10 ways to make your kitchen healthier

They say that the kitchen is the heart of your home. It’s the place you prepare food. Food powers your body and helps you to keep healthy and ultimately – alive. Making sure that your kitchen it set up to make is easy for you to be healthy is the key to your success.

There are many ways you can prepare, here are our top 10 tips to help you:

1. Make sure it’s clean
   This sound simple, but the kitchen is where your food is prepared so the first thing is to ensure that it is hygienic.
2. Keep water in the fridge
   Cold water is refreshing, and you will drink it easier than water from the tap. You can keep bottled water or fill up a reusable jug or glass bottle. Keeping hydrated it important to make sure you keep healthy, you should aim to drink 1.2 litres per day.
3. Don’t keep unhealthy food
   If you have cupboards full of unhealthy food you may be tempted to eat it, whereas if you don’t buy it or keep it in the house you can’t eat it. It helps you to remove the temptation or grab something convenient that you know isn’t a healthy choice.
4. Be organised
   When you are cooking, is everything ready for you to grab? Make sure that your utensils are handy, get all of the ingredients you need out ready. You are far more likely to make meals if it’s quick and easy than if it’s time consuming or you don’t have what you need
5. 
6. Stock up on healthy foods
   If you have lots of fruit and veg, meat and healthy ingredients in your fridge and cupboards you are less likely to reach for an unhealthy food and you will have the right foods on hand. Foods such as lentils, eggs, beans, peas, nuts and oats all have a long shelf life and are good to keep on hand to be able to make something healthy when you don’t have anything fresh in.
7. Get some cookbooks
   If you feel that you are always cooking the same meals or get bored of eating cookbooks are ideal for a bit of inspiration. There are so many healthy cookbooks available to buy and some amazing recipes online for free. We’ve put together a collection of healthy recipes on our meal ideas page to help you.
8. Use the internet
   If you don’t know how to cook it is so easy to learn through things like YouTube or online blogs, you can get ideas and inspiration as well as hints and tips to make cooking enjoyable. The more you cook from the scratch the healthier it will be as you know exactly what you are putting in.
9. Store food properly
   One of the biggest issues with people buying fruit or vegetables is that it doesn’t stay fresh for long enough. Make sure to pay attention to food labels and how it should be stored, this will help to prolong the shelf life of products and keep them fresher for longer.
10. Keep in fresh herbs and spices
    Herbs and spices give food a burst of flavour and will help you to cut down on seasoning your food with lots of salt or using condiments. It will also inspire you to experiment with herbs and spices and different meats to keep your diet interesting.
11. Play music whilst you cook
    Have a docking station or a smart speaker on hand in the kitchen, listen to music, the radio, a podcast or an audiobook. This will help to make cooking enjoyable so it feels like less of a chore and something you enjoy doing.