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Post by dtesposito on Nov 16, 2015 16:47:38 GMT -5
Wow, that's one long shopping list, italianlady! I got a ride to the grocery store today and am pleased to report that the only food items I purchased there were bagels and pop-tarts, plus my usual staples of soda and water. Okay, pop-tarts are not part of a healthy eating plan but I've had a craving for them. Everything else I bought today was pet food and non-food items. I will soon need soy milk, veggie burgers and fresh fruit, but I'm going to try to wait until the end of the week to shop for those. Oh, and, my friend brought me free food too---unsalted tortilla chips, reduced salt Triscuit crackers and a can of vegetarian baked beans. So I'm adding those to the pantry. I've been doing okay with eating the last couple of days, I had some sandwiches that didn't count towards eating up old stuff, but have also continued to eat the soup based crockpot dish I made the other day, and am now down to one bowl of hummus in the fridge. Diane Edited to add: Oops, I forgot something--my friend also bought me some extra Taco Bell bean burritos to take home. One is in the fridge for tomorrow and the others are in the freezer.
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 18, 2015 20:33:13 GMT -5
Let's see, over the last few days I had one of the extra burritos, a grilled cheese sandwich, more of the soup crockpot dish and...something else that I can't remember.
Before I started this thread, I don't think I realized how much food people are giving me. Yesterday my senior client gave me 2 more of those mini-rolls, which I ate right away as grilled cheese sandwiches, and today she gave me a chunk of fresh broccoli.
This morning I passed the expensive grocery store while walking a dog and started thinking about all kinds of food that I have a taste for...luckily I had a dog with me so I couldn't go in. I will probably go there tomorrow or Friday so I can get my soy milk & veggie burgers, so we'll see what else I end up buying.
I'm going to need to reevaluate what's in my pantry--between eating stuff up and throwing a lot of stuff out, the easy stuff is pretty much gone. There's still lots of stuff in my freezer.
How is everyone else doing? Has anyone else done a pantry survey and started eating out of there?
Diane
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Post by turkeyhill on Nov 18, 2015 22:59:02 GMT -5
I ended up over-buying chocolate for a gift for someone. Tonight I dropped the extra off at a group home.
This morning I joined Weight Watchers. I bought a whole bunch of frozen meals. I had to clean out my freezer to make them fit. It was huge bags of ice taking up the most room! Open bags of frozen blueberries definitely need a ziplock!
I'm giving myself permission to eat packaged food right now.
I wish I could find crisp apples. I buy bags of apples and they go bad because I really wanted crisp ones. I'm not a food snob I just don't end up eating then when they aren't crisp.
I've been doing good about doing a quick "grab" of fridge items that need to be tossed before I leave on trash day. So far that has kept the fridge in check. Thanks to this board I have a lot less guilt about the chicken carcass I didn't use...
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Post by turkeyhill on Nov 18, 2015 23:09:26 GMT -5
I brought the church youth Apple picking last month.....or maybe it was in September. regardless......I picked waaaay too many apples. I had plans for those apples. apple sauce, apple pies, apple coffee cake. well as usual I ended up with puddles from rotten apples and fruit flies. I took one bag and cut up the good apples and made apple sauce. it smells so yummy. maybe a pie in awhile.. Thank you for taking them! I have a teen very active in a youth group but I cannot chaperon. I appreciate everyone who volunteers/drives/helps out!!! Our youth goes "apple gleaning" at an orchard every fall and then it goes to local food banks.
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Post by bittyboo on Nov 19, 2015 10:48:24 GMT -5
I ended up over-buying chocolate for a gift for someone. Tonight I dropped the extra off at a group home. This morning I joined Weight Watchers. I bought a whole bunch of frozen meals. I had to clean out my freezer to make them fit. It was huge bags of ice taking up the most room! Open bags of frozen blueberries definitely need a ziplock! I'm giving myself permission to eat packaged food right now. I wish I could find crisp apples. I buy bags of apples and they go bad because I really wanted crisp ones. I'm not a food snob I just don't end up eating then when they aren't crisp. I've been doing good about doing a quick "grab" of fridge items that need to be tossed before I leave on trash day. So far that has kept the fridge in check. Thanks to this board I have a lot less guilt about the chicken carcass I didn't use... I totally agree about mealy apples. Blech. Unfortunately, it seems that, lately, no matter which variety I purchase, or where I purchase them, the apples are both mealy and flavorless.
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Post by ohblondie on Nov 19, 2015 12:06:52 GMT -5
turkeyhill.we used to go gleaning then come back to the church and make apple sauce to donate to the city mission. Those at the mission really appreciate this!
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Post by ohblondie on Nov 19, 2015 12:09:37 GMT -5
A few years back I totally emptied my pantry on the kitchen table. some of the items I out back, the soups, the few canned vegatables, the spaghetti O's type stuff. We ate those constantly.
the other cans were older and had sat on the shelves for awhile. I had to use them up before I could buy more or go into the cupboard. Some I just ended up donating.
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Post by lostchild on Nov 19, 2015 23:42:35 GMT -5
Been overbuying and was overstocked with stuff so I gave both my oldest boys each a bag of stuff to take with them because even in an emergency I don't think that my family could eat all of this stuff. Cake mixes, beans, taco shells, cereal, macaroni, canned milk and extras all hit the door to kids who are struggling. I am rearranging cabinets to reflect changes in diet we've been doing. Focusing more on perishables. I still have several cans of cranberry sauce from several years of holidays. The goal is to make sure all of my ingredients are traveling in and then out in our diets not dying on the shelves. Also tossed some vegetables that went past their shelf life, a chicken carcass that I had hopes of making soup...kids won't eat soup...not sure why!
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Post by turkeyhill on Nov 23, 2015 10:09:48 GMT -5
I'm trying to follow WW. With snacks I've been buying 2 of an item to see if I like it instead of buying a week's worth.
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Post by turkeyhill on Nov 23, 2015 10:14:45 GMT -5
This isn't officially pantry but I bought a used WW cookbook. Within 30 seconds I realized it was something I would never use so I threw it away.
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Post by Arid on Nov 23, 2015 14:11:15 GMT -5
turkeyhill: We have quite a few Weight Watchers cookbooks donated for our local library book sales, and I can tell you--they DO NOT SELL!!
Having said that, I do have one vegetarian Weight Watchers cookbook that I like. However, it is an older one, and the recipes are more "mainstream."
Most of the newer ones have recipes that I'd never make, either!
Arid
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Post by dtesposito on Nov 24, 2015 9:36:51 GMT -5
I haven't been posting, but I'm doing okay on this challenge so far. At least one meal a day is something that needs eating up quickly, I've also had some of the burritos that my friend gave me. My client gave me a couple of slices of pumpkin walnut bread from the bakery--wow, was that good! One bad thing--I did not use the chunk of broccoli she gave me quickly enough--it wilted pretty fast, so I ended up throwing it out. I'm almost at the point where I have to decide again what kind of emergency stock to keep in my pantry, I've eaten or thrown out so much stuff in there. I still have the box of emergency supplies that I stashed up on a high shelf the last time I cleaned the pantry out, so I have to see what's in there and decide if that's enough to keep on hand. I still have some soup, canned beans and canned vegetables in the pantry and what's left besides that is not everyday food, it's things like olive oil, salad dressing, strawberry jam. I will have to get to a grocery store soon, either walk to the far away one after my mid-day work, or else go to the close by one over the next few days--which doesn't appeal to me since tomorrow is going to be too busy with people getting last minute Thanksgiving stuff. The pantry clearing is not the hard part, it's the shopping and planning meals after the clearing! Diane
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Post by jendela on Nov 27, 2015 0:51:29 GMT -5
I have made general progress towards a more organized refrigerator and pantry over the last few weeks.
Firstly, I am using up those half empty jars and bottles in the fridge.
I used a 1/2 jar of laska paste and some of the nuclear winter stockpile of lentils to make a spicy lentil soup. Flavor is a bit odd, especially if you don't like laksa, and it is not something I would share with DH (or anyone else for that matter), however I had it for lunch one day and have frozen two portions for when I feel like a quick, warm lunch.
Used up the remnants of a bottle of oyster sauce and a bottle of teriyaki sauce in a quick stir fry.
I used up one pack of polenta in cornbread, the other pack was so out of date I started using it for ant bait, until it started attracting the Indian wood doves. Now I need to see if I can work out a system of containing the polenta so the doves can't access it, otherwise it is too dangerous in 'cat central' for those ditzy little birds to be on the ground.
I have been trying hard to minimize waste, and have decided that in future I will need to limit myself to buying celery by the stick and not bunch. Otherwise, I end up with far too much on hand, have trouble storing it in the fridge and end up wasting it.
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Post by downandout on Nov 29, 2015 6:35:11 GMT -5
I know I've had issues with food hoarding but I really thought I had a handle on it until the other day....we had to call our handyman who had to get into our pantry...had to empty two shelves....and while doing this I realised how out of date most of that stuff was! Years and years out. Not just canned goods either but boxed stuff too. I'm had chicken broth in a carton that was six years past its expiration date! I have started on going thru the pantry but even with stuff so outdated I still have a hard time getting rid of them. Feeling very overwhelmed with everything right now. I figure if I can just do a few items every day then it should be okay.
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Post by openwindows on Nov 30, 2015 17:42:09 GMT -5
I did my pantry today. It was more of a PEEP than a purge. As suspected I'm quite low on or out of several staples. Now that I can see what I don't have I'll add those items to my list.
Tomorrow will be the fridge.
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