When it comes to strictly keeping to your new healthy lifestyle, sharing your kitchen with the members of your household who are not also on this diet can be difficult. To ensure that your food items stay certified organic, they cannot encounter non-organic products. This is especially pertinent when storing your fresh produce or dry goods that can easily become contaminated by lingering pesticide residue or other particles of non-organic counterparts. There are some foolproof methods for ensuring cross contamination doesn’t affect your organic products:

Before you do anything, clean out your pantry and refrigerator thoroughly. This means removing all items and doing a complete wipe down of all surfaces. Think of it as a bit of spring cleaning, perhaps. This way you will have a fresh slate for storing your organic products without the worry of contamination from pesticides or other non-organic particles.

Separating your organic from non-organic dry goods physically can be the best option if you have the cabinet space to dedicate separate spaces for organic only and on-organic. However, many of us don’t have the luxury of ever-present storage space, so an alternative method can help keep your organic items pure if you are in a pinch for space. Storing your organic items at the top of your shelves and your non-organic items in the lower shelving areas is the key to keeping contaminants out. Storing with this method can keep particles of non-organic dry goods from falling into your organic dry goods, and if organic particles fall into your non-organic products, it is not as problematic.

Your refrigerated and produce items can often be more difficult when sharing your kitchen to keep separated, but nevertheless, not impossible. In my fridge, I ensure that one crisper drawer is for organic produce and the other, I assign for non-organic items. I follow a similar method for refrigerated shelving as I do in my pantry, with organic items stored on the upper shelves and the non-organic on the lower shelves. One thing to keep in mind is that most refrigerators have the crisper drawers at the bottom and an additional drawer space at the top. I try to dedicate the additional drawer space at the top for my organic produce so that I have peace of mind knowing that pesticide residues won’t transfer. If you can’t do this, a quick solution is to keep your organic items in paper or plastic wrappings as protection from contact.

Finding a method that works for you when sharing your kitchen with non-organic eaters is a key part of an easy transition into your new organic lifestyle. Be sure to try these methods, but feel free to customize it for your needs and storage spaces. If you’re ever feeling lost in your journey, Now Find Organic can help you be providing a more seamless experience for your organic lifestyle, both inside the supermarket and out. Information, recipes and helpful tips, make certain that you always feel like you have a place to start.

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