Rather than continue to bang my head against the wall every time I spend a cent on food through the end of the year, especially during the holiday season, I've decided to tackle my goal more directly. I have changed my particular challenge to:
It's simple. It's direct. It's exactly what I need to do. And it doesn't set me up for failure. I can still do a little shopping or enjoy an occasional meal out without guilt, as long as I pay attention to what food needs to be eaten up quickly.
I have slacked off on my meal planning but will be working on that again. I have already started using my dry-erase board on the refrigerator to list the perishable produce again as a reminder what is lurking in the produce drawers.
This past week, I cleaned out my refrigerator and re-organized it. Unfortunately, I had to throw out some food because I did not use it up in time. There was about 1/2 cup of fresh salsa verde with a clump of white mold growing on top. Another mystery container had hints of mold so I tossed its contents. And I finally bade goodbye to my long-dead sourdough starter. When sourdough starter is ignored for weeks (months) at a time, it uses up all its food and gets nasty. When I am at a point that I think I'll use it to bake bread regularly, then I'll start a new batch.
I moved several containers to the front of the fridge as a reminder to use them soon. I already finished up some pumpkin butter mixed with maple syrup on pancakes (for dinner last night). I smeared the last smidgen of pear butter over my toast this morning. Within the next month, I will clean out the freezer and see what needs to be used up sooner than later. Then the kitchen pantry will be up for cleaning. Finally, I'll tackle the preserved food and emergency stores, checking dates on everything.
My plan is to create a list of the pantry foods that need to be used up this year. I'll keep that handy and plan my meals around those ingredients. With winter coming soon, it should be easy to incorporate even the strangest items in some kind of soup. If I'm stumped, I'll post a request for help. It's always interesting to get ideas from others.
Thank you for all the feedback you have provided while I've struggled with this challenge.
13 comments:
I think that sounds like a wonderful idea, and an ideal compromise!
Of course, I say that, and wait until you see what I bought this weekend. Kinda blew my 100 day challenge....
If you're looking for ideas on using your pantry stuff effectively the Complete Tightwad Gazette has an article on it. Basically she went though her pantry/freezer, saw what she had, and divided it into the months she needed to eat it. That way she knew to eat a certain amount each month to have a balanced diet, and not end up with tons of "not favorite" food at the end of the year.
krista has a good idea there and I have I know not what lurking in my canned cabinet, so I better start looking in there, too.
Glad you made peace with this, Chile.
Peace to all,
shamba
Now that sounds like a human challenge! I'll have to do something with my stuff now cos you're making me feel guilty :)
viv in nz
Sounds good and very doable, Chile. I'm glad you figured out what your underlying goal was. Probably a challenge goal I should join you on -- I'm pretty sure liquid is not an edible state for zuchini.
We cleaned out a hall closet together yesterday and found not only missing summer clothes (as the weather approaches freezing) but room for my partner's giant tennis bag AND the vacuum cleaner, both of which have been migrating around the kitchen, dining room, and living room since we moved into the house.
Krista, that's a great idea.
I just got a copy of Sharon's new book, Independence Days, and I think it will be a big help in this department. We have pigs so they get the fridge leftovers. My goal is to make at least half of every meal something from the garden and everything else to be sourced locally if possible. The things I can't get around here, salt, sugar, cinnamon etc...I get in bulk. Then, when I slip up and purchase something dreadfull and decadent like strawberries in January, I can keep a lid on the guilt as I do it so seldom.
Dont sound like a compromise to me- makes perfect sense! I need to do the same with the freezer in the garage- am planning on getting rid of it so need to empty out the freezer and reefer and get ready for new freezer to take it's place! Oh don't look st me like that- City light has a program that buy's older reefers and gives you $30 to haul them away then they take out the freon, recycle the metal and whatever else they can.
Heather - thanks. I'll have to go see if you've posted what you bought yet...
Krista - good idea. Hopefully I don't have too much food on hand that I don't like!
Shamba - I have a good idea what's lurking about, but it's often easier to grab whatever's handy than to go digging. I suspect this is a common problem. :)
Viv - think of it as pre-spring cleaning!
Susan - unless you're making zucchini smoothies, no, liquid zucchini is not good. Congrats on making a home for two big items!
Kathy - I haven't seen the new book yet. Don't know if the library did anything with my request. *sigh* No pigs here, so I've got to take care of things myself!
Rob - so you're saying the new one will be more efficient? That's a good thing. Sounds like it's time for some frozen dinners...
Rob- Do you have a name for that program? Our old freezer died and we need to get rid of it, and this sounds like a perfect solution.
I'm glad you redefined the parameters of the challenge. It seemed to me that the purpose of not buying food was more related to eliminating food waste (which of course, encompasses using up canned goods before they expire) than anything else, so I'm happy to see you redefining it in a way that you can still actualise your goals w/o setting yourself up to fail. Congrats!
This post has reminded me that I really need to sort through all my home canned goods and formulate a plan to use them up, or use them as gifts (for example, the billion jars of pear syrup I have, when I know I don't make breakfast often enough to use them up in a reasonable amount of time). So thank you, also, for inspiring me to get my butt in gear on my own challenge!
Chile -no frozen dinners- unless you count the crap I freeze
Krista it is the Seattle City light
refridgerator recycling program Cool thing is they pay you to recycle your fridge or freezer!
Good way to focus on the real goal!
Allie - I'm glad at least some of my posts inspire people. :)
Rob - I didn't really think you had frozen dinners. I was thinking more in terms of dinners put together from frozen ingredients. It's not the first time I've been unclear here. Ha!
Hausfrau - you betcha!
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