My Family's Fridge Essentials

As with my list of Pantry Essentials, this list is what works for my family...although I hope it can work for yours too! Life is busy so having an organized and well stocked refrigerator can make meal planning and prep much easier. As always, you have to stock it with what your family enjoys - yet adding a few new items every once in a while won't kill you.

Swapping out ingredients can also be beneficial to your health. If you always eat salad, for example, replace spinach lettuce for romaine lettuce, walnuts for croutons, or even dried cranberries for prepackaged shredded carrots. Each one of these simple swaps adds nutrients to your diet making it much more valuable to your overall health.

I also highly recommend swapping out any butter substitute for the real thing - plain old fashioned butter. Using it sparingly, its a great addition for flavor to any meal or meal prep. I do have one exception - Earth Balance Buttery Spread - which you can read about more in detail through the link. Its a great topping for your morning toast, breads, or bagels. We don't require a ton of spreadable butter in our house, but I always have Earth Balance on hand for those times when its needed.  Otherwise I use real butter for everything.

(my fridge looks exceptionally small from this angle)

• Organic Milk - Hormone free milk is worth every penny of your family's health. Enough said.
• Unsweetened Almond Milk - its delicious and you can add it to oatmeal, cereal, or coffee.
• Organic Eggs - scrambled, hard boiled, sunny side up. You name it- they're good for you!
• Greek Yogurt - Delicious for a meal or snack. Add granola, flax seed, or berries for added nutrition.
• All Natural Peanut Butter - Refer to my PB post :)
• Hummus - We LOVE hummus so I buy it in bulk. Its on my to-do list to start making my own.
• Earth Balance Spread - see above link.
• Butter - Organic, grass fed real butter.
• Cream Cheese - Organic, if possible. I haven't been able to escape the cream cheese craze yet.
• Shredded Cheddar Cheese - Trader Joes has a great hormone free brand.
• Soft Tortillas - Also purchased from Trader Joes. Quesadillas are a big staple in our house.
• Salsa - Easy addition to any Mexican dish or salad.
• Spinach Lettuce - Salad or smoothie base and good fiber source. Plus my kids love salad. (yeah!)
• Onions & Sweet Potatoes (and other seasonal veggies)- Buy veggies that work for you. Whether you roast, bake, or grill - they're great as side dish to any meal!
• Organic Whole Carrots - Take the time to peel and cut your own carrots. The flavor is outstanding and they actually contain the vitamins and nutrients you need (as opposed to baby carrots).
• Berries (and other seasonal fruits) - I think 50% of our food budget goes to fruit. We eat them up alone, in smoothies, on yogurt...anywhere! Plus they're a great source of vitamins and antioxidants.

When you open the door to my fridge you will always see a ready made (by me) salad, washed and cut up fruit, hard boiled eggs, and Tupperware of cooked salmon. These four items fuel my family throughout the week and in between meals. I have found that having these items ready-made enables healthier choices in the spur of the moment and require no work for mom :) Again, it is important to figure out what items are important to your family and then you can begin making healthier tweaks from there. One step at a time will get you to your goal of a healthier lifestyle.

I can almost guarantee you that there is a vegetable or fruit out there you haven't tried that will soon be your new favorite!