Did you go over budget on groceries these last two months? That’s easy to do with holiday baking and entertaining family and friends. Odds are you have leftovers or your pantry is bulging from extras that were not consumed.
Why not take a Kitchen Inventory? A Kitchen Inventory lends itself to meal planning and is a good way to put feet to your New Year goals of healthy eating, watching finances, or spending more face time with family.
Let’s get started then!
1. Grab a pad and pen. Divide your paper into five sections: Refrigerated (fresh) Food, Dry Goods (canned and boxed), Frozen Foods, and Expendables (spices, leavening, oils). If you want to get fancy, EHow has instructions on making a computer inventory here. Just don’t make this harder than it is, OK?
2. Make a list of what you have on hand in fridge, freezer, and pantry, checking “use by” dates as you go. Throw out any bulging cans!
3. Put a star by:
- Fresh food more than a week old (like those baby carrots you swore you would eat instead of cookies and candy)
- Canned goods/boxed foods more than a month old
- Frozen food more than 2 months old
- Spices/seasonings more than 1 year old for ground, 2 years for whole.
4. Brainstorm meals that will use only what you have on hand, especially the starred foods. Think soups, stir fry, casseroles. Recipe sites that allow you to search by ingredients can help. These are a few of my favorites: recipe.com, allrecipes.com, RachelRay.com
5. Make a grocery list including only the staples (bread, milk, eggs) you go through regularly and specific ingredients you will use in the next 5-7 day’s meals.
Yes, making the inventory takes time, but this process gives back to you! What you will save: time wondering what to have for dinner, money you can put toward any holiday charges hanging around your neck, space in fridge/pantry for fresh ingredients.
Do this exercise once a month to truly gain is control over your kitchen storage spaces, your food consumption, and your grocery bill. You are your manager. Would you hire yourself?
Knowing What You Really Want is Key to Success
Friday, February 4th, 2011Book Review: Write It Down, Make It Happen
In December, my sister and I met to exchange Christmas presents and to just BE together. That doesn’t happen nearly often enough.
I told her, ”I’m not sure what I really want!” She said, “I’ll send you a copy of the book I’m reading,” and gave me a notebook to write my thoughts in. The funny part: the book’s tag line is Knowing What You Want – and Getting It!
Author, Henriette Ann Klauser, has a PhD in English Literature and teaches writing techniques in U.S. and Canadian universities. As she taught her students how to practice “rapidwriting, writing fast, lickety-split, past the Critic”, her students began to share with her the positive, life-changing results they experienced. Those stories became the catalyst for her book, Write It Down, Make It Happen.
Write It Down, Make It Happen
Klauser uses illustrations from real people who found once they wrote dreams down, the resources and contacts came to them, rather than their having to seek out either. Well known examples are Lou Holtz, Notre Dame coach and Jim Carrey, comedian.
As a Christian believer, I don’t ascribe to “name it, claim it” type thinking. I see something else at work here. Once you and I identify what we really want, we will see opportunities that would otherwise go unnoticed.
Marian’s story of building a state-of-the-art retirement home in a small Nevada town inspires me. Not only did writing clarify her thoughts, but she states,
What is it you really want? Start to keep a journal of your thoughts and feelings in 2011. From organizing, to losing weight, to getting finances in order… it is key to know what you want as an end result. You may be surprised at the strange “coincidences” that help you along the way.
Better yet, find someone with whom to share your goals and desires, and who will cheer you on/hold you up during tough times. That is exactly the role my wonderful sister fills for me. I am grateful.
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Tags: accountable, encourage, focus, goals, inspiration, motivation, priorities, productivity