A Healthful, Organized Kitchen

Food is a perpetual stressor in my life. I didn't grow up gardening so I don't really know how (yet) to grow my own food as I'd like to. I am also a reluctant cook. Much of the food in the grocery store looks like poison to me, covered in pesticides and highly processed sugar, corn, soy, and bleached wheat. These things plus the considerations of a budget have often left me feeling frustrated, confused, and hungry. Over the past few years I've made some small gains. I've connected with some local farms to get their fresh produce. I still don't know how to cook it, but I sure like to eat it! I can follow a recipe when I get the motivation to look one up. I've found some books on health and nutrition that align with my values and goals. One of the reasons I wanted to build a tiny house was to have a kitchen that would be more in line with how I want to eat and help us transition to a healthier, more connected food lifestyle. And now, I've designed a kitchen for our tiny house specifically to organize fresh, natural, and healthy food.

In the house design, you can see that I have planned a kitchen with a large sink and a small range.

This is in line with our needs as I don't cook a lot of food, and I don't do it often. The other day though, I was worrying about what we would eat since my kitchen does not have a refrigerator! I planned it this way because I want to force myself to eat more fresh. (We will install one under the range, but I plan to use it more as a cooler or ice box. We definitely won't have a door full of condiments that sit there for years.) However, I didn't have a clear idea of how to feed myself or my husband this way. 

With the help of some research on an anti-inflammatory diet I created a comprehensive list of the foods I wanted to have in my kitchen. Click here to see the google spreadsheet of my foods. With that information I set out to design a pantry to store it in a space saving way that is easy to use. This is what I came up with. 

I'm very pleased. Some of the shelves slide out for easy access. The top has 8 quart sized mason jars with the lids attached to a piece that slides out so the jars hang down and even the ones in the back are easily accessible. The spice drawer will be built specifically to hold spice bottles so they're not rolling around or getting in the way. This is the perfect pantry to make our tiny kitchen organized and usable. 

You may have noticed another little design on the left for a dish cabinet. I saw this picture and thought, Genius!

So I designed one that would satisfy our dishes. Now, I am at ease in the knowledge that our kitchen with be tidy and useful. It will give me the feeling of organization that I need to transition to a new food lifestyle.