If you’re like me, you want to get healthy! And to do so, it’s always best to do a little prep work in the kitchen before you begin!
One of the easiest ways to prepare your kitchen is of course, to make sure you have healthy foods on hand!
As your budget allows, stock you freezer, fridge and pantry with wholesome and fresh ingredients! And more importantly, get rid of all the foods that will sabotage your healthy eating habits! You can find my list of foods I will be eating here.
And don’t worry, if following a recipe makes you anxious, have no fear! You don’t need to cook complicated meals from fancy or elaborate recipes to eat healthy! All you really need are fresh ingredients and some basic kitchen skills!
In fact, some of my family favorites were created with just a few simple ingredients – no recipe required!
And before I go on, let me just say this — I am a firm believer that ‘fresh is always best!’’ However, due to our fridge still not working — because we are waiting on parts — I have been relying on our stash of freeze-dried goods, which you can check out here!
These I have organized into four sections: proteins, veggies, fruits and dairy. This allows me to see what I have on hand and what I need to order!
As for fresh ingredients, I purchase those from the store as needed. Any leftovers go into the slow cooker to create a soup or stew for another meal!
Equally as important as the ingredients, I want to make sure that I have all the essential tools on hand for cooking our meals!
When it comes to pots and pans, some say you need about 3-4 pots ranging from a small sauce pan (1-2 quarts) to a large pot (3-4 quart) Dutch oven. However, with limited space in our RV, we rely on a 4-quart sauce pan, a 10-inch skillet, our Dutch oven, and of course our slow cooker! If you have a family of 4, I would suggest having a 12-inch skillet instead.
Of course, measuring spoons and cups are good to have on hand as well. And, I usually have two glass measuring bowls with a pour spout (big enough to measure 4-8 cups). I use the first to measure things such as when I am making my homemade mayonnaise. You can find the recipe here. And the other bowl I use to keep all the discards in while slicing and dicing my veggies!
I also like to roast my veggies, so I keep 2 roasting pans on hand. And I prefer to keep two wood (maple) cutting boards on hand as well – 1 for veggies, and 1 for meats. However, I must admit that I do have several flexible cutting boards on hand because they’re easier to carry in and out of the RV when I cook outside!
As I mentioned, expect to be cutting, slicing and dicing, so of course you will need a good set of knives. My go-to pieces are a paring knife and a really good Chefs knife.
Garlic is something that I use in a lot of my recipes! It’s great for my digestion, so I like to keep a garlic press on hand too. This makes the job of mincing garlic a breeze!
And although it isn’t a necessity, I am thinking of purchasing a grill basket! Sure you can grill and roast your veggies in the oven, but I think they’re is just something special about roasting veggies over an open fire!
So, that’s me, prepping my kitchen for success!
Until next time,
Peace, love and safe travels!
~ Sheri
Great Adventure Homestead 