Look Mom, I did my homework! I’ve pledged to participate in Get Real this year and I’m tackling my Great Pantry Purge in stages. Baby steps I tell you, baby steps. For January Week 1, Kelly asked us to make a list of the items in our pantry that we think aren’t whole foods and then plan your purge of these items (basically figure out what you’re going to make with the food, or you can also donate some of the items to a food pantry).I’m not even going to try to tackle condiments and bottled sauces yet. Those will come in time (and I’m already working on Homemade Condiments & Sauces), but I did search through the depths of both my pantries at all the boxed, bagged and canned items. I need to do a bit more freezer clearing before I can reach the bottom and find what’s lurking in there.
Here’s what I need to tackle so far. Some of these may be OK, but I’m marking down everything I’m not sure about.
- [ ] Store-bought croutons (I’ve made a lot of homemade, but haven’t completely given up the easy kind)
- [ ] 1 package instant pudding
- [ ] 3 packages instant jello (yes, I know it’s not vegetarian…it’s not my fault jello poke cake is delicious…my favorite combination is lemon cake with lime jello…mmm)
- [ ] French fried onions
- [ ] 4 cans tomato soup (HFCS)
- [ ] Sugary fruit drink pouches (the kind you add to water…we got them for kid juice emergencies; silly but true…at least it’s real sugar)
- [ ] Taco Bell taco shells
- [ ] 1 package lemon poppyseed muffin mix (lots of unpronounceables)
- [ ] 1 taboule wheat salad (Near East brand, probably OK)
- [ ] 1 box rice-a-roni (4 cheese flavor if you’re interested)
- [ ] 2 Indian Fare trader joe’s foil pouch meals (probably OK)
- [ ] 1/2 cup Bisquick
- [ ] 2 boxes hamburger helper (yes, I’ve been known to use it with my Lentil and Rice Ground Beef Substitute there’s probably some sort of real food versus processed food battle royale going on in any dish like that, right?)
- [ ] 1 container store-bought breadcrumbs (funny thing: I bought them because I didn’t feel like making homemade that week and ended up making homemade the next day)
- [ ] About 2 cups bleached flour (It was so, so tough, but the last bag I bought was King Arthur unbleached…10 pounds for about the same price as 25 pounds of the bleached kind I have leftover. Sticker shock. I’m very frugal and it made me whine a little bit. My husband might say it made me whine a lot.)
- [ ] About 1/2 box of potato flakes (instant mashed potatoes)
- [ ] 8 bags Ramen noodles (don’t judge me)
- [ ] 3 boxes processed mac and cheese
- [ ] 3 toddler dinners microwaveable cups (we bought these for feeding “emergencies” and of course didn’t have many with all the food in our house)
- [ ] Giant bag of white rice (I’m not terribly sure about this one…I prefer brown rice anyway, but I think white’s considered not “real” because it’s processed)
