The Challenge is On!

The topic of weeding out and getting rid of clutter has come up quite often since the year began.  In a conversation with a sibling yesterday, Peter Walsh was mentioned.  Peter Walsh writes books to address mental clutter, physical clutter and the psychology behind it.  The comment was that this kind of clutter could probably be applied to food as well. 

As you may have imagined, I went to the internet to look up Peter Walsh and watched a few videos.  In one, he addresses clutter you hold onto because you might need it one day.  He calls this kind of clutter, things you hold onto for your imagined future.  If you saw my kitchen cabinets, my freezer and my basement stash, you could probably put me in this category.  I am always scouring through cookbooks and looking for new and interesting recipes to try, I buy in bulk and I buy ahead but somehow I am always grocery shopping.

Later on that night, I caught myself thinking about going to the store to buy chard for a recipe I had my eye on earlier in the week.  I thought for another moment and then waltzed over to my fridge where our weekly menu is hanging.  Sausage Lentil Stew is the new creation preplanned and posted.  I found the recipe and quickly realized that this was not the one needing chard but I had indeed bought escarole for this recipe which is sitting in my refrigerator just waiting to be used.  The shopping trip was nixed and I found myself being very satisfied that I didn’t waste time shopping for something that I really didn’t have time for or need and would probably go bad before I actually found that recipe again.

After a good nights sleep, I contemplated how much I go to the store and pick up things for convenience rather than address the food in my cupboards even with a plan.   How many items do I have for my imagined future.  Could I go a week without shopping for anything other than milk?  Would my family buy into this?  Would we have a limited diet?   The challenge is on!

The first dilemma is that we have a few wheat rolls on their way out, and no bread.  Everyone takes their lunch everyday so this should be interesting.  Then,  I remember a pottery bowl I bought at a craft fair for making bread.  That reminds me of some kalamata olives I bought for a bread creation.  Luckily they are still fresh.   There is yeast in the cabinet just calling my name and so I think I have this first dilemma covered.

I slice the wheat rolls up and toast them to extend their life and decide to serve this toast with the tomato marmalade in the basement topped with mozzarella for a tasty snack later this week.  Of course the marmalade has been there since October.  I just needed a great excuse to open it.  I am starting to live my imagined future.  Today should be interesting planning out the week with a balanced diet of meat, fruits, vegetables and dairy.  I know we have plenty of everything.  Keep in mind that I decided on this challenge with only a few hours of thought so I had no heads up that I wouldn’t be visiting the store. 

The family has agreed to try this.  Already they are super hungry even though they just ate.  Looking forward to reporting how the week goes with lessons learned, roadblocks I faced, and possibly how long this challenge last.