Update on pantry challenge

On Sept 30th, I started a pantry challenge. You can read about it here. Usually, I do these to clean up excess food that accumulated over time and may, without expiring, be not as good and fresh...

This time around, I have observed, quite happily, that I don't really have food that just stands by! That was great news!!!

It also meant that I could not go very long before buying food... so I had no money sleeping in my cupboards... that's OK.

Food lying around is money lying around...
Except it eventually goes bad...
And wasted food is wasted money!

I also came to realise that I am quite comfortable eating the same things over and over again... like my signature soup in the above picture.

It makes my life simpler,  my food budget lower and I get to spend less time in the kitchen! I am getting a post ready on 5 meals or more that I eat all the time, are cost effective, complete and easy to make. More on that later!

This pantry challenge also made me see that we throw away way too much food for no good reason! It is a waste of money and resources! And once you know that 1 billion people on this planet do not eat enough, why waste?

I know it sounds cheesy... something we heard growing up... forcing us to finish our plate and perhaps eat more than we needed to... however if you look at it another way, there is some truth in it.

My suggestions:

1) only buy food you will eat within a few days
2) menu planning and grocery list - and you stick to it!
3) put less in your plate and eat it all, go for seconds if you need to
4) keep left overs and perhaps expand them  (adding something to make it enough for another meal)
5) batch cook a soup and eat it all week or freeze it to use veggies before they go bad
6) cut up and freeze veggies that you might lose shortly

Also, I am looking into that book from the picture. It is in no way vegan but most recipes are vegetarian and/or can be made so or veganised. It is just a different way to look at what we eat it makes you think and I like that! Some recipescwill end up in my recipe post for sure!

Thanks for reading,
Chloe  💜&✌