I'm still in on the pantry challenge! Am determined not to shop until absolutely absolutely necessary. At this rate, it could be a while. I'll have to make bread, but with the bread machine, that's easy. I still have milk, veggies, fruit juice, and all kinds of pantry staples. I've realized I throw out WAY too much food, which means I'm throwing out money. Unacceptable!
I think there are a couple of factors. First (duh!) I buy too much food. I don't go grocery shopping on a schedule, I go when I'm running out of a few things, or when I'm feeling fed up with myself for my poor diet, therefore I get all excited about starting fresh with healthy eating and buy too much produce. Also, because I live alone, it's hard to get a variety of produce and still be able to use it all up quickly.
Secondly, I actually get fed elsewhere relatively frequently. When we run the Alpha Course at the church, we have dinner together, and there are often leftovers that the church staff can eat for lunch. Similarly, coffee hour on Sunday sometimes results in leftover cheese and crackers, veggies, fruit, etc. I can't count on these things, but often I find I can supplement the lunch I bring from home. The unpredictability is part of the problem.
Third, I have a pretty busy schedule, so often I either need to make myself something quick before heading back out, or I'm getting home late and don't have the energy to cook much. Both scenarios require either cooking large batches ahead of time so I just have to re-heat, or making something simple and light, like a sandwich or cereal.
I think I'm going to try more large batch cooking, but instead of leaving the whole pot of soup in the fridge, freeze most of it in smaller portions, which I can take out one or two at a time. That way if I end up having an unexpected meal elsewhere, I don't have a big pot of something going bad in the fridge! For produce, I'm going to try to do more prepping right away, on the day of grocery shop - so if I buy celery, for example, saute most of it up with onions and throw it in the freezer in small portions that can be defrosted and added to other dishes later. And I have some prepared foods to use up that I can add produce to. For example, tonight I'm eating Indian "boil in bag" type foods. Chana Masala and some kind of veggie curry. The portions in the package are kind of small, plus they are more saucy than they need to be. So I added some extra beans to the chana masala and added some grated carrot and diced green pepper to the veggie curry. Big pot of rice and voila! Meals for several days! I have to say, it's pretty tasty too!
