5 Steps to Clean Out the Refrigerator and Plan Your Meals for the Week
THE FIVE STEPS
- Clear out the refrigerator
- Organize current groceries
- Plan your meals
- Shop for new groceries
- Stick to your meal plan
THIS IS MY REFRIGERATOR.
FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTION
It’s no fluff Friday, the day I give you a straightforward do it right now tip a task that can impact your motherhood, your marriage, or even your home maintenance. And today it’s all about resetting your refrigerator.
0:16
Last week, I shared with you how I do a weekly weekend reset. I reset the different areas in my home to make me better prepared for the week to come. It helps to keep stress levels in my home down. It helps me to get dinner on the table nightly. Can I get an amen from some busy moms, especially moms who are involved in baseball? My kids are involved in baseball involved in dance, soccer, you name it, we’re part of it. And I find getting dinner on the table to be one of the hardest things. But if I can reset my refrigerator, and our groceries during my weekend reset, I find our weeks to go so much smoother. Everyone’s fed and if everyone is fed, everyone is happier.
1:04
I’m going to share with you how I do my refrigerator reset during my weekend reset. I have five steps for you so it can be super simple. I want you to follow along with me and do them with me while I’m telling you these. And if you need to come back to this episode every weekend until it becomes a habit for you then do it. Write down these steps if you need to follow them. I’m sure that it’s going to impact your home maintenance in a positive way.
1:33
Step number one is to clear the refrigerator. Now, I don’t clear the things out of the door where the condiments are. I might reset them and rearrange them because I like my condiments to be lined up in a certain way. I like the sandwich stuff to be on one level, the salad dressings to be on another level and so on. I take everything else out of the refrigerator. If we haven’t eaten any leftovers by then, we either have it on Sunday for one of meals or I just count my losses and toss it. I put those dishes in the sink to wash them.
2:17
Once I’ve taken everything out of the refrigerator, I do a quick wipe down with my Thieves Cleaner and a rag. I find that the way that I shop on a cycle, most of the time our refrigerator is pretty empty by the time Sunday comes around. I don’t like to buy things in bulk because we end up wasting them so I like to plan out my meals. By the time Sunday comes comes along, my refrigerator is pretty much empty other than the leftovers so it’s easy to pull out everything and wipe down the refrigerator.
2:50
Based on what I have left over as far as the ingredients that I have, any meats or any vegetables, I go to step number two, and I plan my meals based on the groceries and ingredients that I already have on hand. That is the groceries that are in the pantry and the groceries that are in the refrigerator and freezer. I make a list of any meals that I can make with the supplies that are already have.
3:22
Then step number three, I organize my current groceries. Now for me I like to organize my groceries based on the day that I’m going to make the meal. I have these little bins, they look like little book bins that you would see at the library and on the outside of them on the front of them, I have the days of the week. On Monday if I’m cooking chicken pot pie, I will have all of the ingredients that are refrigerated ingredients in that bin for the chicken pot pie. When I look up on my meal planning board and I see Chicken Potpie, I know that I just have to go right to the bin in the refrigerator that’s for Monday and pull out those ingredients. It makes it a lot easier.
4:23
Plus, I have discovered that the ingredients that I’m using for that specific meal won’t get eaten. My family knows to leave the food in the bins alone. They are not snacks, and they are actually meant for a meal so they shouldn’t eat those ingredients.
4:41
If you don’t want to get super specific and organize your groceries like that, just make sure you have designated a spot for them to where everybody knows in your family that those groceries are off limits because they’re meant for meals.
5:00
Step number four is after you’ve made your meal plan, and you’ve organized your current groceries, you now are going to make a shopping list and shop for your new groceries. If you have a list of meals that your family loves, pull your make your meal plan from that list, and then make your grocery list based off of your meal plan. Now I find that when I don’t go to the grocery store with a list, I end up buying way more than I need. When I don’t have a plan, I end up buying maybe one ingredient for one meal and then forgetting the other one because I don’t have in mind what I’m going to cook and what day I’m going to cook it on.
5:45
I base my meal plan off of what our life looks like for the upcoming week. I know three days out of the week, I’m going to be coming home late because I’m picking up my daughter from dance. Two of those days we also coming home late from taking my son to baseball. One of those days my daughter is going to church so she’s not eating with us. I take into account what meals I need to make based on our activities. They might be quick meals. They might be crock pot meals. They might be InstantPot meals. Or they’re going to be small meals because only a couple of people in our family are eating. So think about the days of the week, the meals that you need to make for those specific days, and map it out. And then create your grocery list from that list of meals.
6:28
Then step number five is to follow your meal plan! You need to actually make yourself eat and cook the things that you have plan for. I find that when I don’t follow my meal plan I end up wasting so much food and I end up feeling so much more stressed out. Planning our meals makes our weeks go so much smoother, and everybody is happier when I follow a meal plan. I love sitting at the dinner table with my family. When I can cook a meal that actually has a side to it, I feel like all the angels are singing from heaven because Jered, my husband, he has said, “hey, can we have some veggies to go with this chicken?” I’m like, “Oh yeah, I should probably plan for that.”
7:27
Let’s recap these five steps and I hope that it benefits you and helps you to get your refrigerator cleaned out and reset each weekend.
8:31
Step number one, clear out the refrigerator. Get it all nice and clear so you can clean it. Step number two is to plan your meals based on the ingredients that you already have on hand. Step number three, organize your current groceries so restock your refrigerator put it back in your refrigerator. Step number four is to grow grocery shopping for your new groceries. And I highly recommend having a specific day that you go grocery shopping it just makes the flow so much better. Step number five is to follow your meal plan. Follow your rules. Alright friends, I hope you enjoyed this quick little episode. And I hope that also helps your week to go a lot smoother. I’ll see you next time right here on The Habits and Home Show.
