Day 5: back to the beginning

This morning I woke up: the day after all the July 4th celebrations. And there's still food to think about. Ah, the ongoing joys of managing a home! When you come to a turn or reset, go back to the beginning. Remember Day 1, when I took inventory? (cough, cough) Here we are, Saturday morning. Time for inventory again.

Food from produce co-op takes precedence over food from pantry/freezer. We have slaw and broccoli that need to be eaten, and plenty of leftover meat to pair with it. Cooking with co-op food has really changed me. The co-op that I belong to, The Produce Gathering, offers a basket every other Saturday with 10-12 items, half fruit, half veggie, that will feed a family of 4 for a week. I never know what will be in the basket, but for $15, it sets my menu.

When I first started in a produce co-op, I would find recipes online and then go buy ingredients to use up the produce. It was a lot of effort and costly. However, as time went on, I figured out what produce my family would eat and what produce I could alter slightly so they would eat it.

For example, no one in my house eats raw tomatoes. My best friend eats raw tomatoes for breakfast, lunch, and snacks. That just doesn't happen at my house. Pineapple, yes. Tomatoes, no. I spent some amount of time feeling sad that we are not a raw tomato family...and then I discovered salsa. Homemade salsa is amazing, and it uses onion, garlic, and tomatoes. I grow peppers in the summer, roast them and freeze them for the winter. And I can buy them whenever necessary. My family inhales it, and if for some reason they don't, one of my favorite, easy go-to meals uses salsa.

I guess that's what I began to develop: easy, go-to ideas for using up produce. I have a cost-effective source for produce, that doesn't require me to think. That sounds odd, doesn't it? But I don't have to stand in the produce section or the farmer's market and think, "Do I want leeks this week?" They just show up, and then I make leek-stuffed salmon or leek rosti. Or in the winter, leek and potato soup.

The Produce Gathering also puts me in the habit of eating what is on hand. I can buy a pound and a half of salmon to go with the leeks, because salmon is good food, and everything else in that recipe is readily available in my kitchen. But if I want a low-cost option, potatoes are almost always hanging around, and leeks go great with potatoes. I have learned how to make leeks a part of our menu.

And still things accumulate in odd corners. I guess I'll go back to working on the odd corners Monday.

Truth-telling: I still haven't really inventoried yet.