May 2021 Nutrition Blog
Clean Up Your Act
By - Ellen Levine, MS, RDN, EP
Spring is here and it is time to use this as an opportunity to clean up our act in the kitchen! How often do you clean out your refrigerator, pantry and cabinets? If this is less than once per year, you will be surprised at what you will find.
Let us start in the refrigerator. Take a closer look at what is on the door. Ketchup, mustard, dressings, and jarred sauces tend to take up residence here and even though they may not be visibly spoiled, throw them out if they have pasted there expiration date. Move on to the fruit and vegetable drawers, take everything out and make sure nothing has passed its prime. If you discover that anything is on the verge, that is great, make a soup or stir-fry with them. On the main shelf look at the dates of all juices, soda drinks, etc. and discard any open products that have been hanging around for more than 1 to 2 weeks. On the upper shelves you may find cheese, butter and buttery spread, if you cannot find a date these are okay (within reason)as long as they don’t have any visible spoiling, changing color, separation or smell. In the deli drawer make sure all fresh cold cuts are eaten within 5 days of purchase.
Moving on to the cabinet and pantry. If you do not bake often there is a good chance that your flour should be used or thrown out. How does your bread look? If the loaf has been open for more than five days move it to the fridge and if that is your usual pattern keep it in the fridge in the future. If you have nuts and seeds in the pantry especially raw nuts and seeds move them to the fridge or freezer if they will not be use for a while. Then go through all the boxes and cans. For the boxes, unless the inner bag is well sealed, they should be used within about two weeks of opening. Make sure all the cans and jars are not open or damaged and only keep them if their use by date has not passed.
Use this not only as an opportunity to get rid of anything that has been hanging around too long, but also those items that you have been thinking about giving up. Maybe those empty-calorie, crunchy, salty snack foods or the sweeter frozen delights that you can easily replace with lighter, fresher, sweet spring fruits like nutrient dense, anti-inflammatory, delicious pineapple! Cleaning up the clutter in the kitchen is an easy step to “cleaner “eating.