A Challenge To Use What You Already Have
Last week temperatures in the Philadelphia-area reached about 60 degrees. For a moment, I thought we beat winter. Visions of spring - fresh veggies, flowers and warm, sunny days - put a smile on my face. Then, I checked the 10 day forecast. Winter storm approaching. Normally I don’t believe storm warnings, but I grabbed my fabric bag and got ready to head to the food store.My partner stopped me and asked what I would be getting. I answered plainly, “Milk, bread, juice, eggs. The standards.” He challenged me to use what we had in the apartment instead of spending money to purchase food we didn’t desperately need. “Okay,” I replied always up for a challenge. I had chicken in the freezer and veggies leftover from Friday night’s dinner. This should be easy.I woke up today and the streets are snow-covered. Winter prevails and I am home cooking. For breakfast, we ate blueberry pancakes. My chicken soup is simmering in our cast iron Dutch oven. I think I’ll whip up some brownies later. I feel like I won, but more importantly, we won. It is a challenge for all of us in this economy. Let’s think to use what we already have to create something we may not have originally thought of.– Stephanie, KIWI staff and lover of creative cooking
Tags: cooking, economy, food, snow, winter storm
March 2nd, 2009 at 1:22 pm
I think it’s a great plan, always! I’ve tried to implement “pantry creation” Sunday dinner at our house. Sometimes we eat leftovers, but if we don’t have any, I force myself to make dinner from items we already have in the house. Always find something!
I wrote a post not long ago with the same vibe: http://www.vanderbiltwife.com/2008/12/making-do.html
March 2nd, 2009 at 11:07 pm
I love it…this makes so much sense, yet we often feel we need “more, more, more” for the “what-if’s” in life…what I feel we need “more, more, more” if is to honor our resourcefulness as humans and like my Grandpa used to day…
“make do with what we have or do without”
LOVE
*Katie
March 3rd, 2009 at 10:31 am
Kudos to your partner for making such a helpful comment and props to you for taking up such a challenge. I recently put up a post on my blog about how to save your extra fresh herbs in the freezer. This might help you “prepare” your next snowy-day menu! http://tiny.cc/OrganizingLifeSavingHerbs
March 3rd, 2009 at 5:29 pm
I will definitely keep this in mind, I think we overspend too much as it is. Aside from the food, we’re going to start using a barrel around the house outside to catch rain water, then use it to water the lawn and so forth.
Thanks for reminding us on how important it is to use what we already have!
Nic =]
March 5th, 2009 at 12:12 pm
[...] the face of a late winter storm here in the Northeast, my friend Stephanie blogged about using what you already have to make snow day meals, as opposed to making a mad dash to the store to pick up the usual staples [...]
March 10th, 2009 at 4:03 pm
funny I should come across this “challenge” within the same hour that I was giving my sister in law the same advice. She was complaining that she only had a few things in the house but doesn’t get paid until Friday and had absolutely no idea what to prepare for supper. I told her to give me a list of what she knew she had on hand. With just a few simple ingredients that she listed I returned 4 different meal ideas. I told her to take a good look into her pantry when she returns home and give me a call if she can’t come up with at least a weeks worth of meals. I know many people don’t stockpile in the way that I do, but I’m sure everyone has plenty of food on hand to whip up a weeks worth of meals…you must be creative!
March 13th, 2009 at 7:20 pm
I tend to stock pile at the top best prices, but I still find myself saying oh I need this or that to make a meal, I really need to work on using what I have first!
April 8th, 2009 at 8:17 pm
Pretend you’re going on vacation & need to use up everything in the fridge. Don’t buy anything perishable that you don’t really need and see how far you can go (and use up the weird stuff in the back of the pantry at the same time)!
October 2nd, 2009 at 11:30 pm
Love the post, keep them coming bro. Cant wait for next weeks.