5 Tips for Stocking Your Kitchen for Easy, Convenient Meals
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
Do you ever want to cook but you realize you don’t have ingredients to put together a complete meal?
Do you want to spend less time in the kitchen but still have meals that make you feel good?
If so, you’re not alone.
Many of our clients struggle balancing a busy work schedule and their personal lives with the desire to practice gentle nutrition.
In this blog post, we’ll share tips for stocking your kitchen to ensure you stay nourished without tons of effort.
Don’t be afraid of frozen foods, especially produce!
Lots of people have heard that frozen food is bad for you, but that’s not inherently true!
Especially when it comes to fruits and veggies, frozen options can be game changers.
This can really come in handy if you live alone and worry about fresh produce going to waste, or when you run out of fresh produce and still want to toss in some veggies without running to the grocery store to pick up more.
The extended shelf life helps save money and stress! And don't worry, frozen fruits and vegetables are often frozen at peak freshness, so they are just as nutritious as fresh produce.
Additionally, you can buy frozen grains to use when you’re short on time.
You can also freeze foods such as berries, onions, bread, some sauces/pesto, soup, and even some cheeses yourself to extend their shelf life!
Keep a variety of non-perishable foods in your pantry.
Keep these around to ensure you can stay consistent with your nutrition even if you’re due for a grocery trip.
Some non-perishable foods that are loaded with nutrition include:
Beans
Canned tuna
Rice
Pasta
Nuts
Seeds
Dried fruit
Crackers
Cereal
Oatmeal
These products also tend to be more affordable so they’re especially great if you’re on a budget!
I like to keep a variety of these products in my pantry so even if I’m not using them everyday, they’re there when I need or want them.
Have a variety of sauces and spices on hand.
This is one of my favorite tips to prevent getting tired of the same old dishes over again.
You can cook a large batch of a protein like chicken or beans and/or grain like rice or pasta and mix it up throughout the week by adding a different type of sauce or different spices.
If you don’t have time to make a sauce from scratch (which many of us don’t!), you can use these items to help find satisfaction on any given day.
Keep chopped veggies in the fridge.
Sometimes, after a long day, even the thought of chopping up veggies for dinner might seem overwhelming.
To proactively take care of yourself, chop up some veggies at the start of the week and keep them either in the fridge or freezer.
This makes it easy to add them to a dish without having to do all the prep work each time.
You can keep things like chopped peppers and onions, sticks of celery, or carrot chips at the ready.
If you prefer, you can also buy pre-chopped veggies at the grocery store to save yourself the time and effort!
Don’t be afraid to keep “forbidden foods” around.
This last tip is the most important one when it comes to making peace with food.
Oftentimes, our clients say they avoid keeping certain foods around because they fear they’ll just eat the whole package at once.
While this logic makes sense, restricting foods you like actually increases the likelihood that you’ll end up eating the whole package the next time it’s available.
To learn more, read our blog posts on food habituation and the binge-restrict cycle.
When we keep these foods around, we help our bodies trust they are available, which means we can start to honor our cravings, connect with how much is satisfying, and move on.
Final Thoughts
Hopefully these tips for stocking your kitchen can help you honor your body more consistently and find satisfaction in your meals without spending hours cooking food. Remember, it’s okay to rely on convenient foods, especially with how fast-paced our lives tend to be!
For education on how to ADD nutrition to your favorite Latine cultural dishes, make peace with food, and focus on your health without dieting, join our nutrition library for just $27/month.
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