700 teabags!!! WTF!!

Yesterday I celebrated the 11th anniversary of moving in to Fullarton and the renovation while progressing is moving slower than I would like it is said that a masterpiece takes time. Flooring - done, cupboard and benchtop laminate chosen - check, splashback colour confirmed - check, deposits for work to commence - check. Who would have thunk it, I can snog, marry, avoid my kitchen and discover a whole new array of food to live on in the process. And as of yesterday I took the plunge and bought the paint with my friend Suzi and the snog, marry avoid adventure also is progressing.

If there was only one thing that drives me crazy about the kitchen it would be that my pantry is spread over several cupboards and as I love to cook from scratch my pantry is well stocked with flours, spices and canned foods. People don't believe me when I say that I know exactly what is in my pantry but it's true, I live in organised chaos, most things have a place but particularly in the kitchen and lounge I run out of places to put things so it looks like a crazy cluttered mess.

However knowing what is there and utilising it effectively are two completely different things. I have a range of dried beans, peas and lentils that could feed a vegetarian child for a year happily. Why? I hear you question and the only reason I can think of is that I had at one time obviously had good intention of making soup or chilli with them then forgot to soak them and needing a solution reached for a can instead.

I have recently come into possession of a book called "The $21 Challenge" writing by the creator of Simple Savings http://www.simplesavings.com.au creator Fiona Lippy. The objective of this project is to get people to observe how they shop for their family. By taking stock of their fridge, freezzer and pantry you then menu plan and create meals without shopping unless it is necessary using a budget of $21 per week for foodstuffs (cleaning product, toilet paper etc not included. Stocktaking for this excercise is a scary process in the book the book tells of a story of one subscriber who when stocktaking for her 7 day $21 challenge discovered 11 cans of corn and 9 tins of tomatoes in her pantry as she wasn't checking her pantry prior to shopping and buying these items was just buying out of habit. My scary moment apart from the dried legumes was the discovery of 700 teabags. Many different types which can be accounted for by me using individually wrapped speciality teabags in gifts but discovering 3 boxes of decaffinated tea. What the Hell!!! I either bought them for my previously pregnant sister in law (youngest child is now 21 months old) or a community garden event (they never got there obviously) but it highlights one thing I need to drink more tea to deplete this item. I had drunk 3 cups already this morning in guilt.

While the challenge is designed for a family of four but it is fleible and your not expected to do it every week or instantly be ble to cope on $21 but with practice a few times a year it can become acheivable. So a a solo person I read the book and chose my menu for the week and for tonights meal I'm eating vegetarian sweet potato soup that I cooked up yesterday but the beans are already soaking to make my next batch of soup a kickass minestrone.