I hope you enjoyed the pantry staples that I shared with you in my last post.

Here are some of the fresh foods that I always like to have so I can pull a quick and healthy meal together.

Fresh:

Garlic —  Garlic has some great health benefits, and is another great immunity booster so it’s great to use during the winter cold/flu season to keep your family healthy.  These days, I put garlic (often raw, or not cooked for too long so it keeps more of its immune boosting properties) in anything that makes sense – soups, quesadillas, dips, stir-fry etc.  Don’t worry – none goes in my oatmeal!  I love getting fresh garlic from the farmer’s market, but if having fresh doesn’t work for you, you can get minced garlic in jar at the store and keep it in your fridge.

Onions – I’ve been developing a taste for onions, and they also have numerous health benefits – they are anti-inflammatory, contain antioxidents and some studies have shown them to reduce risk of cancer.  I use them primarily in soups and vegetable based dishes (like the squash dish I made for Thanksgiving – link).  I always have a couple of yellow onions in case I need them for something.

In the fridge:

Greens —  I like to have a variety of greens on hand primarily for salads, smoothies and stir-fry dishes.  They are also a great addition to soups.  Kale and spinach top my list, but some others that are nice to have are arugula, collards, and chard.  The best thing about these greens is that if I find I have more than I’m going to use before they go bad, I rinse and dry them, rip them into smaller pieces and throw them in a freezer bag.

Fruit – I always like to have some fruit, fresh or frozen, so that I can make smoothies.  As with greens, if I have bananas that are going to go bad, I peel them and put them in a freezer bag to use for smoothies.  I always have bags of strawberries, blueberries and raspberries in my freezer too.  I like to use them to make smoothies cold instead of using ice.  I also always make sure to have lemons in my kitchen.  They are an alkalizing food, so they keep our pH levels balanced.  My favorite uses for lemons are homemade salad dressings and lemon juice in a cup of hot water.

Fermented Foods – Fermented foods are really important for our gut health and our immunity.  The probiotics in these foods are important because they are the healthy bacteria that we need to stay healthy.  My favorite foods in this category are miso and sauerkraut.  Miso is a great soup base, and I try to eat a couple of forkfuls of sauerkraut every day.

Yogurt – Like the fermented foods mentioned above, yogurt is a great probiotic, so it’s got a lot of good bacteria and is great to boost immunity.  I sometimes have trouble digesting dairy products, but I am usually fine with yogurt, so it’s a good source of dairy to keep in the kitchen.

I hope that you find this list useful and I hope that it helps make healthy eating simpler for you.  Please contact me or leave a comment if you have any questions or anything to add.  I’d love to know what staples are in your kitchen!

Peace, Love, and Wellness,

Xandra