Inventory

I am one of those people who fear post-dated food.  I am married to someone who sees post-dated food as an opportunity to take a feast down memory lane.  I am slowly coming to accept that most food does not magically spoil when the best before date matches the date on the calendar.  But, here's my problem: when I think food is starting to get old I should say "oh this is gonna go, I better eat it up.", but instead I think I better not eat it and wait to see if it will magically disappear or if my husband will decide to eat it.  So I'm working on that behaviour. 

I took an inventory yesterday of every food item in our entire household.  We have a lot of food! Scarily, some of this stuff has been in here a very, very long time. Even more scary to me was that I decided to eat it! Last night I used three pretty old items that have been taking up residence here for quite a while - a frozen chicken breast (that may or may not have been older than my 2 year old son!!), a butternut squash that I bought in the summer, and some rice pasta which must have been there for at least a year.  I cubed the chicken and pan-fried it, I boiled up the pasta and served it with the leftover tomato sauce along with a bit of grated cheddar, and roasted the squash.  Gotta say it made me feel terribly icky thinking how old the food was, but no one else said anything bad about the taste, and no one died of horrible gut pain so I guess it was okay! 

So, for the record, here's what I found:
In the Freezers:
-8 lb ham
-two grass fed steaks (purchased when I was pregnant!!)
-3 mystery frozen soups
-cauliflower
-mixed vegetables
-peas and carrots
-fava beans
-peas
-corn (3 bags)
-orange juice
-blueberry bagels
-whole wheat bagels
-puff pastry dough
-rye bread
-flatbread hamburger buns
-miscellaneous packages of 1-2 hotdog or hamburger buns
-homemade tomato juice
-sausages
-hamburgers
-bacon
-3 packs of cold cuts
-1 chicken breast
-gnocchi
-bread cubes

In the Refrigerators:
-large grapefruits
-a very old coconut
-one bottle of strawberry fruit smoothie
-3 bottles of ketchup - but only 1 is open
-2 bottles of water
-nutritional yeast flakes
-hemp seed
-milk
-maple syrup
-green pepper
-red pepper
-carrots
-beets
-celery
-cheez whiz
-miracle whip
-relish (4 jars!!)
-pickles
-olives
-salsa
-worcestershire sauce
-tartar sauce
-lemon juice
-lime juice
-salad dressing
-bbq sauces
-teriyaki sauce
-mustard
-soya sauce
-tabasco sauce
-Frank's red hot
-jar of pesto

In the Pantry:
oatmeal
white sugar
crackers
white flour
whole wheat flour
spelt flour
gluten-free baking mix
bisquick
MWL pancake mix
instant oatmeal
steel-cut oats
wheat bran
soy protein powder
soy butter
honey
pasta: whole wheat, white, and rice
bulgur
lard
vegetable shortening
sweetened condensed milk
dry cereal (6 varieties!)
gummies
raisins
goldfish crackers (those these disappeared as soon as I pulled them out)
one pack of mentos (also rapidly disappearing)
a few packs of chewing gum
potatoes
nutella
easy-mac
quinoa
dried pinto beans
dried soya beans
rice: basmati, brown, and sushi
red lentils
microwave popcorn
tuna fish
pumpkin puree
kidney beans
diced tomatoes
tomato soup
white vinegar
wine vinegar
canola oil
olive oil
coconut oil

In the Spice cupboard:
Over 20 types of sweet and savoury spices
cornmeal
corn syrup
molasses
yeast
icing sugar
prepared icing
brown sugar
vanilla extract
cocoa
cornstarch
baking powder
baking soda
salt
sprinkles and food colouring

In the Tea and Coffee Cupboard:
apple cider mix
instant coffee
decaf instant coffee
tea: orange pekoe, green, rooibos, assorted herbals
ground coffee, regular and decaf
coffee beans - but we no longer have a grinder!!
hot chocolate powder

And taking up residence on the counter:
butter
1 butternut squash
1 apple
1 pear
1 onion
2 bottles of rye
a case of canned iced tea

Well, there you have it.   Definitely enough to base a whole bunch of good meals on. We're heading to the grocery now for our first food shopping of 2011!  My list is MUCH shorter than usual as I now know exactly what it is we already have on hand.

If you are disorganized like me and end up buying what you often already have, I encourage you to take an inventory of your food stores too!  Let me know what surprises you find!!