Yesterday I was thinking about a meal plan for this week and I realized something…I really need to clean out my pantry! I mean that literally and figuratively…I probably have a couple of expired things in there, but I also have a lot of stockpiled food. Cans of beans, cans of soup, dried quinoa and rice…things I’ve bought here and there without a specific meal in mind. And then all of a sudden, my pantry and my freezer is full!
This stuff can’t sit around forever…so my eating plan this week is pretty simple: Don’t go grocery shopping. Don’t eat out. Eat at home.
I went to the farmers market and the store yesterday and I bought just three things: a package of lettuce, a half gallon of milk, and a few peaches.
I have enough fresh veggies from my last shopping trip to last me the week…a head of broccoli and cauliflower, some carrots and some zucchini. I have eggs and plenty of beans, lentils and tortillas.
My freezer is full of oatmeal and waffles for breakfast, edamame and rice for lunch time stir frys, and frozen chicken or enchiladas for dinner.
I have dry quinoa and beans…flax seeds and nuts…
And my pantry drawers are full of cereal and dry pasta, crackers and bread mix.
My pantry cupboard is filled with soups and broth and canned beans.
I mean sheesh…when I really look through my kitchen, I don’t know that I’ll have to go grocery shopping for weeks! Except for some fresh fruit and veggies maybe.
I do have dinner plans with friends two nights this week, but otherwise keep an eye out for creative home cooked meals this week!
How about you? How do you do your grocery shopping? Do you buy only what you need or do you just buy random stuff (like me, apparently)? Do you find that you end up with a stockpile of things you need to use up?
{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Good grief, woman! No grocery trips for you for TWO weeks minimum, okay? LOL Funny because I actually did this last night. I do go to the store with a complete meal plan shopping list for bfast, lunch, and dinner for the week. With having a family of 6 to feed, that is just better overall so you don’t spend 1000 dollars! ha But I also like to bargain shop. I love Publix and their b1g1 free deals. So even if I don’t *need* the item, I know it is a great deal and I will eventually need it. But then what happens is I keep doing this until I have all this food that needs to be eaten ASAP before it expires. So last night I went through my cabinets and put unopened items on my highest shelf. I put things that had been opened and sampled upon coming home from the grocery store low and in plain sight, where I would remember that we have to find a way to eat it before it goes bad! I’ll pull out the unopened food after all that is gone so we have new, fresh snacks to eat. I threw out expired pancake mix, cocoa mixes, cereal, etc.
i hate throwing out food. But that just happens when you buy things and they keep getting shoved back and back in the cabinet! So in short (ha), every so often I take inventory and “shop” from home to plan meals before deciding what has to be bought from the store.
Sounds like I’m not the only one with stuff that gets pushed to the back of the pantry! I don’t like throwing out food either, so that’s why I’m going to shop in my own kitchen for the next week or two and then make better grocery lists in the future. thanks for sharing Staci!