Setting up your kitchen isn't strictly necessary but it sure makes it easier for both you and your family. When you or your kids want a quick snack or meal a well though out kitchen makes it so much easier. There are lots of ways to set up your kitchen, so I'll just share my setup with you and you can adapt it to fit your own lifestyle. I'd love to hear from any of you who come up with other setup tips.
In my kitchen refrigerator I put all uncooked produce in the produce drawers, Fruit in one drawer, veggies in the other. I fill a plastic basket with salad garnishes such as nuts, seeds, olives, blue cheese, feta cheese, capers ... That way it's easy to just pull it out when I'm making a salad. I've designated one shelf for Neutrals, another for Starches, and another for Proteins. You can put colored plastic baskets with kid snacks on each of the shelves. That way when your kids want a snack you can tell them they can have anything in the blue basket, or the orange basket, or the red basket, depending on what you're serving for dinner and what they had for lunch.
And of course the kitchen freezer shelves are also divided into Neutral, Starch, and Protein, with extra shelves full of fully cooked dishes ready to pull out and thaw. I stock the door shelves with things I add frequently to my meals - frozen cubes of pesto, Dried Tomato Paste, Red Bell Pepper Puree, lemon and lime juice; grated cheese (I don't use it often enough to keep in the fridge, but I like it handy when I want to add it to a dish) ...
I have a refrigerator in the garage which isn't divided up, since I never know when I'll have a ton of produce, or need space to store food for a dinner party. If your kids have access to a garage or basement fridge you may want to provide colored plastic baskets with snacks and drinks. If there's not space in the baskets for drinks, you could pick up colored labels in an office supply store and stick them on the drink containers in colors that correspond to the plastic baskets. This may not be necessary though as most drinks are Neutral, except Fruit juice.
My pantry is set up similar to the fridge with shelves for each food group. Thin plastic baskets screwed to the cabinet door hold herbs & spices in alphabetical order (sounds compulsive but makes it so easy to find a particular spice). Colored plastic baskets can be set up with kid snacks in the same way as the refrigerator.
Whether or not you have kids, dividing your food up and grouping items in plastic baskets helps to streamline the process of grabbing a quick snack or preparing a meal and is well worth the initial output to think it through and apply it to your kitchen.
Taking a few extra steps every now and then makes life a whole lot easier when you want a quick meal or snack. Plus when you make a big batch of pesto that's a few times you won't have to wash the blender or food processor; when you cut up veggies ahead of time that's a few times you don't have to get out and clean the cutting board. You get the idea.
Cut up and store in ziplock bags or sealed containers vegetables such as carrots, celery, radishes, and any other veggies you like to eat raw.
Wash and cut Fruits that hold up well such as oranges, cantelope and other melons, pineapple, grapes & berries (no need to cut), papaya, mango. Store in separate containers. If you make up Fruit salads and toss with dressing you can add apples, avocados, and strawberries, but not bananas. Add bananas just before serving. Don't add pineapple to a dairy based dressing until just before serving or the dressing will sour.
Make up frozen cubes of pesto, fresh lemon, lime, and orange juice, Dried Tomato Paste, pureed red bell pepper ... These can be added to mayo for salad dressings, to creme fraiche or sour cream for a sauce, to soups, to brown rice, steamed vegetables ... Quick and tasty meals are a cinch with frozen flavor cubes.
Instead of making your tea a cup at a time make a pitcher (or two) of refrigerator tea. Put the tea bags and water in a pitcher and let sit in the fridge all day or overnight. I always have two to three different kinds of tea in the fridge. When one gets low I often add it to another and start a new batch in the empty pitcher. This gives me fun new flavors and ensures that I'm never out of a beverage.
I even use this method for my morning decaf coffee. I add a cup of finely ground coffee beans to a quart of water and let it sit overnight. I then pour the water through my coffee filter into my coffee pot which takes a while as that's a lot of grounds. I store the cold concentrated coffee in the fridge, adding hot water when I want a cup of coffee. This method makes yields a rich non-acidic coffee that will spoil you from any other kind of coffee. I also use the grounds to make a pot of coffee the traditional way and for some reason this tastes just as rich and non-acidic as the cold filtered coffee.
Often when I'm cutting vegetables I chop, julienne, or dice double the amount I'll need and store the extra in a ziplock bag. Then when I need veggies for a quick soup, stew, omelette, quiche ... I don't have to get out and clean the cutting board and knife once again. Sometimes I'll even go a step further and cook double the veggies I'll need at the time. For dishes such as an omelette or a cup of soup I can just add the precooked veggies and not have to get out and wash another pot and spoon.
When basil, red bell peppers, cilantro, parsley, lemons, limes, or garlic is on sale buy a bunch and then make up a batch of pesto (minus Parmesan which you can add later). Scoop the pesto into ice cube trays, freeze and store in labeled freezer bags.
The garlic can be roasted in one large foil lined and covered dish and frozen. When you need the garlic remove a head or two from the freezer bag and nuke for 30-40 seconds.
If you have commercial salad dressings go ahead and use them on your family's salads (but not your own) until they're gone. Familiar salad dressings will help ease them through the UnDiet transitions. When the bottle is empty, wash it out and refill it with a comparable UnDiet dressing. The power of suggestion is mighty!
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