I always hated the counting, even though I’m the accountant’s daughter. I can’t multitask, so when somebody would ask me a question, I would have to start all over. Every Monday at the Inn, at the retirement center. Once a month, at 3 am, for 5 years at the grocery store. Never my friend. Cold, dark, so much coffee I would have weird pooh. Nope, just.never.liked.it.
After a big harvest from the garden and being home cooking for 6 months, I ran into a small problem. I needed to do inventory. No, not a craving to count, or something basic from my genetics telling me to count foodstuffs. Just an overfull freezer. I knew the basement freezer had an entire bone-in Prime grade rib roast. And a Prime tenderloin. And 5 turkeys. And 6 boxes of Girl Scout Cookies. That was easy. It is a little freezer that came with the house.
Upstairs is a different beast. Over 42 cubic feet of spa
ce. And filled to overflowing. Everything is labeled and dated, kinda stuck in there in a way that makes sense to me. Asian ingredients top left, sweets top right. Middle shelf, at the Bunny’s shoulder level, all of his favorites. Garden veggies bottom shelf. Meat center right. But how much was really in there?
At the beginning of December, the Bunny and I pulled everything out, wrote a list, and put it all back in. I typed the list. Crossed stuff out as we ate it. Wrote stuff at the bottom as I added new leftovers to the crowd. Eeek. After our Christmas tea, I made a decision. No.More.Grocery.Shopping!
It hurts my heart, honestly. I don’t like clothes shopping; don’t go to Starbucks; can’t really understand why Chicago has so many outside malls. But put near an Asian market…or Greek…or Mexican…heck, it doesn’t really matter. Any grocery will do. Leave me be for a few hours. And give me some cash, ’cause this is my Nordstrom.
It’s January 4. I haven’t been to the market since December 23. I am going to find out how long we can live on the contents of the freezer and the pantry. I will only buy produce, fish and dairy, and essentials like flour and sugar as needed. We have a few dinner parties coming up – those need goodies. So, I guess I’ll be using only we already for the feeding of the Bunny and myself, and casual get togethers. Here we go!