Pantry Inventory Update

I really did buy far more than I thought.  Add to that my garden doing some wonderful things this spring, and I have enough food in the vegan category to get me halfway through summer.

The main shelf is thinning, though.  It took two months to get it down to my comfort level.  I used the emergency box of milk and finished off the Passover groceries, except the matzoh meal.  A batch of white bean hummus nearly ended the jar of tahini.  I'm making a dressing for a quinoa bowl with the rest and the tarragon vinegar I'm still working through.

There was a minor setback the day I used most of my Monopoly freebie coupons and online credits at Pavilions.  But come on, $40 of groceries for $7.45?  They didn't have any panko breadcrumbs, which I actually needed.  Matzoh meal makes a passable substitute, as another pre-baked wheat product.  I ended up with a couple of free items I wouldn't have normally bought, like a 6-pack of Snapple.  I've been having more flavored drinks in lockdown than I've had in a long time.  I usually just drink water.

The freezer isn't clearing as fast as I expected, also because of the Pavilions spree.  There are more free bagels in there than I thought and quite a bit of meat that I haven't been in the mood for.  Finally defrosted some beef to have with broccoli and udon noodles, an entire meal without buying anything new.  I have bacon ends, so I'm planning what to do with those.

Honestly, what I seem to have too much of is home-canned items.  The one-year mark is creeping up on some of the jams, and yet I'm eyeing fruits at Sprouts.  The pickled veggies shelf in the fridge needs to be used, since no one should have an entire shelf devoted to pickles.  I bought some brie for a free baguette I ended up with, and had the pickled asparagus and artichokes with it, along with some cashews, dried figs, and fresh peas.  I love picnic-style dinners.  I think I'm going to finish the kimchi and sauerkraut when I make that quinoa bowl.

Inventory-related, but not food based, is an art project I'm starting.  I've been saving every toilet paper core since lockdown began in March.  It took me two months to go through the first 12-pack I had already opened when this started, and I don't ration the TP.  Once store shelves are reliably stocked, I'm going to do something creative with them, to recognize this time.