Getting back from grocery shopping can be a messy adventure. It’s easy to just stuff everything (still in the grocery bags) into your fridge and hope the refrigerator fairies will have their way with them and magically separate your lemons from your berries.
Fear not: I’m sharing a trick that can help you be more organized — and most importantly use everything you just bought so you don’t discover a wilted garden in your fridge three weeks later.
Next to my refrigerator I have a little white board were I write down everything I have in my freezer and refrigerator with expiration dates. Great idea, right??
This helps me conceptualize my ingredients and mentally funnel them into potential meals. In this picture you can see what I have in my freezer and what I have in the refrigerator at the moment. I’m not inspired to prepare turkey burgers with Greek salad and some oven roasted sweet potatoes; this will be my dinner and lunch for tomorrow — and pro tip — portion them out into glassware so you can grab and go for future meals.
Meal prepping and planning ahead doesn’t have to be difficult, but it does take a little bit of organization and forethought. We just have to train ourselves to get organized. You’ve trained yourself to brush your teeth every night — sometimes if you have little tips like the board I use it will help you to organize and plan your meals with #noexcuses. Another thing I considered is very useful with my little board is the reduction of food waste. We’ve all done a magical grocery store haul and again expected the little refrigerator fairies to turn raw leeks into stew. The white board also becomes a place for my husband and me to jot down groceries we are running low on, or recipe ideas. It makes household members feel included and heard.
Enjoy. The board is from Target, but you can do customized cute ones on Etsy.