Pantry Challenge 2-Month Update

It's the end of Month 2 of the Pantry Challenge, my brave attempt to tidy up the inventory before Passover sorting.  Here's a progress report on the state of my pantry and freezer.

I will be able to get everything in the kitchen freezer before Passover.  I could probably do it now.  It was a huge concern.  By making a sincere effort to base meals around freezer items, I was able to reduce the inventory significantly.  Sticking to my grocery list also helped.  Plus, I decided not to make more challah or wheat bread when I finished the last loaf.  I'm having other baked products with breakfast, like finishing a box of pancake mix and the sweet potato cornbread.  Trying very hard not to bake more than I can finish in a week.  It will make the schlissel that much more special after the holiday.

Now that that goal is accomplished, March's focus will be the dry pantry.  Mainly, I'm still working through the cookies and other dessert ingredients from December.  This whole low-sugar diet makes a box of cookies last way longer than it ought to.  I'm not buying Girl Scout cookies, and I really wanted to try the new ones.  And this is with having some kind of dessert every day.  I eat dinner too early not to have something before bed.  I'm also opening a can of soup a week, after stocking up during a nasty cold that refused to test positive for Covid.  After two months I can see the change, but it still looks overstuffed in photos.  The goal is easy sorting at the end of the month.

All this working down of the inventory does not mean I'm not preserving or restocking for long term.  I canned meat and beans one week, then restocked the dry beans.  I've already bought the lamb roast for Seder.  (It's at the bottom of the chest freezer.)  The rest has been dehydrating herbs and kale.  I put dried kale in my morning omelet almost every day.  Before the recent storms, I harvested a bucket of it, in case they died, and got over a quart of dried leaves.  And that's with tossing a significant amount due to aphids.

While I did spend more during February than I did in January, it was still below my $150-200 average.  I made smarter choices.  I shopped my pantry and freezer first.  And I have stopped being loyal to one grocery store.  Since I started shopping around the past year or so, I've learned which stores have the best deals on the products I enjoy.  Ralphs (Kroger) has better meat prices, but doesn't carry the yogurt I like.  Pavilions has the yogurt and a very good price on liquid eggs.  Trader Joe's has the cheapest kalamata olives and eggplant.  Smart & Final has club store per-unit prices on smaller quantities.  And Sprouts has bulk bins for better unit prices on expensive dry items.  I'm more strategic with my grocery list and plan around which store carries the key ingredient on it.  While prices in general have risen, the bottom-line amount I'm spending has gone down.  I'm doing something right.