It probably won’t come as a shock to hear that a tidy, clean, and well-organised kitchen can make healthy eating easier.
Taking the time to practically declutter and organise your kitchen and making a conscious effort to keep it tidy and clean, can make mealtimes run much smoother. When things are in order it encourages us to choose healthier foods rather than ordering takeaways or reaching for quick, unhealthy options.
Organising your kitchen can be a daunting job, especially if you’ve neglected it for some time. Not to worry, here we share some ideas to get you started.
Clean out the fridge
Start by emptying and cleaning out your fridge. Discard any old condiments you’ve got that aren’t used and reorganise everything into sections that promote healthy choices. Such as, keeping your fruit and snackable veggies like tomatoes, cucumber and carrots at the front of your fridge so you can easily see them and reach for them when you’re after a snack.
Empty the cabinets
Empty all your kitchen cabinets, throw away anything which is out of date and donate any unopened food that you’ve had for more than six months (and don’t anticipate yourself eating in the next few weeks) to a local food bank.
Clean out the cabinets and organise everything when putting it back in, making sure the things you use most often are easily reachable.
Using small containers to keep things like herbs and spices together can help keep things tidy.
Unwanted or unneeded items
Lots of us end up with random utensils and kitchen gadgets that we never actually use.
These take up space and make it harder for us to easily find the things we need and use regularly. Gather all your kitchen utensils together in one place and sort out any that aren’t needed.
Similarly, if there are items that are broken or not fit for purpose, plan to replace them – using a frying pan that constantly sticks makes us less likely to opt for a quick, healthy stir-fry, for example.
For more tips on how to stay healthy, sign up for our weekly healthy tips at www.heartresearch.org.uk/healthy-tips
To help keep your heart healthy, why not try out some of our Healthy Heart recipes from our website: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-recipes-2/
Or have a look through our Healthy Heart cookbook filled with recipes from top chefs, celebrities and food bloggers: https://heartresearch.org.uk/heart-research-uk-cookbook/
