Setting Up Your Kitchen For Success

We live in a busy, busy time. Fast food and microwaves have infiltrated the way we eat. A lot of people have gotten away from the homecooked, fresh meals our grandparents were accustomed to. We could go on about this, but the point here is that it doesn't have to be this way. We can have fresh, hot meals regularly and we don't have to fall victim to these unhealthy traps. So where to start? Set your kitchen and yourself up for success.

1. Stock up on your core ingredients.
You know what you eat on a regular basis. Buy those things. If you tend to buy randomly without a plan, you're probably spending too much and not finding much to eat when you go to cook. Develop your menu plan from your core items. Our shopping list generally contains the following: almond milk, greek yogurt, bread, multi-grain tortillas, cheese, eggs, chicken, ham, beef, greens, bok choy, spinach, green beans, broccoli, corn, black beans, pinto beans, onions, sweet potatoes, jalapenos, cilantro, mushrooms, bell peppers, avacados, bananas, apples, oranges, berries, pears, canned fire-roasted tomatoes, chicken stock, maranara sauce, pesto sauce, grapeseed oil, olive oil, canola oil cooking spray, sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, garlic, pepper, cumin, chili powder, sweetener, agave nectar, ginger, oatmeal, cereal, corn bread mix, baking mix, frozen multi-grain waffles, extra-dark chocolate chips, all natural peanut butter, and jam.

2. Cook your meat for several meals at one time.
We like to shop twice a week to keep everything fresh, so we generally batch cook meat twice a week also. We buy and cook several chickens at a time. We like to grill them, but lately we've had to roast them because we're under burn bans. If we buy a large package of ground beef, we cook half and freeze the rest to use later in the week. We also try to buy the majority of our meat under $1 per pound. We eat a lot of chicken because we can usually find them for about .89 per pound. We're able to buy spiral sliced ham pieces in a bag that's reasonably priced. I really like this. We use it for breakfast, lunch and dinners.

3. Clean and prep all your fresh veggies.
You can chop everything by hand or pull out the food processor and get busy.  You can do this while your meat is cooking. Have your veggies in separate containers all chopped and ready to go. Prep your salads and have them ready to go in separate containers, too. We primarily use mustard greens, turnip greens, kale and bok choy for our salads. These are great for prepping ahead because they don't wilt. You can even have your dressing on them and they still won't wilt. I also make our fresh pico or salsa at this time, but I only have to make it once a week.

4. Grate your cheeses.
We usually buy big blocks of cheese and let the food processor do the work. Sometimes the grated cheese is cheeper by the ounce. Watch for this. Saves time and money. Love that!

From these stocked and prepped items I can prepare everything my family loves to eat in about 15 minutes.