Two weeks without grocery shopping: the pantry starts to take a hit
I stopped shopping for dry goods at the beginning of July, and surprisingly we haven’t starved to death yet… OK, given how much food we have in the house, it’s not actually that surprising. So far it has actually been kind of fun.
I am happy to report that the shopping strike is beginning to have its desired effect: cleaning out the pantry. This week I finally used up the last of some arborio rice that had been sitting around for quite a while (but I still have 4 other kinds of rice left). And we’re down to a mere 3 varieties of pasta, and only 2 more cans of beans (although several varieties of dried beans are still there).
My commitment to this experiment will really be tested in the coming week, when I will run out of coffee. Oh, the horror! Really I should start replacing my morning java with tea from our extensive collection, rather than running out and buying more coffee. Hmmmm….
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POSTED IN: Adventures, Cooking
2 opinions for Two weeks without grocery shopping: the pantry starts to take a hit
céline
Jul 16, 2007 at 1:29 pm
Another great post. At first I wasn’t too sure why I’d want to do that as radically as you are doing. But it all makes sense. Why should we hoard so much food we’re not sure we’re going to consume anytime soon? I used to hoard a lot, as if it were wartimes! And of course, after 2 years in the cupboard, the jars were out of date. “I’m not going to risk it, I will throw it away”, I used to say. Really stupid of me especially when I think that at the moment there is no bread on the supermarket shelves in place like Zimbabwe.
Now on the positive side, we have stopped taking the car to buy food. Instead I walk to the shops 2x a week and buy enough to last for a few days. Needless to say, because I only have 2 arms (and that’s fine with me!) I won’t induldge in pasta sauce this, black bean sauce that, jar of this and jar of that… The result: I hoard less dry goods and have more storage space (hurray!), spend less, waste less, build up those biceps and oh, less CO2 emission from the car journey. I’m satisfied with that. :-)
Jul
Jul 18, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Thanks, Celine! My parents are the ultimate food hoarders, so I grew up thinking one should always have an overstocked pantry. But as you pointed out, it is a shame to let food go to waste, so with this experiment I’m hoping to use up a lot of things that would otherwise probably get thrown away eventually. Plus the decluttering aspect of it is totally appealing to me.
Good for you for walking to the grocery store! It’s a healthy choice on so many levels. Sometimes I get frustrated with how little I can carry on one trip, but in general I’m happy to walk to the stores, too (not that I have a choice - we don’t have a car!). Fresh veggies weigh less than canned goods, so there’s an added incentive to eat healthy built in.
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