Nine days after

I have been very amused this past week. After a month of trying to clean and organize the food supplies at my house, I seemed to end as full as I had been at the beginning. Maybe it took me a month before the progress began showing; maybe writing about it was holding me back. In any case, this past week, the contents of my freezer have dwindled, I guess mainly as I ate the muffins. The refrigerator also grew bare, since it was the second week out from Produce Acquisition. Both the veggie and fruit crispers are cleaned and contents planned for (instead of mysterious buckets of maybe food).

Today I made biscuits, and tomorrow I will enjoy one with honey...first time in a month. My husband and I cooked out for just us two. Well, technically, I wanted to feed the college student one more time before the semester started, but she forgot and drove on without eating. However, I would usually buy something for us to eat and save the "freezer food" for company and some fancy cooking out occasion. But we were eating what we have.

I have a few other random observations.

I am learning to escape Food Panic. Have you felt this before? What if you don't buy butter at the store, and you are out at home but forgot to put it on the list? Then you get home and there are three pounds of butter. Or you are sure your family will starve if you don't have ten meals prepared for. I have noticed I make a lot of purchases based on a fear of running out of something.

This feeling is heightened Christmas Day, the only time in the United States when there is not a 24-hour grocery store waiting with any exotic ingredient you might need. A feeder of Food Panic, those grocery stores. What did we used to do when stores closed?

In the last week, I did not have queso fresca for a recipe (I substituted). Another time I ran out of colby (again, substituted), and today I didn't have American cheese for our burgers (I used Swiss). Granted, since all this seems to be a cheese theme, I did buy more cheese for the freezer. But what if we had to do without cheese on our burgers?

It would not be the end of the world. Really.

Today I considered the fact that my youngest daughter is starting school on Monday, and I will begin teaching in a couple of weeks. I am interviewing for a second job. Do I want to store up meals again? Am I content planning three days out instead of fourteen? Am I able to live in the busy season without Food Panic?

I was tired this evening, and my husband suggested we have peanut butter and jelly. I can't remember the last time I fed him pb&j for a meal. We have cherries on hand, so it would even be a healthy meal. I could make salad if I wanted to.

Maybe eating what we have is teaching me a little more contentment. I'll keep you posted.