Eat Healthier! Smart Tips to Organize Your Fridge

Eat Healthier!

When hunger strikes, what’s the first thing you turn to? Junk food or healthy food?

In many cases, the answer to these questions depends on the state of your refrigerator. How you stock your food items can support or sabotage your healthy eating and weight loss efforts.

To make sure your fridge is not the place where healthy eating plans go to die, we’ve come up with some essential tips to put good food within reach and turn your fridge into your healthy, weight loss ally.  Let the complete fridge makeover begin!

Step 1: Clear out your fridge

The first step towards healthifying your fridge is to remove all the food inside. Once you’ve got everything out, you can start evaluating each item and determine which can make or break your weight loss plan.

Items that may sabotage your goals include mayonnaise, sauces, salad dressings, soda, spreads with trans fat and basically anything processed. Also, make sure you throw away expired foods to make room for the healthy ones.

Step 2: Clean your fridge

With your fridge now empty, you can easily wipe it down thoroughly, from top to bottom, and make it squeaky clean. Don’t forget the shelves and drawers that may hide food residues.

It has been scientifically proven that a clean refrigerator makes food more appealing. Healthy food, that is. Having a fresh and neat fridge makes it easier for you to rearrange the food inside, making it more visible and up for grabs.

Step 3: Organize your fridge

Now that steps 1 and 2 have been finalized, it’s time to put the spotlight on the healthy foods. No more mindless arrangements. You will have to organize everything so that diet-friendly foods are always first in your line of sight.

  Bottom drawers: This part of the fridge is meant for fresh produce and meat. But that would mean storing the healthier foods in a less visible place. Therefore, use the bottom drawers for things that you don’t want to consume that much, like soda, wine or beer.

  Middle shelves: This is the most important part when it comes to organizing your refrigerator. That’s because items stored on the center shelves draw most of your attention. As such, all your healthiest foods should be nicely displayed in this area.

From whole, fresh foods to lean meats and single-serving snacks, they all deserve a place at the front of the middle shelf for maximum exposure. In turn, less healthier items should be stored in opaque containers, behind their healthy counterparts.

  Side doors: You can use side doors to store healthy drinks and sauces. Chuck the unhealthy fats and sneaky sugar and replace them with flavorful water, delicious pesto or salsa.

Use the bottom part of side doors for fresh herbs. The humidity there is controlled, and they get to keep all their vitamins.

Step 4: Keep your fridge healthy

You’ve reached your final step and possibly the most difficult one. Maintaining a healthy fridge on the long term.

To keep it clean and weight-loss friendly, do a quick scan every week. Throw away items that have deteriorated or spoiled and reorganize the remaining ones based on the same rules as before. Healthy foods as centerpiece and convenience or indulgent foods in the back or on bottom shelves.

If you’ve already got a lot of items in your refrigerator, skip another grocery shopping. Use what you have for interesting recipes and meal ideas. You will not only keep your diet in check but also your budget.

  Bonus tip: Display the grocery receipt on the fridge door

Your weight loss goals should be enough to make you want to have an organized and diet-friendly fridge. However, if you need an extra incentive, put the grocery receipt on the refrigerator door.

It will work as an inventory of all the beneficial foods inside and as a reminder that they have to be consumed before they go bad. You wouldn’t let all that good food go to waste after everything you’ve paid for it, would you?