Unseen Consequences

One benefit of cleaning my pantry is that I'm suddenly much more aware of what we have. Before when mealtime came 'round, I'd stand in front of the piles of food and be so overwhelmed that I'd be unable to come to any conclusion. (Which led to take-out and drive-through meals far more often than I'd like to admit.) Now, I look into my pantry and I'm inspired. I know what's there and I'm suddenly excited to cook again.

Yesterday I made these mini-muffins from a long forgotten box of blueberry muffin mix. There were so good that my family gobbled them right up.

I ended up picking up another package from the store last night when I went for the cheese we needed for dinner. We had enchilada and tortilla soup, so good! I had no idea that we even had so many cans of enchilada sauce until I went through the pantry.

There are other benefits that I hadn't anticipated, as well. I ended up getting rid of all the unnecessary "snack" foods, and moved the cans to where they had been. I've found myself opening that cupboard multiple times, looking for something to nibble on. When I see the cans I'm reminded that I don't need to be eating right now. It seems that there's health benefits to a minimal lifestyle, as well!

My next project, sticking with the theme of food, seems to be the refrigerator. I've yet to pull it all out, but I honestly don't think I would be doing myself any favors by doing so. Let's just say that there are a few leftovers that we never got around to eating. I'm chipping away at the Tupperware and Rubbermaid containers, bit by bit. Once I'm left with only edible things, I'll go about cleaning it out. Even if there's nothing to throw away, I'm sure that the fridge could stand a good scrubbing. Not to mention putting things to order.