5 Tips for A Healthy Fridge
Kristen Wilk, MS, RDN
Want to eat better? At Pre, we know a thing or two about quality sourcing. Revamp your your fridge to set yourself up for success. Here are 5 healthy fridge tips to live by:
1. Stock the rainbow.
Your fridge should be colorful! In food, color naturally comes from nutrients, so a variety of colors means a variety of nutrients – what you want for an optimally functioning body and mind.
2. Lean on staples for a healthy fridge.
Cover your bases for your basic recipe needs, and keep healthy building blocks on rotation so that when you need a quick bite, you’re not a slave to your snack drawer. (How to stock a healthy snack drawer is the next lesson.)
3. Board according to zone.
Fridge stocking isn’t a free-for-all. Rather than the “shove everything in” method, what goes on which shelf matters, for food safety reasons. Not everything is as fail-proof as Pre’s vacuum sealed packaging, so raw meats, poultry and seafood should go on the bottom shelf. Produce can go next (or in humidity-controlled drawers), and dairy and other packaged goods can sit up top.
4. Nutrition 101.
Digging up nutrition class knowledge here – certain foods in all 5 food group are better off in the fridge than the pantry. And in a healthy fridge, you want some from every group: grains, fruits, vegetables, proteins and milk or dairy alternatives.
5. Keep it clean!
You might slack on laundry, but don’t neglect your fridge. Make cleanliness your baseline, and do a monthly deep-clean (take out fridge contents, discard outdated items and scrub surfaces).
You tell us: What's your favorite healthy fridge staple? Respond in the comments below!
