Happy New Year!

I think one of my biggest food waste issues is the amount of stuff sitting in my freezer and cupboards that I get tired of, or forget about and decide not to eat. Finally, after it's been there forever I decide to throw it out because it has become either freezerburnt or stale.  So, my first goal is to work my way through the stockpile and get eating!

No need for any more pasta, rice, or cereal to be purchased until the half dozen almost-empty bags of each get finished! I will keep buying fruit and milk but we are going to finish those frozen veggies before I buy anymore fresh ones that will inevitably not get finished.  Oh, and the bread... you want to know how much bread I have in my freezer?  And the spices, and the condiments....

The last major pantry culprit are all of those cans of tomato soup and tuna fish that are going to need to get eaten.  I really can't stand tuna fish. Honestly, my husband keeps buying it and I keep funneling it off to food drives.  I suppose I should at least make up a gigantic batch of tuna fish salad, which will supply him lunch for several weeks.  That will serve two purposes, it will use up the fish, and it might turn him off it so much that he never buys it again (insert evil laugh here!!) As for the tomato soup: other than eating it straight up I don't know what to do with it. Any suggestions?

My entire family has been sick this week and we haven't had the energy to go grocery shopping or go out to eat so we really have been making a dent at the pile of food we already have and I've been pretty impressed with the meals I've been able to throw together.  It has actually been quite satisfying to clear out the bulge!  Here are two recipes from more with less that I've made this week: Fried potatoes with egg - much like hashbrowns but not so greasy (p.151) and Cheese Pizza (p.142) though I added salami as a topping. The dough didn't turn out too great, though I don't know how good my yeast is as I've had the jar for quite a while (no surprise there!) but the sauce was AMAZING (though I lacked garlic). I made more of the sauce for pasta later in the week. It was incredible. Here's what I did: I pureed an onion and a large can of tomatoes. Threw them in the cast iron skillet, added italian seasoning, 2 bay leaves, salt and pepper, boiled, simmered, (you know the drill) mmmm. 

I alluded to my dislike of tuna fish (ok, to say I dislike it is an understatement. I can't stand eating fish! blech!) Two of my dear children are following in my picky footsteps and have many things they don't like to eat either.  I think that it's only fair that if I want my kids to start eating beans and eggs (other than smuggling them into hashbrowns, though that apparently worked quite well) I should suck it up and start eating the foods from my icky list too. But, I'm not promising anything, we'll see how that goes...(why am I even mentioning this?!)

Ok, reflection time: as I stood in front of my pantry this week and pulled out a multitude of ingredients that would become our meals I realized how many times I've stared at this same pile and complained that we had nothing to eat. Much like all the times I've stared into my bursting clothes drawers and could find nothing to wear... only to complain a few hours later that I had no room for the clean laundry to be put away! I think I have become so accustomed to the convenience of getting exactly what I'm craving (whether it was the perfect food or the perfect outfit)  that I've become ungrateful to God for the abundance that I actually do have right before my eyes!   So, LORD, I'm sorry for my ungratitude and my wastefulness. Jesus taught us to pray for our daily bread, but I've been turning up my nose at the daily feast I've been given.  Help me to be grateful and to rejoice in all of your blessings. 

One who is full tramples on virgin honey, but to the man who is hungry, any bitter thing is sweet. - Proverbs 27:7 (New American Bible)