I can see a dent in the pantry! I no longer am overwhelmed with overstock.
Making a list of what to try to get through last week really helped. I didn't get through everything on the list, but did move the items to the most convenient spot to grab and that worked. Got done with many partial jars/bags of things and that makes space so I can see what I have.
I've gotten quite enamored with the pilafs. Will focus more on whole grains when I go back to the store...whenever that might be! I'm low on fruit....so I thought. Then I found the 2nd jar of no-sugar cranberry juice AND a jar of the failed jelly cranberry sauce I made...still not thickening but probably still delicious. Then there is the 2.5 quarts of berries in vinegar. I dip a few berries out to throw in breads now and then. I used some of the strawberry powdered I've had for ages (thanks Pam) in a keto-ish bannock (skillet quick bread) and it was good as well.
I cracked open the final 5lb bag of flour and have some quick bread (made with a really yummy blackberry vinaigrette a friend gave me) going in the work toaster oven. It smells good. I was supposed to have a field trip for work today but we'll see. It is Monday and I'm the only one without kids in the office. Mondays are usually a tad chaotic for families. Still have part of a pound of coconut flour, a quart jar full of almond flour, another of vital wheat gluten. Plenty of "faking powder" and "faking soda" (the sodium free versions of the "baking" products) and enough yeast to get me through the apocalypse. About a pint of rye berries (yum). And camelina seeds that I really should start eating more of.
Anyway, got here and remembered the field trip so figured if I bake up some savory quick bread and take the last can of tuna (not counting the 2 from xmas...thanks Chris!!) it will be a decent lunch.
I am low on fresh veg. Still have one small onion, 2 or 3 cloves of garlic, a hand of ginger, and a medium size squash/pumpkin.
I do have a can of tomatoes and a can of tomato paste which I count as veggies. Along with the can of artichoke hearts and jar of olives from xmas (thanks again Chris!!). I have kept a bag of dried mixed veggie soup base for when the variety of fresh veggies dwindled and started some radish sprouts for more fresh. Also have broccoli seeds and alfalfa seeds. And a few fermented ginger carrots left as well. Plenty of veg then really. And then there are the dried hot peppers. They add some texture and flavor to almost anything.
The chickens, pretty sure it is Helen and Beatrice, are cranking out 2 eggs most days. That helps keep the protein supply up.
Also have 2 jars of duck, a smoked duck, 8 portions of smoked salmon, about 3-4 cups of lentils, a pint of dry garbanzos (maybe 2?), a pint of dry peruana beans, those 2 big cans of tuna, a can of garbanzos and a jar of home canned garbanzos, 2 cans of sardines, 4 pints of chicken stock (bone broth if you are a hipster), and 2 bags of dried egg which are about 10 large eggs equivalent each. Jesus! Too much protein?? Oh, and 1.2 lbs of beef based gelatine which is basically pure protein. And 2lbs of walnuts (like in a bag, not in the shells).
The neighbor gave me 8 eggs but I didn't get them eaten because I have so much and they are SO poopy I am not able to wash them well. So, they are getting boiled up and fed to my hens now and then. I am grateful and if it had been warm enough to try to wash them outside, and the woodstove/chimney was not on the blink this weekend, I would have dealt with them better. Next time?
Have a bag of dried mushrooms that make for some umami in soups and pilafs.
Enough herbs and spices for the next apocalypse as well.
In other news:
I did force the chickens out of the coop for an hour this weekend so I could get all the poop out. The weather warmed up a bit and after a rain the snow was crusty and more solid under the snow shoes. Still can't get to the utility sled...stupid mistake. So, I used the empty bedding bag I'd stuffed in the pallet wall of the coop in case I needed it, and loaded it with poopy bedding several times while the chickens whined outside. It was 35 degrees and SUNNY. They were FINE. It took about 4 trips to haul bags over to the terrace garden. The snow is a few feet deep there so it will have plenty of space to leach and rot before it hits the ground and I haven't planted/prepped that bed yet. I think the woodchip bedding will be good for the super clay "soil." ("Soil" because really...it is just clay.)
As I was walking on snow shoes with a recycled bag full of poopy chicken bedding, I thought about that ph.d. I have. It did get me the job that lets me afford the place where I am doing all this so I guess...but the reality was not the picture I had in my head during graduate school. I do like this life better than the one I pictured and tried out (being a professor was not a good fit for me), but fewer turd bags on my back would be fine.
The chickens rushed back in when I re-opened their door. They were all fluffing around in the new non-pooped bedding. By this morning...crap everywhere. Assholes!
Anyway, the pantry challenge. It is going really well. Clearly. I've started a list of things I enjoy eating/using/cooking with so I can focus better and not just buy what is cheap. Also, things that I will just eat up rather than pace myself. E.g....anything sweet and easy to eat like dried figs and raisins. Honey in the cold weather is harder to get through so that is lasting. Coconut oil is easier to deal with in the winter than olive oil. And I really like working with cocoa and super dark chocolate. You can make many delicious things. I got so much coffee as gifts, all amazingly good stuff, that I am not putting that on the list for a while.
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