Organize Your Fridge & Freezer

UPDATE: You can now find me at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

This months Organize This! Challenge is to organize your refrigerator.

My fridge…and especially my freezer…are seriously neglected. When I come home from the grocery store, I just throw it all in wherever it will fit. This is what my fridge looked like after my most recent trip to the grocery store.

As you can see, this is the reason why our leftovers sometimes go bad. They are crammed to the back when the new food comes in.

I leave other items in grocery bags or the plastic fruit/veggie bags. I don’t put the fruits and veggies into their designated bins.

This is also the reason why it takes me 5 minutes to find the butter in the morning or the meat I am needing to set out for dinner.  It is the reason I thought I had frozen carrots for tonight’s dinner but when I go to dig them out of the freezer I discover I have already used them.

So I decided if I really want to do my best not to waste food (and time) then I needed a new strategy.

Tiffany’s Organize the Fridge Strategy:

1. Get rid of anything you no longer use. (processed stuff, expired items, etc)

2. Don’t leave items in grocery bags and veggie bags.

3. Have a specific place for everything. Put like items together.

I used a little basket to put all the cheeses and lunch meats. I put the veggies in the veggie drawer and the fruit in the fruit drawer. I put the eggs in the egg section of the fridge. I put all the juices together…All the frozen veggies together…All the frozen fruits together. You get the point.

It really wasn’t a huge project and now my fridge and freezer are organized. The hard part will be implementing new habits to ensure it stays this way. But for now…isn’t it nice and organized??

Linked up to:

The Shabby Creek Cottage

Deal Alert: Eating Well Magazine- $5.99

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Thanks Hip2Save!

How to be Truly Healthy

UPDATE: You can now find me at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

Many of us are on the road to living a healthy life. A life that is filled with the ability to go chase around our kids or grandkids, to play a game of soccer or basketball,  or to simply be able to go shopping without the assistance of anyone or anything. A life that is filled with joy and not all the complex problems that difficult relationships can bring. A life that is void of the complications that an unhealthy lifestyle can bring.

Sometimes, despite our best efforts to be healthy, sickness comes, hardship comes, and even death comes.

Yesterday I received the news that my 78-year-old uncle passed away. He lived a good, full life. I have no doubt that now he is rejoicing and dancing on the streets of gold. However, his last few weeks here on this earth were ones of sickness and pain.

In moments like these, many question God as to why He didn’t physically heal our loved one…why He chose to perfectly heal them by taking them home with Him.

However, sometimes it’s not for us to know. He knows better than we know. In moments like these, instead of questioning, we should realize our complete need to depend upon Him for life, strength, and health. He uses moments like these to remind us that He is the one in whom we must trust and depend at all times…not just in moments like these.

This morning I was reading a devotion from The Andrew Murray Daily Reader and wanted to share an excerpt of it with you. No matter where you may find yourself today…in health, in sickness, in mourning, or filled with joy, the only true health and strength and life can be found in our full dependence on Jesus.

“Christ’s purpose in healing is also the exact opposite of physical healing, which aims, if at all possible, toward independence from the doctors. Christ’s condition of success is to bring us into such dependence upon himself that we will not be able to live a moment without Him.

Christ Jesus Himself is our life in a sense that many Christians cannot conceive. The weak and frail Christian life owes itself to a lack of appropriation of divine truth. As long as we expect Christ to continually do something for us in single acts of grace, trusting Him from time to time to give us that which will last a little while, we cannot be restored to perfect health. But when we grasp the fact that we need Him moment by moment in our lives in utter dependence upon His strength and provision, then the life of Christ becomes the health of our soul. Heath is nothing but life in its normal, undisturbed activity. Christ gives us health by giving us himself; He becomes our strength for our walk.“

Scripture focus: John 5:6-9

Linked up to:

We are that Family

Women Living Well

Raising Homemakers

Christian Mommy Blogger

Raising Mighty Arrows

The Picket Fence

Gratituesday: A Challenge for You

UPDATE: You can now find me at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

Tuesday. The day after Monday. There really isn’t much said about Tuesdays. Mondays are usually dreaded. Wednesday is considered “hump day” and signals that we have made it half way through the work week. Thursday is Friday Eve. Friday….can I just say TGIF.

But Tuesday…nobody really has much to say about it. So I love the fact that Heavenly Homemakers has labeled Tuesday as Gratituesday. A day to give thanks and open our eyes to all that we have been blessed with and be grateful for it.

I want to challenge you to make a list of 5 things you are thankful for today.

Here’s my list:

1. Sunshine

2. Alarm Clocks

3. God’s Provision for my family

4. God’s protection (Psalm 91)

5. Coffee

Let’s  make every Tuesday a Gratituesday! Better yet, let’s make every DAY a day a day filled with gratitude!

Linked up to: Heavenly Homemakers

Flash Freezing 101

UPDATE: You can now find me at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

I never realized how easy it is to flash freeze vegetables. I have frozen vegetables before but the only problem was that I was expecting to pull the bag out and watch as each individual vegetable fell out of the bag and into the pan. Unfortunately when I pulled out the bag to use it, it was just a big ball of iced vegetables clumped all together. ICK!

Flash freezing is what you can do to prevent that from happening and enjoy your frozen veggies in the same way you enjoy the store bought frozen veggies.

It’s SUPER easy to do and will save you from having to throw out veggies and fruit that you bought but never used.

All you need is:

Wax paper

Cookie sheets

Freezer bags

Fruits/Veggies

Knife

Cutting board

First, lay out your cookie sheet and place a piece of wax paper on it. This will prevent your veggies from sticking to the cookie sheet and allow you to easily remove them once they are frozen.

Then, cut up your vegetables and fruit. Slice and dice to your hearts desire.

Next, lay out your veggies on the wax paper covered cookie sheet in a single layer.

Place your veggie filled cookie sheet in the freezer and set a timer for about 30 minutes. (Depending on how you slice & dice and what vegetables/fruits you are using you may need to leave them in there a little longer.)

After that, go about your day until you hear the timer ding. If the veggies are fully frozen, remove them. If not, leave them in there until they are frozen.

Lastly, remove the frozen veggies/fruits from the cookie sheet and dump into a freezer bag. Be sure to mark your bag with the date.

Viola! You now have your very own bagged, frozen vegetables and fruits. Now you can feel free to buy the discounted fruit and vegetables from the grocery store (provided you flash freeze them before they go bad.).

If you’d like to see a video tutorial, check out Faithful Provisions.

Linked up to:

Time Warp Wife

5 minutes for Mom

Far Above Rubies

Whole New Mom

Raising 4 Princesses

Christian Mommy Blogger

We are that Family

Kelly the Kitchen Kop

Little Natural Cottage

Life As Mom

Weekly Menu Plan 1/23-1/29

UPDATE: You can now find me at www.healthynbalanced.com.

 

A lot of last week’s menu plan didn’t happen. It was a week filled with waking up too late, feeling kind of crummy, and no energy to cook dinner. We still managed to eat nourishing food but not much of what was on the menu plan.

Praise God that yesterday I was pretty energized. I decided to prep a lot of the food so that I will be able to easily throw dinner together-even when I don’t have the energy.

Breakfast:

Monday & Tuesday-Gallopinto , Ezekiel bread toast, orange slices

Wednesday-Overnight Pancakes, Bananas

Thursday- Scrambled Eggs, Ezekiel Bread toast, DG Smoothie (if time)

Friday- Scrambled Eggs, Ezekiel Bread toast, orange slices

Saturday-Omelet w/ tomato & bacon, oatmeal

Sunday- Healthified French Toast Sticks, Bananas & blueberries

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Lunch: We always have leftovers 

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Dinner:

Monday- Taco Salad

Tuesday- Chicken Stir Fry

Wednesday- Healthified Chicken Enchiladas, Brown Rice, Black Beans, Avocado

Thursday- Fiesta Chicken Salad

Friday- Spaghetti, Side Salad

Saturday-  Crockpot Whole Chicken, Oven Baked Potato Fries, Green Beans

Sunday- Arroz Con Pollo, Beans, Platanos

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Snacks:

Yogurt w/fruit (mix it up in the food processor)

Smoothies (Pretty Purple Smoothie, The BOSS) and Healthified Popcorn

Fruit (Oranges, Bananas,Kiwi, Grapefruit, Pears)

Healthified Trail Mix

Applesauce Bread with Honey Butter (This has been on my menu for a few weeks and I STILL have not made it. It’s so easy, I don’t know why I keep putting it off. Hopefully tonight I will find the inspiration to do it! )

Linked up to:

Org Junkie

Heavenly Homemakers

Mom’s the Word

Mom’s Plans

Money Saving Mom

Pick Me Up Monday

Psalm 84:11

For the LORD God is a sun and shield;
the LORD bestows favor and honor.
No good thing does he withhold
from those who walk uprightly.