Taking Inventory

So this coming Friday is my normal monthly grocery gettin day.   If you can ever get to the point of monthly grocery shopping, I highly recommend it.  Anyhoo, because of said grocery gettin day, I will begin the process of inventorying what I have on hand and what I need.  I would love to be the organized woman who keeps a list near the fridge or something, adding to it as needed, but that is not the case.  I can make a note of something I need mentally, but it never quite gets to paper.  So!  I inventory.

In a way, this is good because while I inventory I clean out my pantry, refrigerator and freezer.  I also go through a "Use it up" week where I make things based on what I need to finish up before grocery day.  Cleaning out the fridge also means using up leftovers.  I can either serve them as is or turn them into something new.  Case in point, I currently have in my oven a loaf of sweet potato bread; like pumpkin, just with sweet potatoes.  We had sweet potatoes as a side last night and had some, but not enough to serve again.  I made the bread this morning with the left over sweet potatoes as well as the syrup they were canned in.  We also had some left over corn and green beans, but those are in a container (together) in the freezer to await my next veggie soup night (Probably next week).  This will be added to as the week goes on until all the tidbits are ready for soup.  I have some fresh spinach that will be turned into a quiche for breakfast probably tomorrow, and some left over chicken that will be turned into a chicken casserole more than likely tomorrow night.

Fast forward a few days......well I made all the things I planned with the exception of veggie soup.  That will more than likely be tomorrow night since I now have two patients in the house in the form of DH and Rubic.  Bless their hearts they have some kind of bad cold or flu.  Rubic has the worst I'm thinking.  Tonight I'm making a batch of cough syrup for both of them.

I'm nearly out of bread so before I shop on Friday, I want to bake about 4 loaves and 2 batches of hamburger buns.  That way they will already be in place in the freezer before I have things to put in there.  It insures I don't end up with something left out of the freezer.  If I have time I will clean out the freezer, and wipe down the fridge.   I know all of this sounds like a lot of work, but it really isn't.  By taking these steps before I go to the store, I have less to take out or move around and, since everything will be organized, it will be a simple matter of putting things away once I get home.

Whatever your method, a little organization can go a long way in making a rather tedious chore rather ...less tedious.  I can buy groceries nine ways to Sunday, it's the putting them up that's the problem.  Whatever I can do to make that easier is a plus.  I hope maybe something in here might help you in doing the same thing.  Have a great day!