July 2014

Periodically, because it's good household management but usually because we're in a budget crunch, I go on a campaign to eat the food that we have. Those items that have gotten pushed to the back of the pantry or freezer. Anyone else have this issue? I consider it the fat corn years intended to supply the lean corn ears (see Genesis, the story of Joseph and Pharaoh), but just like the biblical story, it takes some creative management.

I'm going to keep a journal, hopefully during the entire month of July, of my own efforts to economize as I clean and organize my food. My journey is happening in 2014, a time when Americans waste about 25% of what we buy (see newsstory here). That's appalling, but it easy to do. When my culture fails this way, it pains me. When I am too lazy to eat the rest of the spaghetti sauce in my fridge, hey, what do you know about my life? Stay off my back.

Wednesday, July 30, 2014

Day 30: care a little less

I intended to use the leftover spinach in an omelet. I love spinach and eggs, and I love breakfast for dinner. But yesterday, I needed an easy dinner, and I wanted the torn lettuce left from Sunday out of the fridge.

I did something simple and against my mental expectations: we ate the spinach and lettuce together in a salad. Then I had Monterey mashed potatoes and my husband had couscous. I normally get very attached to ideas I dream up; I will want a spinach omelet for a long time now, and I'll just have to watch for an opportunity.

Right now, I'm eating what I have, and it's not spinach.

I need to make some decisions today about what and how I am going to freeze some food. And I need to make a list of food I freeze so I will unfreeze it in the future and actually eat it. Instead of buying spinach and making an omelet.

See how this works? Discipline. And for me, it means caring a little less about what my meals look like.
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