Cooking from your stockpile

Have you printed you coupons from the above tool bar? Joined swagbucks, how about ebates, scheduled your Saving Seminar???

As you stock your shelves with normal staples and of course those great deals that you stumble upon. There will come a time when you must purge your cupboards and fridge.

I am at that time, I will be purging until the new year. What exactly does that mean? I am not buying anything else, with the exception of milk, bread, and eggs. I wouldn't buy those if I had a deep freezer, but my limited space does not allow it.

The purpose of this purge is to clear the shelves before things reach their expiration date. I normally stock the shelves and rotate all products, however Elizabeth sometimes helps with putting away the groceries. You could also purge by donating to your local food banks, and shelters. The first step is to take an inventory of all food on hand.You will need this inventory in order to make a meal plan for the selected purge time. If you decide to purge for two weeks you will need to decide how many meals  you will prepare during that time,be it fourteen or twenty-one. Be creative and try to only use the ingredients on hand, this should include fresh, frozen and dry goods.

I always end up with tons of free yogurt, so I layer fresh granola and to make parfaits. I am stocked on Green Giant antioxidants steamers, I will incorporate them into stir fry. In order to stretch the meat reserve I will have several meatless dinners or hearty soup and grilled cheese sandwiches. If you are more mindful of waste, you will stretch your grocery budget even farther. On Monday I made orange thyme chicken for lunch. I had picked up a ten dollar roaster chicken for six bucks and I was determined to stretch it as far as possible. On Tuesday we had chicken salad sandwiches and on Wednesday chicken noodle soup. not only did I used the meat on hand, but condiments and fresh veggies.

Tonight I was really creative, we had brown sugar ham, fried okra and corn on the cob with a choice of cherry yum yum or cranberry-pineapple minis for dessert. Now you may say, that isn't creative that is just plain Delicious lol. Let me explain, the brown sugar ham was in fact Oscar Meyer Deli Fresh sandwich meat that had been marked down plus a coupon. Of course I grabbed six or so packages and they are on my inventory list, so they must be used.

If you find yourself with an abundance of eggs, think outside the box. Don't just scramble them make a  quiche, or egg salad......yum!

You will learn several things during your purge, you will learn what you actually use and what you like to see in your cupboard. The difference is obvious, if you actually use something you will run low immediately. If you have developed a habit of picking something up just because you can get it dirt cheap or free, you will have an abundance.

Enjoy your time, create new shopping list, reorganize your storage area, and plan your next shopping trip it may be a big one!