The kitchen set up you have at home and the way you utilise it can offer a huge advantage towards achieving your health and fitness goals, but more importantly sustaining them once they’ve been achieved.

In today’s blog we’ll run through six quick and easy ways to start building good kitchen habits.

1. Choose the path of least resistance

One of the first things you can do to help you on your way is a simple kitchen cleanout. Get rid of the foods you don’t want to eat before you’re craving them. These include the obvious highly processed foods like cakes, biscuits, sweets etc. However, there are some trick foods that claim to be healthy, but are stripped of their nutrients and full of sugar and chemicals. These include certain breakfast cereals, sweetened yoghurts, fruit/granola bars and crackers.

There are also the foods we don’t pay much attention too like salad dressings, barbeque sauces, breadcrumbs, croutons, highly processed deli meats. These often slip under our radar and can offer nothing more than high calorie nutrient deficient food options.

2. Shop & cook in bulk

Preparation is key when it comes to improving your food quality. Set aside some time by looking ahead at your week and planning. Which busy days will you need pre-planned meals?

You can prepare some time-consuming meal components: chicken/potatoes/beans and grains/vegetables and store to have in different meals during the week.

3. Make a menu

What healthy meal options do you enjoy? Many people cycle the same 8-10 dishes every week. It may be worth evaluating your regular weekly menu and making some adjustments. Is there a way to flavour up your veggies to ensure they’re consumed regularly? This doesn’t need to be a five-star dish – keep it simple.

4. Two for one

Prep foods that you can keep for a day or two, but no longer. For example, if you’re making scrambled eggs, whisk six instead of three and save the liquid for your omelette the next day or the day after that. Chop up extra veggies for a quick and easy salad the following day.

5. Store conveniently

It’s useful to have stackable clear containers in a fridge that’s are accessible so you can easily find and choose healthy options. If possible, avoid stacking meats on top of fresh produce in your fridge as you risk contaminating fresh fruit and veg. If you have some drawers you can have one exclusively for raw meat and one for veggies (clean out the raw meat container regularly).

6. Get the right gear

Food isn’t the only component you need to have a healthy kitchen environment. Having the right equipment counts for a lot. Here are some suggestions:

• Grill
• Chopping Boards
• Sharp Knife Set
• Small/Large Tupperware
• Food Cooler Bag
• Mixing Bowls
• Blender
• Steamer
• Strainer
• Measuring Cups
• Pot’s & Pans
• Wok
• Graters/Peelers

Hopefully you already have all of these. Now it’s just about getting into the habit of using them regularly and habitually.

There is always another option of hiring a chef to come in and prepare a week’s worth of healthy meals for you. This can be valuable if you really don’t have the time to cook and want to eat healthy, nutritious meals.

Healthy people usually have healthy home environments. Changing your kitchen surroundings is one of the keys to sustaining healthy eating habits and living better.

Yours in kitchen optimisation

Yudi