Fridge Inspiration

Last week Ashley and I ventured into the dark, scary recesses of our fridge and cleaned it out (actually she cleaned out the fridge--which was no small task, trust me!). Here's a pic of her handiwork:

Neat, huh?

My favorite part of the task? While cleaning out the forgotten science experiments, she looks at me with an expression of disgust and says, "We need to do this more often." I thought, "Go for it--anytime!" It is amazing how liberating it is to open the fridge and freezer and see everything neatly organized. That one change has perked me up so much. I would desperately love to be one of those people that enjoys organizing and keeping everything tidy, but I have reluctantly come to the conclusion that I will always look at those people with envy, but never know what that life is like ;)

While cleaning out the freezer and sorting through all the "oh, I forgot about this" meat products (I'm sure I'm the only one to have those moments!), an idea occurred to me. I decided to challenge myself: I am on a "Have It? Feel Free to Use It" Challenge. The parameters? I can only use what I have on hand for all meals as much as possible. That means that with some recipes I'll have to improvise. Obviously that doesn't include staples that need to be replenished on a regular basis: flour, sugar, eggs, milk, etc. I've been on this challenge for a week now and I haven't had to buy meat for a week. Yay for me! Well, that's not exactly true--I did buy breakfast sausage today for breakfast tomorrow. BUT, other than that, I haven't bought meat and I have not bought very many side items either. I'm so excited! I'm going to see how much money I can save this way. The Challenge has been made much easier because we have corn, carrots lemons, and oranges in our backyard. So I've been able to get a few "free" side dishes on our menu as well. It is quite challenging, but I'm constantly looking at our leftovers and trying to figure out ways to "re-invent" them.

I am hoping (and I think it's working) that this concept of "use what you have" (which is probably normal for most people) is going to revolutionize meal planning and really amp up the creativity factor for my cooking. It's going to stretch me in ways I've never thought about before.

For example, I made a menu this morning (I'll share it later this week), and while I was in the kitchen I opened the fridge, checked the blueberries and realized they were not going to wait patiently for Saturday (when I had planned to use them for breakfast), so I decided to alter my plans and make blueberry muffins this morning or I'd have to throw the blueberries away and waste money.

Here's a pic of the muffins. They were seriously among the best muffins I've ever eaten. This recipe is fantastic. I found them on the blog "Your Homebased Mom." Here's the link for the muffins. And they look pretty, too. My picture does not do them justice. Trust me. Her pics on her page look MUCH nicer.

Tomorrow, breakfast is homemade Sausage McMuffins (minus the egg--too lazy) and hot chocolate. I have to fill their tummies full because we're going to be at Disneyland all day with my sister and her family, and we're not paying their prices for food. We're packing drinks, lunch and snacks (I look forward to the backpack getting lighter as the day progresses! "You said that you're thirsty? Sure, I can get you another juice. No problem" *wink, wink*).