Taking Inventory

Originally written on 3/9/23. I am reminded that one of the beauties of writing for me is that it records my emotions when I would otherwise forget. Sometimes it can feel like months or years between happiness or productivity or simple joy, but in truth, there are merely hours and days. I wrote this when I was feeling both optimistic and productive. It is nice to reach back and remember that I was just there, one month ago, although it feels like so much longer.

Taking Inventory

when life is in shambles and you attempt to make order in minuscule ways.

The cleaning spirit has come over me, clinging to me like good satin sheets. March’s blustery winds continue to whip around us but there is a familiar warmth hinting, that spring is near. Im checking my garden’s progress every couple of days, knowing my greens love these cold mornings, warm afternoons, and regular showers that have comprised the last few weeks. Inside the house, there is still a blanket of dank darkness from the winter almost passed. Blinds are dusty from occasional openings, the beautiful white marble floor has been tracked with mud so often, you forget that the streaks therein are grey and not Georgia clay red. Tis the season when everything can use a dousing, humans included.

Cleaning has been a new meditation for me that I gladly embrace, and am grateful for. In all of my life, I've never quite embraced or embodied the “feminine” trait of tidiness, but for the first time, I'm finding peace in the power of a little order-making. I must be getting old.  I'll work my way around the house over the next few weeks allowing these spurts of motivation to get me through its entirety before the beginning of April. We’ll be clearing out leaven soon so it feels like an opportune time to tackle the organization of the kitchen and its contents and thus this inventory mission was birthed.

Working in a pro kitchen, I saw the advantages of having a written inventory in the process of menu planning. The benefits of seeing your options of ingredients before you. It sparks ideas and minimizes costs for each meal. I've never attempted it at home, but I’ve bought 3 jars of Mt. Olive pickles and jalapenos, respectively, forgetting each previous purchase, so I figure seeing things in writing would be uniquely useful to me. I'm the primary cook in my home so I'm also looking to get a better handle on the ways we (4 adults and 1 child) churn through the weekly (read: daily) groceries. I went into the freezer to retrieve my pack of Gardein veggie meatballs, preparing to re-test my wedding soup recipe and discovered only 2 left. 2 meatballs. My “palette-ly” creative father had likely fashioned himself a meatball sandwich with the leftover spaghetti sauce in the fridge for breakfast, lunch, or a late-night snack.

I'm tight.

One of the most real ways that I can implement more efficiency in my grocery budget is by creating most of the meals we eat. Instead of leaving my wallet at the mercy, taste, and cravings of all of these people, I think I can simplify it by planning and allocating meals and snacks for each day, serving by serving. The haphazard buffet approach to our two refrigerators has simply become too much.

So I'm starting with a major purge of the kitchen. I am hoping not to have to throw much away, so purge may not be the correct word but I'll report later on how many expired cans or beans we find. My mom has agreed to help me, by reading the “best by” labels on old packages and wiping underneath the produce bins in the refrigerators. My goal is to get that exhilarated feeling I get when I see an organized craft space where all the pens are neatly arranged by height and color. I want to feel something like that when I open my fridge, cabinet, or freezer.

Wish me luck and diligence,

Serah