Step 1: Do a Clean Sweep of Your Kitchen!

The goal of cleaning out and organizing your pantry is to get rid of tempting foods that aren't good for your health, and replace them with nutritious foods that are well organized, which will make cooking and baking a breeze!

Focus on getting rid of processed foods, starting with foods that are made with white flour and sugar. Replace these items with “Clean, Whole, Unprocessed” Foods.

Here are some great swap outs to get you on your way to a clean eating pantry:

Instead of:

• White Sugar
• White Flour
• White Pasta/Bread/Cereals
• Unhealthy Fats
• Processed Snacks (such as crackers, chips, cookies, etc.)

Use/Try:

• Stevia, Honey, or Sugar in the Raw (or sweetener of choice other than white sugar)
• Oat Flour (or almond or coconut flour for grain free options)
• High Fiber Pasta or Quinoa
• Whole Grain Bread (Ezekiel bread is a great choice)
• Applesauce, Coconut Oil, Olive Oil (in moderation)
• Snacks with Whole Grains, High in Protein, No Sugar Added

Step 2: Download Dashing Dish's Complete Guide to Clean Eating to Re-Stock Your Kitchen and Equip Yourself with Knowledge!

This Complete Guide to Clean Eating includes:

• Healthy Eating Basics
• Clean Grocery List
• How to Read a Nutrition Label
• Tips for Putting Together a Healthy Meal
• Healthy Eating Tips
• Clean Eating Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, Dessert & Snack Ideas

Step 3: Learn How to Meal Prep and Get Prepared for the Week Ahead!

Here at Dashing Dish, we believe that meal prep is such an important part of finding success in a long-term healthy lifestyle. The greatest part is that with just a little practice it’s absolutely manageable! Here is a little peak into a day of meal prepping to help get you started!

Step One: Get organized by laying everything out. I lay out all the food items I’ll need as well as cooking supplies I’ll be using so they’re ready to go. Your kitchen will look like it’s out of control, it will resemble a busy night at a 5-star restaurant, don’t be overwhelmed by that. It naturally cleans up as you go!

Step Two: Prepare your meats. The first thing I do is to start my meats so they can be cooking while I prep other things. I brown 2-lbs of lean ground turkey to use throughout the week and put chicken breasts in the crock-pot for shredded chicken (I usually cook 6-8 breasts). From here all you have to do is occasionally stir the ground turkey and you’re done with meat prep!

Step Three: Start starches and baked goods. I generally prepare two batches of baked goods/snacks to last my family for the week. I put those in the oven so they can be cooking while I move on to prepare fruits and veggies.

My favorites are Clean Eating Blueberry Muffins (pictured here), Chocolate Peanut Butter Protein Muffins, Grain Free Banana Bread, No Bake Cookie Protein Balls and Homemade “Fit” Granola Bars.

Something else I do at this point that I’ve found to be SO helpful during the school week it to prepare peanut butter and jelly sandwiches ahead of time. I send PB&Js every other day in my kid’s lunches. One day they get something a bit more fun and creative, the next a standard run-of-the-mill PB&J. It keeps costs down and mom’s sanity up. I simply lay out two loafs of bread, side-by-side and construct two loaves worth of sandwiches at a time. Then, I keep them in the freezer. On school mornings, it’s a breeze to grab a sandwich for each lunchbox. By lunch time they are at a perfect temperature and ready to eat.

I also start of batch of quinoa cooking in my rice cooker. It’s the simplest, best way I’ve found to prepare it. I just dump it in and forget about it! So great! I use the quinoa all week for meals and sides! Finally, I put 4 or 5 sweet potatoes in the oven. They are nice to have available throughout the week to quickly heat and serve as a side, or even to mash and freeze for mixing into the following weeks baked goods.

Step Four: Prepare your fruits and vegetables. Do you see how this begins to flow? You’ve got two types of meats cooking, two or three sets of baked good baking, along with healthy starches, all while you move on to the next step!

(Helpful tip: At this point, I’ll usually do a quick kitchen clean-up. It helps the process stay organized and keeps it from feeling like an overwhelming mess. I just throw away all trash, load dirty dishes and wipe up the counters before I move on.)

Now, it’s time to prepare your fruits and veggies. You will be AMAZED at how many more fruits and veggies you’ll eat when they are already prepared!

The type of fruits and veggies I prepare each week does vary based on what I’ve had delivered, what’s in season, etc. but the process is always the same. I wash everything and start slicing, chopping, and dicing. Most of the time you’ll find things like sliced cucumber, sliced carrot sticks, pepper strips, cut up watermelon, etc.

(Help tip: If you place a damp paper towel over sliced cucumber it helps keep it fresh.)

(Helpful tip #2: A really great and frugal way to store food is by reusing glass containers. I rarely spend money on food storage containers and instead reuse glass peanut butter jars, applesauce jars, etc. They work GREAT!)

Step Five: Make a few meals and clean up. My final step is to make a meal that will last for at least a couple of days or more. For me that usually ends up being something like Dashing Dish soups, Skinny Crockpot Lasagna, Easy Crockpot Baked Ziti, or Cheesy Chicken Broccoli and “Rice” Casserole

Today’s meal was Crockpot Skinny Zuppa Toscana Soup. So, I steamed the cauliflower while I finished the other fruit and veggie prep, that way it was cooked and ready to go. Simple recipes like this one come together in just minutes and can be served for lunches and dinner for days!

Last but not least, finish tiding up your kitchen so you leave feeling great and organized. I’ve cleaned up as I go, so this final clean up doesn’t feel daunting. It’s usually just rinsing a few final dishes, wiping down counters and tossing my trash bag. - Sarah Shaffer