While New Year’s Resolutions may not be your thing, the idea of getting better with each passing year has a certain appeal. Being busy – too busy – can have negative consequences for health, personal goals, and relationships. Simplifying life in the kitchen – how you shop for, make, serve, and store food – can help you feel more in control and fulfilled.

1. Ask Alexa for help

Did you know that Amazon’s Echo Dot persona, Alexa, can function as a digital assistant in the kitchen? Alexa can keep a running grocery list that you can access on your phone when you go shopping. Anyone in the house can use voice commands to add to the list, so there are no more excuses for not disclosing the end of the orange juice. Alexa can also set cooking timers and reminders. If your hands are covered in flour, you can ask Alexa to set a timer without having to touch anything. You can have her remind you about maintenance tasks on your freeze dryer days or weeks in the future.

2. Determine a shopping day

Look at your calendar for the week ahead and carve out an hour or two for grocery shopping. Prioritize it as an important meeting or appointment and protect it. When you have good food in the house, it’s much easier to stick to your health and fitness resolutions.

3. Put leftovers to work

Make too much chili and can’t face another bowl of leftovers? Everybody came to your party but nobody ate anything? Freeze dried leftovers are a lifesaver for busy nights, fast lunches for work or school, or evenings when you can’t face the kitchen. Freeze drying leftovers can save you hundreds of dollars over the course of the year, and reduces food waste.

4. Don’t cook – assemble

Don’t love cooking or following recipes? Give up cooking complicated recipes and just assemble the basics for healthy entrees. Freeze dry the building blocks of well-rounded meals so you can just assemble already-cooked ingredients quickly. Create a stash of freeze-dried lean proteins such as chicken, shrimp, and salmon so you can make a no-fuss healthy meal in minutes. Rehydrate meat by soaking in hot water until it returns to its original consistency. Then add a steamed vegetable and a complex carbohydrate such as flavored rice or grains to your plate and you’re done.

5. Pre-prep on weekends

If you’re planning meals ahead, do the prep work on the weekends. Even better, do the prep work for a month (or more) of meals all at once. Freeze dry the ingredients and you’ll be ready for fast, home-cooked meals in minutes. Freeze dry cooked meats, diced vegetables, cooked grains and pasta, even entire entrees and side dishes ahead of time. Label everything clearly in your pantry so your meal prep is easy and fun.

From all of us at Harvest Right, we wish you a very happy – and simplified – 2018!