I'm Dreaming of Food Shopping..

True to my word, for this month, I've been doing most of my meal planning from what I have in the cupboards and in the fridge, with very few visits to the grocery store, except for some fresh veg and fruit. Yesterday I made a refried bean soup I got off of a year of crockpotting blog. I made the recipe before and liked it and decided to make it again. I used up 5 cans from my cupboard (beans, refried beans, tomato chunks, broth, and canned corn) and I had all the spices. The soup is yummy, I spiced it up with some extra dried hot peppers and I also made some tortilla strips from left over corn tortillas. I have enough left over for one more lunch and one dinner.

BUT I am craving a food shop. I've been making lists, I am getting low on staple items, I am losing some of my creativity, I am down to one onion and three cloves of garlic. I have 1/2 pound of angle hair pasta and 1 pound of elbow macaroni, I still have pounds of rice (I bought a 10 pound bag a in late April), I've used up the frozen meat, most of the frozen veg and the most of the canned items. I even went a little OCD and washed the cupboard shelves since the larder is getting bare.

Things I've used up, pesto made last year from my garden, 4 chicken thighs, 4 boneless chicken breast, 2 small steaks, 1 quart of chicken stock, I replaced the stock by boiling up a carcass I had from the last time I roasted a chicken, lots of pasta, two hunks of frozen mozzarella I forgot I had, ate one full package of Hebrew National Hot Dogs, finished off a bag of frozen tater tots, various grains, dried beans, canned tomatoes, canned beans, onions, peppers, various and assorted jars of condiments and sauces (Indian, Oriental and some salad dressing) used up the onions, potatoes, garlic and ginger root, sour cream, yogurt, salsa, a lot of pasta and bag of noodles called Singapore noodles (A type of egg noodle from Singapore), you get the picture. I don't think I can really make a meal out of brown sugar, baking soda and malt vinegar, but I did replace the old boxes of baking soda in the fridge and freezer and poured one box down the kitchen drain (followed by a hefty dose of white vinegar) and used the other box on the tub instead of using Ajax cleanser. That also kept me in line with my goal for being as green as I can and not using toxic chemicals and cleaners.

I'll be at my second job for the upcoming holiday and my meals will be taken care of, so there is no reason for me to do a serious food shop until at least next Tuesday. I'll be a "big girl" do some meal planning and then plan my shop around the menu. But between now and then, I can betcha I'll be dreaming of wandering up and down the food aisles at Trader Joes,Aldi and Costco.