Organize Your Food Storage for a Healthy, Happy New Year

It's notorious: New Year's resolutions tend to fizzle out as motivation dwindles, but many experts recommend having systems in place that make sticking to your goals easier. With the extremely common goals of eating healthier and getting more organized, using kitchen bins, baskets, and more to streamline food storage ticks all the boxes to set you and your family up for resolutions that go the distance. Your resolve may fade from time to time, but your organization system won't go anywhere, making it much easier to get back on track.

A 2023 poll found that 80% of Americans who cook regularly use food to comfort themselves after a long day, and 65% use it to comfort others. That comfort goes an even longer way when you know your food storage areas like the fridge, freezer, and pantry won't be a mess and that meal prep is much easier when you have the right tools.

You want to make it as easy as possible to eat healthy, whole foods, and one of the best ways to accomplish that is using food storage techniques that keep them visible and easy to access. Using a clear egg holder puts one of the most popular protein sources front and center rather than hidden in a carton, and perfectly shaped compartments keep your eggs from rolling around and cracking.

Smoothies are another drink that many of us hope to consume more of in the new year. However, it can feel a little intimidating -- all those ingredients to haul out and combine can make blending them up seem a little daunting. But with some food storage know-how, it becomes no big deal.

Place smoothie ingredients into their own plastic bins with handles in your refrigerator and freezer. Create a bin of fresh produce like berries, extras like yogurt or milk in the fridge, and frozen spinach, mango chunks, and frozen grapes in the freezer. Then, when the urge hits to make a smoothie, you can slide out your bins that are already stocked with ingredients and mix and match to your heart's content, with no digging in crisper drawers necessary.

This food storage method opens up the door to all sorts of possibilities. You can assemble narrow bins that meet your snacking needs for carbs, protein, fiber, and fat (meat/cheese/veggie/cracker bin, anyone?), bins with slats for air circulation to put salad ingredients all together, and more combinations that support your new healthy habits.

Raise your hand if you unload groceries into your pantry and cabinets and hope everything fits, assuming you'll be able to find it later. *Entire internet raises hand.*

There's a better way to do this that's painless and will encourage you to eat the way you want to by allowing you to find your VIP ingredients easily. Creating food storage zones makes it so that you know where things go automatically and where to get them when it's time to eat.

Try using wire baskets with label holders to section and sort your food storage and pantry staples. Place all of your canned soup and broth in one basket (or multiple next to each other), and do the same with canned vegetables, soups, baby foods, and so on. Creating your own labels is easy -- cut a piece of paper to fit the label holder and write the contents on it in bold, legible writing. And even if your handwriting is less than legible, you'll still be able to see exactly where everything is with the open wire of the baskets. 

If you'd prefer not to create your own labels, metal clip-on tags with pre-printed labels

do the work for you and fit neatly on various bins and baskets, allowing you to customize the look of your food storage space. To incorporate natural elements into your food storage system, you could go with woven hyacinth baskets, or if sleek and see-through is more your style, stackable lidded bins are the way to go. 

No matter your decor preference, using bins and labels removes the stress of food storage and meal prep, making a healthier lifestyle more attainable. Happy New Year, indeed.