If you have been with me this far, we have been focusing on the kitchen and the small steps I would suggest taking from beginning to end to bring your kitchen one step closer to being non-toxic and more naturally you.
In this post, I want to recap those steps so you can always come back to one place and see the kitchen process laid out simply, step by step.
And if you are new here, I would suggest starting with The Kitchen Takeover, Part One and working your way through the posts in order. Each one builds on the next, and I think that makes the whole process feel a lot less overwhelming.
Because that is really the goal here.
Step One: Start With Non-Toxic Food Storage
This is a realistic, easy first step in our kitchen takeover.
Start with your plastic food containers. Toss the old, discolored, stained, and melted ones. If they have been warped by the microwave or look like they have survived one too many rounds of leftovers, it may be time to let them go.
You don’t have to throw away every plastic container you own. Keep the good ones that are still in decent shape and use them for cold foods or things like school lunches. Because realistically, I am not sending my child to school with a glass container and hoping for the best.
From there, start replacing your plastic containers with glass when you can. In the original post, I shared the budget-friendly glass set I use every day in my own home, and that has been one of the easiest swaps I have made in my kitchen.
Making the switch to glass gave me peace of mind. I know I am not reheating my family’s food in plastic anymore, and that alone makes me feel better about what is touching the food I feed them.
So step one is this: clean out the container cabinet, keep what still makes sense, stop microwaving plastic, and start moving toward glass for leftovers and reheating.
Step Two: Look at Your Kitchen Cleaners
After food storage, the next place I would look is under the kitchen sink.
This is where we talked about kitchen cleaners, disinfectant sprays, and the difference between cleaning and disinfecting.
And I think this is such an important step because so many of us grew up thinking that if something has a strong smell, it must be clean. If it smells like bleach, lemon, or some kind of fresh kitchen scent, we assume it is doing what it needs to do.
But most of the time, our kitchens don’t need to be disinfected. They just need to be cleaned.
There is absolutely a time and place for disinfecting. After raw meat, sickness, or a mess that truly needs it, yes. But I don’t think disinfectant sprays need to be treated like everyday counter cleaners.
We dive into this more in the kitchen disinfectant post, and I also share my go-to kitchen spray that I make and use for everyday cleaning. Go check it out!
But for this recap, the main thing I want you to take away is this:
Start paying attention to the cleaner you reach for the most. Check the ingredients. Look at what you are using day after day without thinking much about it.
What are you spraying on your counters every day?
What are you wiping across the surfaces your family and food touch?
What are you and your family breathing in while you clean?
So step two is this: look under your kitchen sink, pay attention to the cleaner you use the most, learn the difference between cleaning and disinfecting, and start using a simpler everyday spray for the regular messes that do not need a full disinfectant.
Step Three: Learn How to Read Food Labels
Once we talked about what was touching our food and what we were cleaning with, the next step was looking at the food itself.
This is where we talked about food labels and ingredient lists, and this is such an important step because food packaging can be really misleading.
The biggest thing I want you to remember from that post is this:
Flip the package over.
The front of the package is there to sell you something. It can say natural, wholesome, made with real fruit, high protein, organic, no added sugar, or whatever else sounds good in that moment.
But the back of the package is where you find the real information.
That is where you can see the ingredient list, the nutrition label, and what the product is actually made of.
In that post, we broke down a Strawberry Pop-Tart label, and it was such a good example of why this matters. The front of the box makes it feel like a quick breakfast or a simple strawberry pastry, but when you look closer, you see refined flour, multiple forms of added sugar, processed oils, artificial dyes, preservatives, and only a small amount of actual fruit.
That is exactly why reading labels matters.
It helps you see past the front of the box and understand what you are really buying.
For this recap, the main thing I want you to take away is this:
Start looking at what your food is actually made of.
What are the first few ingredients?
Is sugar showing up more than once?
Are there artificial colors or ingredients you do not recognize?
Is the ingredient list super long?
Does the front of the package match what is actually on the back?
So step three is this: flip the package over, read the ingredient list, pay attention to what the food is mostly made of, and start letting the back of the package tell you more than the front.
Step Four: Make Simple Food Swaps
After learning how to read labels, the next step is figuring out what to actually change first.
Because once you start flipping packages over, it can feel like everything in your pantry suddenly needs to be questioned. And if we are being honest, that gets overwhelming fast.
That is why I do not think the best place to start is with your whole pantry.
In that post, we talked about the first three food swaps I would make: bread, yogurt, and crackers or snack foods.
I picked those because they are normal, everyday foods. They are things a lot of families buy every week, and they are also really easy places to get fooled by the front of the package.
Bread can look healthy and still start with enriched flour.
Yogurt can look like a simple snack and still be full of added sugar, gums, thickeners, and flavorings.
Crackers and snack foods can look “natural” or “wholesome” just because the box is beige and has a leaf on it. And yes, I have absolutely fallen for the beige box.
That is why this step matters.
It helps you take what you learned from reading labels and actually apply it to the foods your family is already eating.
For this recap, the main thing I want you to take away is this:
Start with the foods you buy the most.
Look at the bread your family eats every week.
Look at the yogurt in your fridge.
Look at the crackers, snacks, bars, or packaged foods you keep buying.
Compare the ingredient lists.
See if there is a simpler option.
Choose the better one when you can.
The more you do this, the easier it gets. After a few grocery trips, the better options start becoming the ones you automatically reach for.
So step four is this: do not try to redo your whole pantry at once. Start with the everyday foods your family buys often, compare labels, and make one simple swap at a time.
Step Five: Keep Organic Food Simple
The last kitchen step we talked about was organic.
And I think this was an important one to end with because once you start paying attention to ingredients and food labels, it is really easy to wonder if everything needs to be organic too.
The answer is No.
Organic can be helpful, but it is not perfect. It does not mean chemical-free. It does not mean pesticide-free. It does not automatically mean healthy. And it does not mean you need to buy every single thing organic for your kitchen to be better.
In that post, we talked about what organic actually means, what it does not mean, and where it may actually be worth spending the extra money.
We also talked about the Dirty Dozen, which is a list that can help you decide which fruits and vegetables may be worth buying organic when it makes sense for your family and your budget.
That part matters because I don’t think we need another grocery rule that makes us feel like we are failing. We need practical guidance. If your family eats strawberries, spinach, apples, or grapes every week, those may be places to pay closer attention. But if organic is too expensive that week, buy the regular produce, wash it, and move on.
We also talked about organic meat, what the label actually means, and why organic is not always the whole story. Sometimes knowing where your food comes from, or buying from a local farmer you trust, can tell you more than a label on a package.
So step five is this: focus on the foods your family eats most often, use tools like the Dirty Dozen to help you decide where organic may matter most, choose the best option that works for your real life, and let the rest be okay.
Where We Go From Here
When you look at it all together, the kitchen process is really about paying attention to the things your family uses every day. The containers your food sits in. The products you spray on your counters. The ingredients in the foods you buy often. The labels that can either help you or completely confuse you in the middle of a grocery aisle.
And I know it can feel like a lot when you first start seeing all of it. I have felt that too.
But the point of this series was never to make the kitchen feel like one more place you are behind. It was to give you a starting point. A way to walk through one room slowly, make better choices where you can, and let it become a little more natural over time.
And now that we have walked through the kitchen, we are going to take that same approach into the next room of the house.
The bathroom. My favorite place to focus on!
Because if the kitchen is where we started paying attention to what touches our food, the bathroom is where we start paying attention to what touches our skin every single day.
All the little things we use without thinking much about them.
So that is where we are headed next.
Love, Andrea.
Start Here If You Are New
The Kitchen Takeover, Part One: https://herquietlife.blog/the-kitchen-takeover-part-one/
The Kitchen Takeover, Part Two: What Is Really in Your Kitchen Disinfectant? https://herquietlife.blog/the-kitchen-takeover-part-two-what-is-really-in-your-kitchen-disinfectant/
How to Read Food Labels and Ingredient Lists Without Getting Fooled: https://herquietlife.blog/how-to-read-food-labels-and-ingredient-lists-without-getting-fooled/
The First 3 Food Swaps to Make When You Start Reading Labels: https://herquietlife.blog/the-first-3-food-swaps-to-make-after-you-start-reading-labels/
Do I Need to Buy Everything Organic? Let’s Make This Simpler: https://herquietlife.blog/do-i-need-to-buy-everything-organic-lets-make-this-simpler/