The Pantry

I'm not one of these people who keeps a list in head or on paper of what is in the food receptacles in the kitchen. Usually my shopping is sticking to a few recipes and whatever catches my interest down the aisle or I know I eat a lot of. Mom will give over food they have too much of or don't eat too. So typically, I come home with groceries and stuff them into the pantry cupboards, fridge, and freezer.

So having gotten slightly off track last week on the buying the groceries-by-the-week experiment, I started off this morning going to plan the menu and shopping list for the week. And then when I wasn't thrilled about searching for recipes, "Hey, let's see what food is already here. Make the list that Emilie Barnes suggests in her book (Cleaning Up the Clutter, good suggestions but very heavy Christian, you are warned)." Wanting to save money at the grocery store and with Hurricane Dean entering the Gulf of Mexico, it seemed like that voice was making sense.

Five hours later, I have five front-back handwritten pages of what food items are in my kitchen. The only things not listed is stuff I threw out for being old or falling into the "I am so NOT going to eat that" category. I also have achy feet and back.

I moved the whole thing into an Excel spreadsheet, so the next time I get possessed to do it again I won't have to write everything just the amounts of what I have. I also realized that I need to get a little better organized in the kitchen. That way I won't end up with 8 pounds of sugar because I forgot I already had some. The other thing I realized is I need to drink a lot more tea.

So now that I have a list of what I have in the kitchen, I need to specify what I'm cooking this week. And this was not a good day to put off cooking. Classes start tomorrow, and I probably won't have a chance to cook until Saturday or Sunday again. Let me get cracking. I still have to go to the store.

Read Free!
The BookWorm

There is a new renaissance festival in Louisiana! Check out the Acadiana Medieval Faire at: http://www.acadianafaire.org/