5 Tips for Organizing Your Favorite Healthy Foods

Your pantry is at the heart of your kitchen and you need it to function efficiently. If you have a beautiful organized space, you are more likely to enjoy the time you are spending in it–which leads to delicious and nutritious meals for you and your loved ones.

I recently met Beth Kruger of?Women’s Room?at a Queen City BNI chapter meeting. Beth offers swoon-worthy?wellness retreats to Morocco?where it’s all about you, your self-care, and relaxation. As a part of this luxurious experience, you’ll learn to cook the luscious food of Morocco and be able to apply that knowledge once you’ve returned to your home kitchen.?Inspired Closets, with 25+ years of experience in the home improvement industry, has found that the pantry is one of the most under-utilized and cluttered spaces in any home. When your healthy food is beautifully presented and easily visible, you’ll be more enticed to choose that for your next meal and less-likely to overbuy. That’s why you will love these 5 helpful pantry design features.

1. Beech Drawers.?

Drawers take a cabinet or pantry from average to stunningly functional. They allow you to easily store away your items rather than digging around to find the quinoa or the canned tuna. When you are cooking or preparing to cook, it’s easy to overlook items in the back of your cabinet. These items often expire as you forget that they are there in the first place. I often buy more of what I already had sitting in the back of my cabinet. Beech drawers are Inspired Closets most-popular (and stylish) inclusions within a pantry design. They come in all different sizes to accommodate your largest to smallest pantry items. You can easily store away a colorful assortment of dried beans and cans of San Marzano Tomatoes for that?minestrone soup?that you will make at the first sign of a winter’s frost.

2. Built-In Storage Dividers.?

I don’t know about you, but I have been known to wake up and make granola bars before everyone else gets out of bed, because, well –insomnia– I just wake up at 4AM and cannot get back to sleep. These dividers help to make that experience a bit more palatable for the rest of the family.?You can prevent the crashing and clanging of baking sheets when making your favorite homemade granola bars with organized built-in dividers. These make it easy to store baking sheets, muffin trays, and cake pans in one place–so as to not wake up everyone in the house with your early morning cooking.

3. Stemware Storage.?

Trust me, as a wine lover in a busy household–storing your wine glasses in a place where they won’t be broken can be a challenge especially if you have a teenager at home or cats that spill and break everything. A pantry design with fully integrated stemware storage gives you a beautiful and secure place to store all of your favorite wine glasses from?Simon Pearce?(the most stunning glassware made right here in Vermont). Not to mention, storing your glasses like this looks lovely and frees up much needed space in a cabinet!

4. Bottle Holders.

I like to keep my pantry stocked with bottled sparkling water, organic juices, and a few nice bottles of wine for a self-care night or a book club meet-up with the girls. If you are anything like me–you will forget about these if you put them away–out of sight–out of mind, as they say. A pantry design with integrated bottle holders helps to prevent this by giving you a pretty spot to store wine until the perfect time arrives to pop the cork! It’s also particularly helpful for those who like to have a few bottles on hand in the pantry but don’t have a dedicated wine cellar.

5. Built-In Coffee Bar.

Calling all coffee lovers! I recently added a Nespresso machine with a frother to my kitchen and I love them–but don’t love how much space they take up on the counter. I would love to have a dedicated space for them. Have you also dreamed of having that built-in coffee bar that you’ve been eyeing on Pinterest for the past year??Inspired Closets?can help you add one anywhere in your home from the kitchen, walk-in pantry, or even finished basement area. There’s no space they can’t transform! I know I talk about giving up coffee with some of my clients–as oftentimes caffeine can lead to stressed adrenals–but there is still nothing better than having a warm drink to begin or end your day. Golden milk is my favorite for hormone balancing. It’s such a luxury to have a beautiful space for that daily ritual, as well as making your herbal teas and tisanes.

Recipes For Fall “Meal Inspiration.”

We know that once?Inspired Closets?has completed your pantry installation that you’ll begin cooking up a storm. Here’s a few healthy and tasty recipes from the Vermont-based blog Healthy Seasonal” to try out this fall!

1. Za’atar Roasted Fingerling Potatoes with Yogurt Tahini Sauce.
2. Simple Tabbouleh Salad.
3. Shredded Carrot Salad with Lemon & Feta.

Whether you’re feeling inspired to cook in a tagine after your 7-night stay with Beth in Morocco or simply need to organize your pantry space,?Inspired Closets?is here to help. They take care of everything for you from all of the design work to the completed installation. Your job is to sit back, have fun, and enjoy the easiest home improvement process of your life!