7 little tasks I’m trying to get done around the kitchen this spring

Refreshing existing routines and exploring new ones.

Spring decorating is not officially on my to-do list but I’m so totally charmed by this random embroidered bunny piece I picked up from a local store recently.

I love the spirit of spring cleaning, and this year I wanted to bring some of that refresh, revisit, reorient energy to our kitchen processes.

Consider this a “Kitchen Reform” to-do list for the season…

1. Finally get into the habit of doing that “batch wash berries, soaking them in water with baking soda first” thing.
   My mom visited us recently and with her IRL nudging, I finally have a little jar of baking soda set aside by the sink for this purpose. Relatedly, a few days ago, I saw the “2026 Dirty Dozen” list of the fruits/veggies with the most pesticides, so this is top of mind (a baking soda soak helps remove surface pesticides). I haven’t given much thought to buying organic produce in the past but may now pay attention for stuff at the top of the list (spinach/greens, strawberries).

2. Audit the family snack rotation.
   I get the sense that our proclivity for wide snack variety is contributing to our toddler’s expectation that there’s always “something new”, “something different”, “something special” (her words…that she got from me, probably 🙃) in the pantry. It feels like there’s something TikTok-y, dopamine-y going on. Anyway, I want to make a list of current go-to snacks (both fresh and packaged), cull it a bit, and start rotating within a smaller set. I have a feeling the hardest part will be setting a good example ourselves…

3. Update our go-to meals list. ✅ DONE
   A couple of years ago, I wrote a post called “1-mealer /2-mealer /3+ mealer”, discussing our meal planning framework that relies on a roster of go-to meals good for one, two, or three-or-more meals. We still pretty much use this approach, but the specific go-to’s have changed a bit to accommodate a little kid and be generally more nourishing. So I need to refresh and continue expanding that list!

4. Explore new tools that enable new go-to’s.
   A couple of things on our radar… the Wonder Oven Pro, a donabe… I don’t know. Part of me thinks feeling like we need more tools is an excuse. Part of me thinks it’s a real factor. If you have any thoughts on what’s worth it, what’s not, I’d love to hear it.

5. Revisit the grocery spending tracker.
   This is a two-part system involving a Google form to enter receipt details, and then a spreadsheet that collects those numbers into a simple table of monthly totals. Some of the fields in the form are outdated. And I also feel like it’s worth adding a field for restaurants to get a fuller picture of food spending. Now that our kid is getting bigger, eating out has gotten easier (“easier”) and more regular, and I want to get a sense of what’s happening there.

   

   Snapshot of the grocery tracking form (I need to update the go-to stores!)

6. Flesh out “always buy” grocery lists that support our food goals.
   I want to turn rough ideas of “things we should eat more of” into concrete “things we should always buy”. Stuff like: frozen berries (to make smoothies) and canned beans (to eat more beans more easily).

7. Review my Notion recipe hub and decide if it’s actually going to work.
   I made a gallery-style recipe hub on Notion a while ago and I think it’s neat—it looks pretty and is easy to search/filter. But I don’t turn to it much. It’s not hard to add or edit recipes in there, but it’s just lacking that sense of instinctive flexibility you get with analog, pen-and-paper stuff (I use my own meal planner printout every week). Do I need an old fashioned recipe tin or binder??

   

   Sigh I do love it, theoretically.

Anyway, these are some of the things swirling in my brain lately. If you have any tips or tricks about anything here, do share in the comments. I’ll be tackling this list over the next few months, so will report back ;)