Eat the Larder: 4 week update, & celebrating our progress

We didn't make some kind of massive turn-around on the Eat the Larder challenge this week, but that's no surprise. I took some time to review what we have stores of that we need to be using, and reflect on why we aren't using it. Some of it is because I have a tendency to hoard food that goes way deeper than we'll ever get on this blog. Though I feel like I've touched on some of the reasoning before. Some of it though is because we stocked up on some things when we were working with a MUCH more expansive kitchen at Mr. Moon's parents' house, right before we moved away from it. And of course it's been a whirlwind since then that we're only pulling out of now to take some deep breaths and focus on shaping our lives going forward the way we want them. I'd like to be starting some more/better routines, so we are more practiced at them when the next whirlwind hits us, whatever that may be.

Though, on the topic of better routines, I must say that we, and of course by that I mean mostly Mr. Moon, have gotten SO GOOD about a lot of things. I've managed to take my twice-daily vitamins & meds every day for 46 days straight! That's a LOT better than I've ever done by myself in the last 30 years of life, it was decidedly a team effort.

Also successful team efforts: Weekly meal planning. I know I've been spotty about posting them, but we've been doing great about making them AND sticking to them--and better yet, prepping for them. Breakfasts & lunches have been better, though I don't want to imply we've been bad about them, they just pale in comparison to our dinner planning is all. The general house cleaning has been... if not on schedule, at least at an acceptable level of cleanliness that we can live in it, have people over on a whim, and not send me into a panic attack most days. Following the checklists to improve speed & consistency is our next step.

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What's in the pantry?

It's a lot of grains and beans. I mean I'd say easily, 65-80% grains & beans. If you don't count the open condiments. So many grains. And beans. Let's take a look at my canister collection, for speedy ingredients and things bought in bulk bins.

 Popcorn, red beans, walnut meal, panko, flax seed, Mr. Moon's vanilla granola, wheat groats (cracked wheat?), spirulina, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries, rolled oats.

 Spices! Buckwheat, TVP, rolled oats, hidden is soy protein isolate. Second row: Corn starch, AP flour, slivered almonds, corn meal.

 Nutritional yeast, bulgar wheat, Scottish (steel cut) oats.

Black beans, Triticale wheat berries, hummus mix, brown rice.

And then of course the cupboards...

 Mr. Moon has his own cabinet for his food. We eat some of our dinners together, but mostly our meals are different, even though he cooks a lot of them for me. Looks like he's out of ramen and tuna though.

My cupboard. Beans! And tomatoes. And canned meats. I'm out of chicken stock, which is kind of amazing because I accidentally double bought cases of stock a couple months back. Also very low on soups. I'm killing the larder challenge! Just... apparently have a lot more to go.

More of Mr. Moon's foods. Corn meal, irish oatmeal, cornbread mix, tabbouli mix, falafel mix, no idea what that other box is... There's probably enough room to move these down to his cupboard now! And get them out of the cup cupboard.

You see what I mean about the grains? And the beans? Let's go look at the pantry...

 Granulated sugar (we were making kombucha when I stocked up), white rice, split peas, lentils, quinoa, soy beans (which was an ill-advised purchase and now I don't know what to do with them because I keep trying to hide them in things and they're gross).

 So many things omg. Of these two shelves, the top on is his and the bottom one is mine. Top/His food: Baking stuff, cous cous, farina. Bottom/Mine: some tomato sauce & alternative milks, a bunch of pickles & condiments...

 Okay just ignore my finger lol. This shelf is all me again. Green basket is sick tummy basket. Blue basket is baking add-ins. Pinto beans, brown sugar, lavender blossoms, 10-grain cereal mix, what wheat flour, all the pancake mix in the world because I forgot I had one and then we were going camping and then didn't...

 Backups of whole wheat flour, AP flour, TVP.

This whole section is literally just backups of things we have elsewhere.

 We share condiments. Though we have separate peanut butters, because he likes sugary stuff and I don't. But it seemed silly to have two bottles of sriracha, two tapatios, two malt vinegars and two olive oils just because we eat pretty much entirely different foods everywhere else.

Coffee and tea is all me, sports drink and koolaid (which is usually on the gatorade, why is it down there?) is all him. Bottom shelf has my onion collection!

Oof! I can't even get started on the freezer & fridge. Too much for today. But, that's the non-perishables I'm working with to try to get through.