Living Simply Part 2 - Food

I love grocery shopping. I could spend hours walking up and down the aisles of our local store. If I could get paid to do anything, besides being a mom and power-washing dirty transport trucks (yes, it's kind of my dream!), I would grocery shop for people. I also love deals. Flyer day gets me excited. I used to go through each one and carefully plan out where I would buy each item. I would often hit 3 or 4 different chains in a week to get the best price on certain things. Who knows if the gas used to get there was worth it but it I felt satisfied. Deal hunting is in my blood. My mom is the queen and when she found a good one when it came to food, she bought plenty. We had a room in our basement we nicknamed the "bomb shelter". It had shelves stocked with food and I'm sure you could last a year eating off the food in it. It was also great for playing store as a little girl. I remember Bran Flakes going on sale, which my brother loved, but there was a limit of 6, so my mom would send each of us into the store with money separately to take advantage.

While I don't mind being a deal-hunter and respect this trait passed onto me, I realize I have a problem. I buy TOO much food. Flyers are different these days now that my husband works for the biggest (and in my opinion, the best!) grocery chain around. I am pretty faithful to their stores and luckily love their products. But that hasn't seemed to curb my consumption. I have a large kitchen cupboard, basement pantry and deep freezer full of food. Besides the basics I can't avoid, I rarely buy things that aren't on sale. But do I really need 5 cake mixes even if they are only 99 cents? No. I'm all for saving money, but when saving money turns into things I never get to and items expired I can't even donate to a food bank, it's not good. I think it's okay to have a supply of food, especially of things we go through on a regular basis. We all love Triscuits so when they're less than $2, I stock up. The cereal Joel eats everyday is expensive so you can bet when it went on sale for half price, I bought a bunch. I know we'll go through them. But I need to cut down. I've had a dream for well over a year, of eating through our freezer. We're going to do it. The new PC Insider's report has come out with some great new products and I've decided I won't buy any of them until we've cleared out at least half of our food.

I don't think it's wrong to have a cupboard full of food, meals ready to go in the freezer and regular items on hand but I do want to simplify. Why? a) I don't want to buy things just because they are on sale...a clear weakness of mine. b) I want to look at the flyers and plan actual meals, hopefully a week in advance. c) I want to have less stuff in my house. d) I don't want to become a hoarder (perhaps I am close, judging by the pictures below). e) I want to cook more from scratch and use simple ingredients... in a realistic, "I have twin toddlers" kind of way. Let's be honest, the occasional frozen lasagna helps keep me sane. f) I want to spend less money on groceries and more on other people. And finally, g)It's just a good discipline for me in my quest to live a simpler life. I look forward to having a little more wiggle room in my cupboards and freezer and working on being a little more disciplined when I see a great deal. We'll see how it goes! Now with the slight fear of being judged and a bit of embarrassment, take a look at what I'm working with....

Our freezer, filled to the brim

My basement pantry, overflowing!

My kitchen cupboard, with no room for more