Cooking, shopping, and lists

I've always been amazed at how quickly we accumulate food we never want to eat. The last time my family moved, we found cans of food that expired long before the move before - our favorite was a can of sauerkraut that came from one of my grandmothers; if I remember correctly, it was from the year I was born. The worst part of living like this, though, is that once you put away your new groceries, they get absorbed into the mess you already had and then you can't find anything. Marginally less bothersome (but still an issue) is the fact that at some point in time, you paid for these unused goods. So now we're wasting valuable storage space AND money that could have been for something we actually want to eat.

I've decided to purge my kitchen of these unnecessary items - who needs 3 cans of 4 year old progressive soup? - and employ the only weapon I have to stop it from happening again: the shopping list.

I find that I accumulate this clutter mostly with items that fit into one of two categories: 1) It seemed like a good idea at the time and 2) It's on sale, so why not stock up? Both of these have to do with on-the-fly decisions at the grocery store and have absolutely nothing to do with my meal plan for the week. So, as part of my food overhaul, I have begun to make the mother of all shopping lists - one that is derived from ingredients for specific meal plans. Of course we need to give ourselves some latitude for the truly unexpected but complementary food item (like my avocados...but more on that later), but by and large the best way to combat clutter is to be prepared.

And that is where I usually have the most trouble. I'm an impulse shopper (as anyone who's ever gone with me to a Vera Bradley store can absolutely attest to) so sticking to a plan and finishing a shop in as little time possible are foreign concepts to me. What I find helps, though, is the knowledge that I can buy all of this stuff next week when I'm ready for it. Like my jicama. My coworker made an amazing looking dinner last week and posted a picture of it on facebook and I was immediately intrigued by his jicama salad. For those of you who don't know, a jicama looks like a cross between an onion and a potato and apparently tastes like a cross between a potato and an apple. Instead of running out and buying it and scrapping my whole food plan for one day last week (something I seriously considered), I researched it and built a meal around it for this coming week. I will post more details when I prepare it, although I'm not sure which day that will be.

Which brings me to my next point - being prepared doesn't make you boring. I was worried that shopping according to a well-thought out plan would ruin the spontaneity of cooking food that interests me, but I actually found it to be the opposite. As you saw last week, having a variety of ingredients in the house allowed me to mix things up and be a little unexpected, but still have enough food to make what I wanted to eat. This week, I planned a few meals I wanted to make and picked up a few staples (they're listed on my Store-bought foods I love page), but left the when and how I ate them up to me. So, for example, even though I planned on making french onion soup last night, I was able to change my mind and make carmelized yellow peppers instead (see my Passover post for cooking instructions).

Sweet and delicious

Another way I've been able to make sure that I eat what I buy is to store foods in groups according to what meals I will use them in. Right now, above/in my fridge, I've grouped the veggies I need for Arroz con Pollo (tonight's mission), collard greens, (also tonight's mission, although I'm not feeling that well so I might change it to tomorrow), pasta salad, quesadillas, jicama salad, yogurt with fresh fruit, and french onion soup. Here's a pic of what I brought home from the store last night:

My latest food shop

Stay tuned to find out how it all turns out! I'll making some more complicated dishes this week, so it'll definitely be interesting :)