Creating a Kitchen where mindful eating becomes quick and easy is so important when you are a busy mom, with a busy family! Our littles are looking to us to create healthy eating habits for them and nourish their little bodies to grow! When time is of the essence I realized quickly how easy it was to go for the “kid friendly snacks” (which usually seem to be filled with twice the normal amount of sugar as the adult alternative). Or fall into un-healthy snacking and eating habits with processed foods that lacked nutritional content. Our goal is to eat whole foods, and create foods together. We hope to teach our children that just because you are short on time does not mean you have to sacrifice the quality of foods that go into your body. When our family full of picky eaters, and vegetarians then had to become dairy free after the birth of my twins (who had a severe intolerance), I knew it was time to make some changes! This is how our family sets up our kitchen for successful healthy eating, and decision making. Not only saving time, but fueling us for the chaos that is this season of life!
The Necessities for our Pantry and Fridge
Pantry
- Nutiva MCT Coconut Oil or Unrefined Coconut Oil
- Nutiva Chia Seeds
- 365 Flax Seeds
- Nut Butters (almond, sun, peanut)
- Cinnamon
- Quick Oats
- Quick Mix Pancakes (Simple Mills or Birch Benders Paleo Mix)
- Natures Path Organic Vegan Granola with Hemp
- Cooking Oil of choice I go for Olive, Canola, or Coconut
- Bananas (Counter top)
- Avocados (Counter top)
- Simple Mills Crackers
- Ora Organics Vegan Protein Powder with 1g of sugar, and no fillers (Chocolate and Vanilla)
- Ora Organics Greens Powder
- Ora Organics Probiotic + Prebiotic
- Nutiva Coconut Snacks (Great for nursing moms!)
- Daves Killer Breads
- Beans, beans, beans!
- Quinoa
*Bonus Tip: I use Amazon Prime Pantry, and Subscribe and Save to keep my pantry stocked. You can even buy in bulk this way which is great for a big family. I also have a subscription through Ora Organics to save 20% every month on my health supplements and protein powders. It saves a huge chunk of time and space on my shopping list for store trips.
Fridge
- Almond/ Coconut Milk
- Earth’s Balance Vegan Butter
- Daiya Vegan Shredded Cheese
- Daiya Vegan Cheese Slices
- Lightlife Veggie Meat Alternatives
- Hummus
- Dairy Free Yogurt (Vega, Kite Hill, Forager, Lavva, all lower in sugar than other alternatives)
- Kite Hill Dairy Free Yogurt Tubes
- In Season Fruit
- In Season Vegetables
- Local Jellies and Jams
- Salsas
- Bananas (Freezer)
Having these Staples in our Pantry/ Fridge has made it super easy to whip up healthy snacks and recipes quickly for a hungry momma or babes. The key is to easily be able to navigate your way around so you can quickly create breakfasts, lunches, and snacks that are naturally healthy. You can quickly combine fresh fruits and veggies for healthy scrambles or food bowls. Make avocado toasts, or power packed oatmeal. Create delicious smoothies that are loaded with goodness to start your day, hold you over, or fill picky eaters tummies. And grab snacks, and sandwiches that take no time at all!
How we stock, and organize.
Snack Baskets In Pantry
Our pantry is stocked with snacks on snacks on snacks because of toddlers! We made the mindful decision to organize it so snacks were easily accessible for independent eaters but wanted to make sure if Mom was busy nursing or tending to twin baby brothers our oldest had no choice but to reach for something healthy. So all of the snack baskets within reach have things like nuts, crackers, nut butter packets, fig bars, fruit leathers, no bake protein balls, healthy popcorn, veggie chips/ crackers, and Bitsys Smart Cookies. If you have younger siblings in the house it soon becomes fun for the older ones to dish out the snack so a little food safety on what the younger ones can and can not have seemed to go a long way with our oldest.
*Bonus Tip: Buy in bulk and pour snacks into single serve snack bags to fill baskets. Then you can be mindful of portion sizes, make your own fresh protien balls, and save money.
Bins in Refrigerator
Once our oldest could open the fridge and get a snack we realized the importance of setting up our fridge the same way. SO we designated a bottom drawer to have mandarin oranges, pre cut fruit and veggies, hummus cups, Kite Hill Dairy Free Yogurt Tubes, no sugar added applesauce, Once Upon a Farm Fruit and Veggie Pouches, and Mama Chia Pouches and that way healthy eating becomes a quick easy choice but your littles can feel independent picking it out. We made sure to be mindful of quantities of each item in the drawers as well so there was no OD’ing on yogurt tubes, and pouches that are so much fun to eat.
Designated Water Bottle or Water Cup
We have a special spot on the counter where we keep a BPA free water bottle or a “water cup” our oldest picks out in the morning. The water bottle should be easy to open so your toddler/ preschooler can fill it up himself from the fridge or just op for a special water cup. That stays in the special spot through out the day so he is encouraged to get himself some water if he is thirsty, without having to wait on momma. I found this helps him drink more water too when he feels in control. We also have a special spot for water bottles for our 1 year old twins on a train cart in our kitchen so they too can easily access their water all day long.
Treats!!
We arent robots, we love teats just as much as everyone else! We try to bake things fresh together so we know what our ingredients are or if we purchase things from the store we make sure we arent going over board with the quantity of items we are taking home to enjoy. We want to make sure that treats stay treats not a part of our regular diet.
Happy Stress Free Meal Prep and Eating Mama!
This post contains affiliate links to products my family and I love, trust, use, and eat on a daily basis! Enjoy!