Build a Better Kitchen in 2025 | 114

There are so many different factors that go into getting the most out of your kitchen. In this episode, I dive into some of the most important elements you need in order to make your kitchen more functional so that it's even easier to get dinner on the table each week. 

 

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:05):
Hi, everybody. I'm Kelsey Nixon and this is Kitchen Prescription,
the podcast you listen to when you don't know what
to make for dinner. Today is episode one hundred and fourteen,
Build a Better Kitchen in twenty twenty five. I feel
like January often gets a bad rap, one that includes
you know, it lasts forever, it's dark and dreary, it's cold.

(00:25):
But if I'm being honest, I'm a weirdo that actually
really likes January. In fact, it's one of my favorite
months of the year, unapologetically, and I think it's because
I love fresh starts. I love cleaning up all of
the holiday decorations and messes. I love resetting the house.
I like goal setting, and I really like returning to routine.

(00:46):
That's what I really like. But I'm here with full
admission that this January has just felt a bit weird.
Kicking things off with norovirus for the whole family and
the worst now natural disaster in US history has been,
quite frankly, an awful way to start the year. And
it's crazy to think the month is not over yet.

(01:09):
It feels like we've lived two whole months in the
span of one month. At the very least, maybe we
can officially deem the start of twenty twenty five to
be February first. I don't know. Regardless, I'm not giving
up on January just yet, and I am committed to
finishing the month strong. One of the things I'm focusing
on for my Recipe Club members this year is helping

(01:31):
them build better kitchens, and what I mean by that
is setting up a kitchen that makes it easier to
get dinner on the table more frequently. We often immediately
think about recipes when we think about dinner, but having
the right tools and equipment in your kitchen arguably has
just as much impact on the ease of cooking than

(01:52):
having a library of great recipes at your fingertips. So
we're going to talk about some of my best suggestions
for setting yourself up for six access when it comes
to getting your kitchen in order. But first we're gonna
get into a few recipe ideas you could throw on
your meal plan for the week. First up on my
list is creamy couscous with feta. This has been such

(02:14):
a popular recipe and it is so so good. We
added a few months ago to Recipe Club. It starts
with a block of fetta in the center. You add
couscous and tomatoes and onion and it all bakes in
the oven. It could not be easier. It's got chicken
in there as well with some basil, and it is
just so cozy and comforting and delicious. It's like the

(02:35):
epitome of like a one pot casserole, comfort food at
its finest dish. So that's on the list. I've also
got my roasted Mediterranean sweet potatoes on our meal plan
for the week. My every one of my family likes
roasted sweet potatoes, but I make this tomato parsley salad
that goes on top of the sweet potatoes, and it

(02:56):
is so fresh and so delicious. But because you're roasting
those sweet potatoes, you kind of get some of that
comfort food nests going on as well. It's really good.
You make yogurt sauce to go with it, and I'm
excited to be making that also makes for great leftovers
for lunch. And finally we got a soup. We got

(03:17):
chicken and oorzo soup. I know for much of the
country it is very very cold right now, and so
a soup felt appropriate. My chicken and Orzo soup is
one of the oldest soups and Recipe Club, and it
is one of the most popular because it is so simple.
It is like a modern take on classic chicken noodle
and so delicious, especially if you are going to use

(03:40):
if you're a Trader rough shopper and you use their
meer POAs that's an awesome shortcut ingredient for this recipe.
That just makes it that much easier. So maybe I'll
make some bread to go with that, or do like
really good garlic bread and a crisp green salad. But
those are the three recipes that are definitely on my
meal plan for the week, and then I added to
my grocery or you can find imprint all of these

(04:02):
recipes in recipe Club individually or in our weekly meal
plan that's going to have an easy to follow shopping
list where it's broken down by recipe. You guys all
know that recipae Club is a resource that allows you
to access family tested, quick and simple recipes without being
bombarded with banner ads and long blog posts or drawn
out stories. I found accessing recipes on the internet to

(04:24):
be super frustrating because of those things, so I very
intentionally created a space where I can make getting recipes easier.
For the month of January in twenty twenty five, we
are discounting our annual membership by twenty five percent, which
makes Recipee Club just barely more than a dollar per
week throughout the year. I literally pause because, like, wait,

(04:47):
is that right? It's a dollar forty per week. That's right.
It's an incredible, very small investment to make. And having
someone who helps you decide what to make for dinner
every week, and not only that, but to have a
simple dinner system you can rely on. That kind of
backs you up. And when you fall off the wagon
inevitably because you go on vacation or you get sick,

(05:10):
it's waiting there for you, always providing those suggestions. Well
worth that dollar forty if you ask me. All right,
let's jump into the back half of the podcast now
and discuss how to build a better kitchen in twenty
twenty five. I have a theory that the ease of

(05:32):
cooking weeknight dinner is far more impacted by the things
contained behind your kitchen cabinets and in your kitchen drawers
than what it looks like on the outside, meaning you
could have a beautiful, fully renovated, state of the art kitchen,
and unless you have that kitchen stocked with the right tools,
that beautiful kitchen does nothing for you when it comes

(05:55):
to making dinner easier. Not only that, but the importance
of having those things in a designated space where they
live in order. So years ago, I want to talk
to you about this. When I was in culinary school,
one of the first things I learned was this concept
called mees on plos, which is a French phrase meaning

(06:15):
everything in its place. It's a foundational concept that means
having all of the ingredients prepped before you start cooking.
The onions are dies, the spices are measured, the liquids
are measured. It could even include gathering the equipment you'll
need to prepare the recipe. All of this upfront preparation
actually ends up saving time in the long run. With

(06:36):
the ingredients peeled, chopped and portioned, and the required pots
and pans laid out, you are more organized and efficient
and far less likely to accidentally add salt twice or
scramble to find in a forgotten ingredient, which means you
have more success with your recipes. I think this same
concept applies to the kitchen you cook in. And while

(06:56):
I love a beautiful, state of the art kitchen because
it's beautiful on the exterior, it just has nothing to
do with whether or not it assists in easy weeknight cooking.
So that's why for the entirety of twenty twenty five,
I am going to open every single cupboard, cabinet and
drawer in my kitchen and show you the products and
tools that I swear by. In addition to that, I'll

(07:19):
show you how I organize each space to maintain some
of that order I'm talking about in the kitchen organizational
systems that stick and work. Because you could have that
really awesome rice cooker that makes the Indian butter chicken
and the pineapple and pork storefrice super easy to pull
together on a Tuesday, But if you don't know where

(07:40):
that is in your kitchen and you don't think to
turn to it, that tool does nothing for you. So
it's important to know what you have in your kitchen
to have it stored somewhere that's easily accessible. And if
you've got old stuff that's not serving you, well, just
get rid of it. You're going to donate it, You're
going to toss it and you're going to get stuff
in your kitchen that really works for you. It can

(08:02):
be completely overwhelming to tackle your entire kitchen at once,
and if you're updating some things like your kitchen knives
or your cook where, that can get expensive as well.
So that's why I wanted to spread it out across
the whole year. I've got a whole calendar. You should
see my notes on this, where it's like, how can
I spread this out so that we can talk about
a few things each month that are easy to update,

(08:25):
And we're not going to talk about all the expensive
stuff in January or all the expensive stuff in June,
but we're going to spread it out and things like
obviously it makes more sense to talk about baking items
in the fall when we're just getting ready to do
all of that holiday baking and grilling in the summer.
And I just I've had so much fun going through

(08:46):
my kitchen and being like, Okay, this is what people
really need to know about. Oh and by the way,
if you've got this, you don't need this anymore. Or
if you've got a drawer full of kitchen tools made
of that black plastic that is from bed, Bath, and
beyond in two thousand and three, it is time to
toss those Not only are they not good for you
when it comes to cooking, but it's not fun to

(09:10):
cook with those things. They're not tools that are gonna
last forever. They're gonna melt on the side of your
pots and pants. We got to toss some of those things.
So this is gonna be how it's gonna work, so
I can support you in getting your own kitchen set
up to facilitate easier weeknight cooking. Each week, you'll see
a real from me in Instagram giving you an in
depth tour of one of my cupboards or drawers in

(09:31):
my kitchen, in addition to an email that's going to
be sent out with a bit more context for why
I chose those kitchen staples. In recipe Club, you'll find
every last link to the knives, cookware plates, wooden spoons,
so that you have an easy reference. And if there's
parts of your kitchen that you're wanting to update slowly,
like I'm suggesting, you could click on my cup cabinet

(09:53):
post and see all of the cups that I have
in my kitchen literally a picture of what it looks
like today, every single cus my own and what I
got rid of. If that sounds like something that you
think would make your life easier, make sure you're following
along on Instagram and that you're subscribed to my email list,
which you can do at Kelsey Nixon dot com, so
that you get those weekly updates that focus on different

(10:15):
cabinets and drawers that pertain to a particular subject in
the kitchen. So far, I've already shared my knife cutting
board drawer, my tupperware drawer, and my everyday cooking cabinet.
Like I mentioned earlier, this isn't a weekend project, as
I think it's somewhat unrealistic to revamp your entire kitchen
all at once. But I think taking one cabinet or

(10:38):
drawer of your kitchen to focus on each month or
every couple of weeks this year could do wonders for
making dinner prep a little easier each night. And not
only easier, it's gonna be more fun, you guys. Hear
me use this analogy all the time, But something that
is not naturally fun for me is working out. You
know when it's a little bit more fun. When I've

(11:00):
you've got a brand spanking pair of like new athletic
shoes and new shorts and a new tank top that
makes me feel like I am ready to take on
the world. It's similar in the kitchen. If you are
trying to cook with a dull knife that you receive
for your wedding twenty years ago, and you're convinced you
hate cooking, and you are trying to cut an onion

(11:21):
on a cutting board that has melted in your dishwasher
that came from Ikia, that is actually not even a
cutting board and merely just a piece of plastic that's
not fun, that is not fun. And so what you
need is you need a good sharp knife that's gonna
last you indefinitely. You need a good big cutting board
so that it doesn't slip around so you don't feel

(11:43):
like you're gonna lose a finger chop in that onion.
It's little things like that that are well worth the investment,
because you guys all know dinner is not going anywhere,
and you are gonna cook dinner for the rest of
your life. So if you are going to be making
and if you're raising kids, you're not just cooking dinner
for you. So you're cooking dinner for a whole house
of people, or at least you're contributing in some way,

(12:05):
so you might as well equip yourself with the tools
that are going to make that feel not only easier,
but more enjoyable. I'm really excited about this. I really
believe in this concept of mesonplas for your kitchen and
not just for approaching a recipe. Let's get our kitchens
in order this year. I think it's a great goal
if there's any area of your life to set a

(12:26):
goal for or to make an investment in feeding yourself
and your family. Is a really good one because it's
something that happens every single day and at minimum for
eighteen years if you're raising kids. So let's get good
systems in place. Let's get good tools in place to
make this feel more manageable. All right, Finally, let's finish
with the weekly gimme five. These are five things that

(12:49):
have made my life easier or more enjoyable this week.
And I'm starting with one that is an oldie, but
a goodie. I just refilled these guys, and I thought
to myself, I think I've had these for five years
now and they still look exactly like they did five
years ago. I use them every single day and they're
in great shape. And that's my olive oil Di Spencers.

(13:11):
So I got this set off of Amazon. It's not
super fancy, but the two oils that I use most
often in my cooking are olive oil and avocado oil.
I use olive oil for most traditional cooking and avocado
oil whenever I want a neutral oil or I'm doing

(13:31):
high heat temperatures, so like if I'm doing a stir
fry or I'm frying something like a shallow fry. Avocado
oil is a great choice because it has a higher
smoke point and it doesn't have really strong flavor. So
obviously olive oil kind of has the taste of olive oil.
So there are gonna be times, like Asian cooking, I

(13:51):
usually am not using olive oil, I'm using avocado oil.
So I have these two dispensers. They have really nice,
modern looking labels. One says olive oil, one says avocado oil,
and they're great. I refill them because every month or
so I have to do so with the amount of
cooking that I do, and this set it comes with
a tray if you want a tray to set the

(14:12):
two dispensers on. I had a tray already as this
gold tray I've had for years, but you can kind
of set up a little system. It's similar to the
everyday cooking cabinet reel I shared earlier this week, if
you want to get a good visual on these. But
they are great, and not only are they great for
you to purchase for your own kitchen, but they're an
awesome housewarming gift. They're a great thing to take to

(14:34):
like a favorite things situation. They're just a good it's
a good staple in my kitchen. Okay, next, supercubes. We
are still in the thick of soup season. There's one
on my meal plan for the week, and whenever I
make soup, I am so glad that I have supercubes
for storing leftovers. What a supercube is is it is
a silicone based little container where you can evenly poorsch

(15:00):
soup so that let's say I made a tomato basil
soup and I knew that I wanted it for lunch tomorrow,
but there was more than a lunch portion, and so
I can easily freeze one portion of that soup. It's
also great if you have like extra broth or you've
made chicken stock or even extra rice. I've used it before.

(15:21):
It just really good for single serving storage. And this
is a small family business that brought this idea to life.
I think they were on Shark Tank and they really
have like a cult like following with this product because
it is that good. But I also saw that the
founders recently lost their house in the LA wildfires. So
if this sounds like a product that would solve a

(15:43):
problem for you, now would be a great time to
support them as they are scrambling a little bit as
they've had this massive life disruption. So super cubes check
them out. Okay, Next on my list are pit Pop earrings.
So you guys know, I'm a fan of systems and
and I have systems for myself, but I also have
systems for my kids, and sometimes they adhere to those

(16:05):
systems and most times they do not. But Nora, my
eight year old, is recently had her ears pierced and
she loves changing her earrings, but we are constantly losing earrings,
and not only that, she has really sensitive ears. So
I need to buy her earrings that suit that sensitivity
and pit Pop is this awesome small business where they

(16:27):
make these really cute earrings for young girls, and they
have a screw back and so they're really comfortable for
them to wear. They are intended for sensitive ears, and
they have the cutest little jewelry box that is specifically
made to store all their earrings. So I'm going to
give it to Nora as kind of a I mean,
typically I don't do gifts for Valentine's Day, but I'm

(16:48):
going to kind of do it that because this girl
needs a system. Exuce, if I step on one more
rogue earring, I'm going to lose my mind. So pit
Pop not only they're cute, they're great for sensitive ears,
and they have great storage solution. So that's on my list.
Vegan Leather place Mats, this is also on my list.
We have the round ones, and we're really trying to

(17:09):
lean into people having jobs around here this year, trying
to create a little family economy where everybody has jobs,
even our four year old Penny. One of her jobs
is to lay out the family place mats every night
for dinner, and so she's starting to do it for
breakfast too, where it's just a way because we eat
most of our meals at our family island in our kitchen,

(17:29):
and so it doesn't necessarily feel like a table, like
a dinner table. So by placing the place mat there
for everybody, it feels like, okay, now we're ready to eat.
They wipe off so easily, they look nice, and it
kind of just changes the landscape for now we're going
to have a meal together. So that's on my list
as well. I love that it gives Penny a job.
And then finally number five is I have got some

(17:53):
warm weather vacations ahead. I'm going on one this week.
You guys know, I turned forty this past year, and
as a result, I have a couple of groups of
friends who are doing trips to celebrate forty. So I'm
going on two twenty with two different groups of friends,
two fortieth birthday trips. And then my husband, who's also
turning forty, he has a group of friends that's going

(18:14):
and taking spouses. So I will go on three warm
weather vacations here in the next three months, all to
celebrate the fact that I'm forty. I guess, I mean,
what a celebration. But all of that to say that
I invested in some vacation where. And it was easy
for me to make this investment because I also live
near the beach and so these are things that will

(18:35):
get a lot of use. But the honest truth is
I had not really evaluated that part of my wardrobe
in a really long time, and I finally did it.
I got a swim swart or two for Christmas, and
I've just been adding and I have a really good
kind of what are we going to call it a
vacation capsule wardrobe. Then I'm really excited to use for

(18:58):
these next couple of vacations and then throw the summer
as we spend so much time at the beach. So
I'm an included link both on Instagram stories and in
my newsletter this week where you can take a peek
at all of my warm weather vacation favorites. All right,
that's it for today. Make sure you're subscribed to the
podcast so that you never miss an episode. This podcast

(19:18):
is always meant to be just a quick twenty to
thirty minute listen while you map out your own meals
for the week. Listening to a podcast while our meal
plan has always been part of my simple dinner system,
and so I try to put out something that's a
really good fit for that each week, So thanks for
listening you guys. I'm so glad you're here. Until next time,
happy cooking. I'm Kelsey. I'll look forward to chatting with
you next week after my vacation.