Improvements: My house the store

It has finally happened.  I have reached the age where things in the pantry might expire before I use them, things in the freezer become dessicated, unidentifiable masses of frosty protein, and there are bottles of salad dressing in the fridge that I no longer even remember buying.

And I've now begun to seriously look at bulk purchasing.

I have a standard fridge/freezer in the kitchen, another one in the garage (though it's unplugged at the moment) and a full-sized standing freezer (also in the garage).  I have a pantry that is quite literally the size of my front hall coat closet - I could step into it, close the door behind me, and have room to turn around without hitting the encircling shelves (assuming I first removed the trash can that occupies the floor space).

And who am I feeding from these industrial-sized food storage facilities?

Me.

Well, and the two cats, but their stash consists of a 5 lb. bag of dry food and a box of variety-pack cans. And, of course, when Paul ever moves out here he'll be helping with the eating (and cooking and shopping, I'm sure).  But in the meantime, it's just me.

So what am I doing with all that space?  Well, I'm pretty much wasting it right now, to be honest.  Not all of it.  I've got 8 whole 7+ lb. chickens in the garage freezer, plus the parts of another two.  And the pantry became the safe storage for everything while I had new floors put in... and I haven't gotten around to getting all of the non-pantry items back out of there.  And that other standard fridge/freezer in the garage isn't plugged in using electricity for no reason or anything silly like that right now.

But the reality is that I'm set up to be able to do seriously smart things in terms of bulk purchasing and/or bulk cooking.  But right now I barely even know what I have, where it is, or what I plan to do with it.

This Must Stop.

Last night I finally got around to purchasing a dry-erase board in order to start taming this beast.

First steps (simultaneously):

• Actually inventory what I've got.  Particularly in the freezer outside, since it's less convenient to go look (and I shouldn't stand there with the door open anyway).
• Start making specific plans to use what I have.  It's okay to purchase new stuff, but the majority of the time it should be to supplement ingredients from my existing stash.
• Get each of the areas organized in some fashion.  Right now things are piled in where ever they'll fit, with no rhyme or reason.  And, of course, I have only vague notions of what's in there.  In addition to having the inventory list, I want some idea of where to find the gem I choose to unearth.  The garage freezer should be for long term, larger volume/portion, overstock stuff.  The house freezer is for things I intend to use in the next few weeks.  The pantry shouldn't have the raisins stuffed on top of the candy canes.  (Yes, I know it's April.  The candy canes are actually from 2 - or is it 3? - years ago.  Like I said: it's time to cope with all of it.)

So I'm going to use the big dry-erase board to hold the inventory. This will be a good place to check prior to making a menu plan.  It doesn't do me any good to have 8 whole chickens if I don't ever schedule any dinners requiring whole chicken.

How it will work in a perfect world:

• Paul and I will get produce in season from stores, local farms. CSA's, our own garden.  We will can or portion and freeze.
• We will purchase things in bulk and on sale, break them down as needed, and store them in pantry/freezer/garage-shelves.
• The grocery store is still a short hop from the house, but will be for things like milk, eggs, fun gourmet ingredients.  But not for purchasing the food for the week.  The grocery store is for the add-ons, not the basics.
• I will plug the bread machine back in and have tasty, homemade loaves. 
• I will make and dry and/or freeze pasta.
• I will make and freeze sauces, soups, stocks.
• I will go back to using the composter, and filling it with the weeds and trimmings and scraps of vegetation from kitchen and garden.

No, I'm not stockpiling for Armageddon.  No, I'm not a hoarder in need of an intervention.  No, I don't have an eating disorder that makes me feel uncomfortable with less than 6 months of food within arm's reach.  No, I don't have any intention of giving up all of the lovely, gourmet items that I can neither grow nor practically stock up on.  No, I'm not suddenly going fanatical and refusing to eat anything that wasn't grown right in front of my eyes from sterilized soil and watered from a triple-filtered source.  Yes, if the power goes out for more than a day I'll be absolutely screwed.

But think about it.

If I do this right, in a perfect world, I will have a home bursting with food, all purchased at better-than-store prices or purchased as their oh-so-inexpensive components and fabricated without chemicals, all used before their expiration date or joined-the-ice-age date.

I will be eating better quality foods, since they'll all be eaten or frozen when absolutely fresh, or made with less processing and chemicals and stabilizers.  I'll be saving money on most items, which gives me more to splurge on specialty items (or equipment - omg do I love kitchen gadgets!).

All it will take is a little planning and organization, and I will be able to "shop" from my own, well stocked shelves.

Welcome to my house, the store.