a partner in your dietary goals? How about a blog or Facebook page? Let people know about your diet health goals, and encourage them to check in on you to keep yourself accountable not only to them, but most importantly to YOURSELF!
See that giant massive 25 pound bag of organic juicing carrots to the right? I posted that picture on my blog and Facebook so that my friends and family would check in on us. They held us accountable to try to use the whole bag! We often get about halfway through the bag before they go bad. So! We made it a goal to get through this bag! Our friends would check in on us to see how we were doing.
The result? Oh yes, we juiced that whole bag, my friends! So with a little pre-planning and a small chunk of time once a week, this is the orange juicy glory that greets us each morning when we go to start each beautiful day!
…And that concludes the tour of my kitchen and fridge. I hope you have enjoyed your visit. Please come again! 😉
~Katie