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Refrigerator Organization for Healthy Eating

A new year is here, and with it I’m sure all of us have made some sort of goal or plan or word to help encourage change in our lives. For our family, healthy eating and staying active has been a focus for us, as well as getting our house organized to make our daily life feel less chaotic. One of our first steps towards this “resolution” was to work on our refrigerator organization and make fresh fruits and vegetables easy to access.

This post has been sponsored by Coca-Cola but the opinions are completely my own based on my experience. #StartSmart2016

Refrigerator Organization

When you look at our original fridge layout, similar to most families’ layout I would guess, one thing we noticed was that the fruits and vegetables were being stored towards the bottom in a drawer. We’ve all done it where we want a little something to snack on so we open the fridge while we stand there in a trance trying to find something to feed our munchie craving. Well, I decided I wanted healthy food options, instead of messy bottles, to be the first thing we saw when we opened the fridge.

Our messy fridge before the refrigerator organization

Our messy fridge before the refrigerator organization

After measuring the width and depth of the refrigerator shelves, I purchased some fridge organization trays. I realized that often bottles and expired food gets shoved to the back and the chaotic bottle mess makes it hard to see what you need. The bottles we use often got placed in one of the trays, while allowing room for my new vegetable / fruit snacking options. The other leftovers and less used condiments were moved down to the drawers which are still easily accessible. The big thing was to get the fruit and veggies up and out of the drawers!

Refrigerator-Organization-for-Healthy-Snacking-Eating-8

AFTER: our refrigerator organization with a focus on healthy eating and snacking

I also decided that to tackle those sweet tooth cravings stocking some yummy fresh juices like Simply Orange juice and Odwalla smoothies would be a great treat option for when our brains were teasing us to eat something sweet. Those are now placed in easy reach next to the fruits and veggies.

Food Prep

Prepping vegetables to be ready to eat

Prepping vegetables to be ready to eat

Another step for reorganizing our life for healthy eating is spending a bit of time when I come home from the grocery store to prep our fresh foods to be easy to grab and eat. I picked up some glass storage containers, an eco-green option over plastics or baggies, so I can prewash and prep the fruits and vegetables to be ready to eat. No more piles of plastic bagged vegetables sitting in the crisper drawer. Now a snack size bite of carrots, peapods, bell peppers, broccoli, tomatoes, or blueberries are all just a reach and lid away. The Simply Orange juice and Odwalla smoothies are also easy to grab and pour a small glass for a sweet afternoon treat.

Fresh foods and sweet tooth treats ready to grab for healthy eating

Fresh foods and sweet tooth treats ready to grab for healthy eating

Shopping Smart

Shopping at Safeway at the produce department first

Shopping at Safeway at the produce department first

Another part of our plan for healthy eating is to shop the perimeter of our grocery store. We love shopping at our local Safeway and so we park at the doors that enter at the produce section and start stocking up. Fresh fruits and vegetables are the first foods that go into our cart. This is also a great way to feed those food cravings if you happen to be shopping when you’re hungry, you’ll be stocking up on foods that a fresh and healthy.

Plus you can grab your own Odwalla smoothies and Simply Orange in the Safeway produce department. The Odwalla smoothies are great treats for the kids while they help you shop!

Stay Active

In addition to setting up our fridge for healthy eating, we’ve also been focusing on staying active. I have a Misfit fitness tracker and can wear it to watch how I’m doing towards achieving my daily activity goals (such as 10,000 steps). Having a visual reminder of where you’re at on your daily goal can really make a difference with encouraging you to stay active!

Win your own Misfit Shine fitness tracker with the Start Smart. Stay Active. Keep Fit. giveaway, they’re giving away 1,000 Misfit Shines!

Misfit-Shine-Giveaway

Click Here to Enter to Win

Our fridge was a chaotic mess of bottles and leftovers, with our produce spoiling due to being buried in the bottom drawers. My refrigerator organization project focused on healthy eating and moved the fruits and veggies up!

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