Have you ever considered the role your pantry plays in your health and wellness journey? A well-stocked pantry can be your best friend, or arch nemesis depending on what’s lurking in the corners. If you’re like me, your pantry has the magical ability to multiply its contents, hide ingredients that you used for one recipe and will probably never use again, and introduce you to foods you don’t even remember buying. It’s like the condiments in the fridge, you have it down to one ketchup, you blink and there’s about 10 more hanging out on the shelf. How does this happen!?
Well, let’s face it. The law of entropy states that all things lead toward chaos, add in our fabulous human flare and a messy pantry is inevitable. That’s where we come in to help!
As you transition into your new healthy lifestyle, start to focus on how to phase out instead of instantly replace items. This not only helps make the transition easier, but saves you time and stress on your wallet.
Here we’ve outlined 6 stages to help you conquer your pantry! Each step is designed to help you get one step closer to having a pantry full of nutrient dense foods that nourish the body and put the mind at ease. Let’s dig in!
Stage 0: Use it or lose it!
The first stage of a pantry clean out is to either use the items or trash them. Ask yourself is this food edible, or not? If the expiration date is overdue or close by, trash it. Consider thinking to yourself, will I use this before the expiration date? If the answer is maybe, or no, lose it.
Stage 1: Examine your Fats
Next, let’s examine fat sources in your pantry. A simple way to improve your diet is by choosing healthier fats that don’t cause inflammation in the body. Let’s take a look at the oils in your pantry and kitchen. There are two main things to look for during your clean out, vegetable oils and hydrogenated oils on packages.
1. Clean Out the Vegetable Oils
Canola, Safflower, Sunflower, Corn, Peanut, etc.
Vegetable oils are highly processed by adding high heat and chemical making them inflammatory to the body. Due to these extreme processing conditions many of these oil are rancid before they even hit the store shelves. Try replacing these items with cold pressed alternatives like coconut, olive oil, or avocado oil. Store these oils in a dark container away from sunlight as they are very sensitive to heat and light.
2. Check Your Package
Look for the same oils in packaged foods including any that are hydrogenated or partially hydrogenated fat ingredients. If you notice these ingredients on a label, remember stage 0: use it, or lose it
Stage 2: Ditch the Chemicals
Food additives can cause damage to our cardiovascular, endocrine, digestive, immune and neurological systems. Look for things on packages like:
- Food dyes
- Artificial Sweeteners/ Flavors
- Preservatives
- Thickening Agents
Stage 3: Search out sugars
Become a detective and search out products with hidden sweeteners and sugars. Some common terms for sugar include aspartame, sucralose, acesulfame K, saccharin, xylitol, sorbitol, dextrose, maltose, maltodextrin and glucose.
Items that contain more naturally sourced sugars like maple syrup, honey, can sugar and date sugar can be stored for occasional treats. Consuming sugar is a normal and healthy aspect of a well-rounded diet. Keep some of these items in your pantry so you can celebrate with some sweet treats on occasion.
Stage 4: Replace refined grains
You do not need to follow a gluten-free/ grain free diet to be healthy. In fact, many grains like rice quinoa, buckwheat, spelt, einkorn, sorghum and amaranth are important sources of fiber, vitamins and minerals.
Refined flours often contain a lot of additives and remove the husk of the grain which contains most of the grains nutrient value. Focus on looking for refined/ processed grains to decrease the amount of synthetic nutrients and additives that are consumed in the diet.
Stage 5: Get more active in the kitchen
Finally, the last stage is all about getting curious and gaining confidence in the kitchen. Try a new recipe, learn a new skill, dust off that kitchen appliance you are yet to use, or try adding a new ingredient into an old recipe. Let’s use some new ingredients in your pantry to make healthy nutrient dense snacks.
Pro tip: Start focusing on simple recipes focused on five or fewer ingredients. As you get more comfortable, start enhancing your skill with more challenging recipes.