I… Must… STOP… Shopping!!!!!!
Image via WikipediaA little while back when grocery prices started rising rapidly, I did the only sensible thing I could think of. I stopped tracking how much I was spending. I started to pay less attention to how much I was spending. Denial can be quite an effective coping tool. At least in the short term.
One problem with no longer tracking our grocery spending has been the amount of food accumulating in this house.
I have a chronic problem when it comes to food. I buy TOO MUCH. I hoard food. I think perhaps it has something to do with living so far away from shops. Or perhaps it’s just a sickness I have.
Last year’s “can I get the grocery spending under $100 a week on average” challenge was great for keeping my hoarding tendencies under control.
The good news about the cupboards, fridge and freezer overflowing with food is that our overall bill has obviously not increased quite as much as it would seem (not that I know exactly how much given I’ve been in denial for some months now).
The bad news is that the cupboards, fridge and freezer ARE overflowing and we’re going to see some food wastage going on here if I don’t do something soon.
If there is one thing I HATE, it’s throwing money into the rubbish bin (via spoilt food).
The chaos my overflowing cupboards are causing was highlighted the other day when I was berating myself for forgetting to buy icing mixture when I’d been shopping. I wanted to make lemon slice for morning tea on Sunday and knew I had used up the last of the icing mixture the week before and had planned to buy more when in town during the week.
Given the state of chaos my cupboard is currently in (a combination of too much shopping and a husband who shoves things in the closest spot rather than where it came from), I figured it was worth a little bit of a hunt in the back of the cupboard just in case a packet was lurking back there.
To my delight, I managed to find an unopened packet and the lemon slice was again on the menu.
Now for the confession part.
I actually found not 1, not 2 but 4 packets of icing mixture lurking back there. ROFLOL. I don’t think we’re going to run out in a hurry.
All of this to say…
It’s time for a PANTRY CHALLENGE!!!!
And a fridge and freezer challenge.
What is a pantry challenge?
Basically you buy as little as possible while focusing on using what food you already have on hand.
I made a great start today by spending $300 at the supermarket (*blush*). And yes, I’m having trouble finding places to put things.
So, I guess the challenge is starting tomorrow!!!
The great part of this challenge is it should help me with another challenge I’m about to start (which I’ll fill you in on soon).
So, who’s with me? Anyone else in need of a pantry/freezer challenge?
P.S. Ironically, I posted a post similar to this less than 2 months ago:
*sigh* Wonder if I’ll get on top of it this time around?
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Mine aren’t too bad, but i need to do a freezer challenge at least and soon so that I can defrost the stupid thing. lol
Our freezer is full to the brim with bread and chickpea, pumpkin curry. Like Bettina I need to defrost it so have to wait for the supplies to run low.
We have pantries in two different places and I constantly get muddle with what is where.
I have noticed shopping online leads to less impulse purchases. The ALDI shopping list feature is very handy also. My worst trait when shopping is the impulse purchase. I just can’t resist.
Unfortunately I’m on the opposite end of the cycle to you. In my efforts to keep food costs down we are running dangerously low on staples, and heading into the cyclone/wet season where the shelves clear at the mere mention of a cyclone off the coast I’m stocking my spare cupboard with essentials as they come on special (last week it was cereal).
I am however working on clearing out the freezer before me and the kids head off leaving DH to fend for himself for a few weeks. I’m slowly getting there. And not buying meat is helping me with the budget to have money spare to stock the “cyclone cupboard” ready for the wet season.
I’m in
I desperately need to clean out my pantry so that I can find what’s in there. my hubby does the same thing - puts things back anywhere instead of where they need to go. I probably have lots of things that I don’t know are there too. And I probably also don’t have things that I need but don’t know cause who knows where they are or aren’t in the pantry.
The freezer isn’t too bad. We had a big clean out a few weeks ago and it has stayed fairly respectable. Not good, just respectable. I have been trying to remember to write the dates on bags when I put things in the freezer, particularly meat so I know how long things have been there and use the oldest first.
I too have the opposite problem at the moment - scarily so.
Thanks for the reminder! I have the same issues so much so that i am not sure where to start! But i am also thankful for the supply that comes in so handy at times. I will now focus on using all before i stock up again closer to Christmas.
Lets know how you go in the pantry maze, maybe you can make it into a game with the kids.
L
Aha… you surely must read this!
http://www.theenhancelife.com/2008/09/over-spending-impulse-buying-8-reasons.html
My pantry is in a similar state to yours, except I do know exactly what’s in there and how much. The freezer is choc-a-block, but that’s because I restocked last shopping trip after letting it run right down. With summer coming when we don’t feel like “proper” cooking it’s now filled with frozen meals such as pizza and the lean cuisine range, stuff I only have to add a salad or some toppings (pizza) to in the interest of proper nutrition.
I tried to unpack my groceries today….I managed to squeeze everything in eventually.
But more importantly, that lemon slice was AMAZING!!! I’m embarrased to tell you how many pieces I had! Please don’t bring it again. Ok. I’m lying. PLEASE bring it every week!!!!
Bettina - yeah, my freezer needs defrosting. I used to run it down at least once a year and defrost. Don’t think it’s been done since my breakdown. Oh well….maybe soon.
Marita - I’m bad on the “impulse” buy too. Or the “can’t remember if we need this or not so I’ll buy it just in case”. I’ve heard online shopping can end up being cheaper because of lack of impulse buying. I bet they try and do something about that before too long - some supermarkets live on impulse buys don’t they?
Kin - sadly, I’ve never been low on staples. Even when I ran the cupboard down before we moved I ended up with 4 boxes of food.
Gem - lol. You do sound like you have the same problem as me.
Jeanie - well, go shopping!!! Need me to show you how? LOL. Don’t worry, I know plenty of people who seem to live with an almost empty pantry cupboard. I think it’s the “in” thing at the moment.
LS - I think the key is knowing what you have that needs using up (a bit of an audit) and then menu planning around that. That’s what I’m going to work on doing in the next few weeks. I think.
River - A well stocked pantry and freezer are a great asset if you have them under control (ie know what’s in there).
Sharon - LOL. I won’t tell you how many I had either.
I was wondering why I don’t make it more often until I made it and started eating it. THAT’s why. So, I do need to make it for more of a purpose (like church morning tea) and then I only have a small amount left at home. Funnily enough, I usually only make it if we’re given lemons (which isn’t all that often) but this time I actually bought lemons and wondered why I don’t just do that? After all, I’d buy ingredients for anything else I was planning to make. Isn’t it odd how our brain works sometimes.
I am hopeless with stocking the pantry. I hate going to the supermarket so am guilty of buying food every day or two (well sending hubby to work with a list to bring home :)) To be honest, sometimes that costs more and because I grab stuff in a hurry we still have wastage
Another thing to add to my “need to get organised list” lol
We had a ton of food hoarded for Thanksgiving but it is getting better now. Most of the Thanksgiving food is gone and we are using up some things from the freezer. It really piles up in the freezer when you buy some discounted this and that and stick it down there and forget about it.
For me the problem is that when I think of cooking something I don’t even look down in the basement in the freezer. It’s kind of a wasteland down there. At Thanksgiving it nearly exploded as I tried to stuff more into it. But, I did find some steaks and other treasures. I think the only things I really need to keep restocking are milk and coffee.
[...] few days ago Lightening wrote a post about doing a pantry challenge and I really need to do the same, I also need to do a freezer challenge and use up most of what is [...]
I made major progress today and only spent 1-2 hours online shopping at ll bean and Eddie bauer.
ROFLOL. Well done!!!! The longer I’ve been away, the less I feel like shopping. Rather strange for me really.