The Pig and I

So here's something interesting. Outside of my tea (of which I am down to about 5 pounds), dried mushrooms and kelp (okay, there're a few pounds of beans in here too), every single food item in the house fits... IN THE PANTRY. Yes, in the pantry. Like a normal person. So, given that I don't really have much to say about the pantry anymore, as I'm not trying to find ways to use up the pantry storage of excess, I think we're discontinuing Sunday Storage. I feel a little sad about this. Mostly, I feel a little sad that these out of control amounts of food, well... aren't, anymore. However, whenever we live somewhere that's not housing two people in 652 square feet of space, I'll probably stockpile too much again. And then we can start the Sunday Storage posts again. I think that is all on this matter.

So, more of the same these last two weeks. Piles of pasta, rice and beans. And loads of canned tomatoes. I'd also run out of tuna, but of course I bought more. I haven't made a bit of a dent in the mushrooms or in the kelp or in the bonito. I think I keep forgetting about them, but I'll get them started eventually, huh?

This week was pretty straightforward. From the stores, came: tea more rice (we're almost out of white rice!) more canned goods, mainly tomatoes pasta fruitcake (there are only two bites left, which will be gone by the time y'all see this) sesame oil most of the olive oil (it doesn't help, probably, that I use olive oil as lotion. Or maybe it does help - depends on your perspective I suppose) And something else went into storage (though it's in the freezer): Pumpkin. I had a big pumpkin, which was cut and roasted. The seeds also were seasoned and roasted, and the strings from the inside, along with some of the pulp, went into making pumpkin butter (mostly this got canned, but I left some in a jar in the fridge for R). The remainder of the pumpkin simply got pureed and then portioned and put into bags. I'll be buying one more pumpkin, which I will peel and cube, then freeze the cubes raw so I can cook them in any fashion I wish throughout the year. I'm...

So what we have here is a failure to communicate. Between my brain and my tummy, anyway. Which basically means my memory of what came out of storage this week is limited at best. Here's my best try, though (and perhaps I'll start writing it down throughout the week so y'all aren't victimised by my shoddy memory anymore): rice, white (we are down to possibly two litres remaining of this) black beans pasta canned goods tea last of the coffee baking supplies (including a bag of mint chips) Here's the interesting (and good!) news: we are now down to just one bin for most of the storage, and one bin for mushrooms, seaweed and bonito. This is massive, massive progress. I'm stoked.

This week again, I hadn't used much in the way of storage. But here's what I did use: pasta flour, flour, flour (I think we're going through an average of 5 pounds per week) lots more tea some bulghur wheat some canned goods tons of vanilla extract (this has actually happened over a while, but I forgot to tell y'all) tons of spices, of course so much rice. so much rice.

This week I've barely used any storage at all. I mean, I'm running out of yeast and once again I'm running out of flour (I'm not really sure how I'm going through between 10-20 pounds of bread flour per month these days, but there it is). Even tea I haven't used much of this week. I guess that last shopping trip has been consuming me (which makes sense, since I really did buy a ton of food) and as a result I've only been dipping into the pantry to make more bread. Better next week, I hope.

This week was pretty standard for getting through things. Lot of pasta, lot of rice (we are now down to three litres of white rice), last of the lentils (though I bought more, as you'll see next Saturday). Also, some more of the rice noodles (another package!), and a bit more tea. I think I'm almost out of yeast, which is bad. I have plenty of flour though, which is good. And, when I believed I was nearly out of molasses, I actually looked to see if I had some before buying more (I did). So some storage was avoided as well. I'm also nearly out of chick peas, so I got some more of those. I guess I use more of those than any other bean. It used to be black beans, but I haven't really been eating those lately for some strange reason. Perhaps I'll start eating those again, or finishing out some of the beans I'm close to being through. We shall see. How are things going for your pantry staples? Are you building up a large food storage supply; trying, as I am, to pa...

So this week was pretty simple in terms of storage use. There is absolutely no way I'll be more appreciably close to finishing the food storage by the end of my lease, but I still think I'm making phenomenal progress. We've used up, this week: more rice (I think I'm now close to finishing up the white rice and brown rice, and I don't know if I'll keep more than a little bit of standard white rice in the house anymore, as everyone here is pretty much on board with whole grain rices now) more pasta more flours all the frozen pumpkin piles of tea bonito kombu more trumpet mushrooms 1 package rice noodles

Alright, so here's a pretty big update. I've been entertaining a fair bit, and cooking nearly everyday. Coupled with my negligence in going to the store until I absolutely have to, this has been the perfect recipe for using up a lot of stuff. So much so, that I am down to only having two bins of food in my closet. Can you believe it? That means half the bins are gone and I actually have space in my closet for things not food related! Since I don't know exactly what I've used, I will simply tell you approximately what's left: 30 pound of pasta 15 pounds beans max most of the dried mushrooms (I've actually started working those into my food recently, though) maybe 4 pounds white rice 1 pound maybe of red rice 1 1/2 pounds medium rice 1 pound brown rice 1 pound barley 1 pound bulghur 1 pound whole wheat berries 1/2 pound lentils roughly 5 pounds of tea (yeah, seriously, I've used up that much tea that that's all I have left) I've used u...

Over the last week or so (or whenever the last time I did this update was), I've used the following: Jasmine rice pasta most of the chick peas (uh oh. I actually will need to replace these) 1 pound calrose rice most of the all-purpose (which I also need to replace) And, I think that's it. I'm probably wrong, but I think that's it.

I used up the rest of the kidney beans. I believe I used up some other stuff too, but other than the figs, I've forgotten what those things may be.

I really didn't get a whole lot used up from the pantry this week, aside from some flour. I haven't really been home over the last week, so I'm not too worried about that. More progress next week!

I don't think this is a comprehensive list of everything I've used up, but here's what I remember (and what I can see missing from the pantry): 1/2 pound black beans all the jasmine rice some pasta all the couscous (Moroccan) all the bread flour (got more though) 1 jar of sourkraut most of the matzo

This week I've used up some stuff I actually remember. So proud. :) I used: 2 pounds pasta 2 chicken breasts all but one batch of the pizza dough I'd frozen (huh. That means I need to make more dough, doesn't it?) 2 pounds mozarrella lots of tomato sauce (homemade sauce for pizza/pasta, not the little cans of tomato sauce) some canned tomatoes a tin of anchovies lots of pickles most of the pesto I guess I've mostly been eating pizza and puttanesca this week. I didn't actually realise that until I wrote out this list. Interestingly, I discovered a loaf of bread in the freezer that I didn't remember having, so probably this coming week will be a lot of french toast and grilled sandwiches. If any of them are interesting I'll be sure to let y'all know.

It looks like I've kind of blown off the Sunday Storage thing since like, April. That's not good, and I'm sorry. I don't have a 100% accurate count of what I've used over the last month, but I think I can approximate it for y'all. I'm down to 48 pounds of pasta, so I think I've been blowing through it more rapidly than I originally thought. This is great, since it puts me on track to get through that at the conclusion of my lease. I've used piles of chick peas and some of the other beans, but I think I've still got a good 15 or so pounds of those left. I think I'm actually not on track for wrapping those up by the time my lease expires. And then there's the bin of dried mushrooms. To be honest, I usually forget they're in there, and as a result they rarely get incorporated into my cooking. I need to work on that. A friend mentioned that sometime we could do some kind of cook-out, and I can bring mushrooms to that so we can make all ...

I don't think I went through a lot of storage this week. I know I went through most of my bread flour, but I believe that's it. Perhaps some pasta I've forgotten too?

Well, I forgot to put up a post for y'all on this one for last week. But that's okay, since I'm combining it with this week's storage totals. I suspect somehow as long as I tell y'all everything I remember, that things will be just fine with keeping up with what's being used. With finals coming up, I've mostly just been making foods you already know about: tossing together a can of coconut milk and Thai curry then adding some meat and veggies in it to simmer; baked zitis and lasagnas; polenta with some cheese mixed in, etc. Nothing new or exciting. As it stands right now, I'm just trying to keep my academic head above water for the next couple weeks. So mostly you can expect to see nothing new or exciting from me until this semester ends. But at the very least, I'll let y'all know generally what's happening in the kitchen. 1 pound penne (okay, so I didn't make baked ziti. I made baked penne. 6 and 1/2 dozen, I say) 1 pound linguini (pu...

I did well with the food storage use this time too. This time I used up: 1/2 box lasagna sheets 1 pound orzo 1/2 pound rigatoni 1/4 pound black beans 1 bag mint chocolate chips almost all the light brown sugar half a bag of bread flour some all-purpose flour more white sugar (I am actually nearly out of sugar now) lots of tea (in fairness, much of this was actually used in an o-chem lab) rosemary infused olive oil some jams half the kamruddin Also, I blew up my pressure cooker. It was so spectacularly cool I'd kind of like to do it again. Except, of course, it'd be a waste of another good canner. I wasn't injured in the process, though I should've been since my face was right over it when it blew.

Okay, so this week wasn't too bad either. I used up a good amount of stuff, though different stuff from before. 1/2 package no boil lasagna (I didn't feel like making pasta from scratch) 1 bag bread flour (now I only have one bag, like a normal person) palm heart, olives, mushrooms (all in canned form) all the meat sauce (though I made more) tomato sauce for pizza (as in, home canned sauce) some wheat berries for salad

Wow, this is back now too! Sorry for missing all this stuff, guys. I know I've been a flake. Recipe will be along tomorrow. Since I last wrote up a Sunday post, the following have been used: Grape leaves 2-3 pounds chick peas 1 pound navy beans 2 pounds white rice handful of bulghur wheat some rolled oats (though a friend of mine keeps a massive container of those here too, for when he's studying here and wants to eat oatmeal) all of the all-purpose flour (I bought another bag though and am only keeping one bag at a time in the house, like a normal person, now) 1 jar yeast 6 pounds sugar 1 container baking powder 1 pound pasta So... yeah. Kind of a lot. WOO!