Let's Play "What's wrong with this picture?"

Okay, so this looks like a seemingly harmless bag of individual, serving size popcorn, yes? It is still in the packaging, the branding on it looks inviting, it's 94% fat free (please refer to buy only healthy crap phase in previous posts).

The problems here is more along the lines of timing...brace yourself.

When viewed up close, the writing on this package notes that this product has expired. Not one year ago, not even two years ago, but two and a half years ago. The sad and sickest part about this? I have only lived in Oklahoma for a year or so. Which means that I packed this up and moved if from Orlando.

I would say "Come on, you all have done it too" but in this case, I am about 99.8% positive that I am the only one. (See what I was saying about the whole hoarding thing from before?) Who saves 2 1/2 year old popcorn?!

Me, apparently.

I am going to be home now for a good stretch. So this makes Day 11 of meals from the pantry. I think on the menu tonight will be some sort of chicken with canned corn covered in cream of mushroom soup. I am  told by relatives that this is something that they make fairly often. I feel like it could be good. I am going to try to see if that nasty rice from the pouch that I attempted last week can be doctored up to fit the bill here.

Additionally, I am running out of smoothie stuff. I am going to have to go to the grocery store at some point because I really am running low (as in completely out of) all fresh fruit. I was thinking about bending some of my rules too to add some fresh vegetables to the mix as well (especially because that bag of fresh broccoli that I had been counting on is now brown and slimy) but I have frozen broccoli, frozen cauliflower, canned corn, and mushrooms and both canned and frozen green beans (did I mention that I don't even LIKE green beans?) I also have about 6 cans of bean beans (again, I will mention that I don't like bean beans) so I will hold off on the rule bending until I am really out of veggies.

I unearthed these frozen vitatop muffin things from the freezer this morning for "breakfast". It wasn't horrid. I mean, if you cover anything with enough butter you can "fix" it. I think I may start making muffins or pancakes or something ahead of time for breakfast so that I can a) use up all the pantry stuff and b) have something quick and easy to grab for breakfast on the way out the door.

Either way, I hope to meet some sort of goal...

R.I.P. Old Friend

It is with deepest regret that we inform you that Crispix, 25, is no longer with us. Former pantry resident, Kellogg Crispix, called it a day at his home in Norman, Oklahoma. At his request, no service will be held.


Mr. Crispix was born May. 30, 1983, in the corn belt states of the Midwest, to Mr. Will Keith Kellogg.Crispix started out as a small kernal  who felt he could accomplish anything he set his mind to do. At a very early age, he developed the motto of "Crispy rice on one side, crunchy corn on the other." His drive to succeed was due in part to his competitive nature with similar, yet distant cousin, Chex Mix. 


At one point, Crispix served in the in some pantries as Cinnamon Crunch Crispix, and briefly brought a cinnamon sweet smile to the faces of cereal eaters across the nation. More comfortable with his true corn/rice identity, he left cinnamon in his youth and traveled to aisle 8 in a distant Oklahoma Wal-mart. He was taken in as a companion to a young graduate student who gave him a good home for 3 months on the second pantry shelf (also known as the cereal and breakfast shelf). He made many friends--among them: Apple Oatmeal, Cornflakes and Kashi. 


In his later years, he could be found at many (trail)mixers, hob-nobbing and rubbing elbows with the likes of golden raisins, chocolate chip and slivered almonds. His friend would say he was an impeccable dresser, always preferring to show up in his lattice-pattern suit. Although he was not high in dietary fiber, friends would also describe him as "full of energy and low in cholesterol...a real treat".


Crispix would have wanted you to know that his last days were spent with nutritional value in mind, contributing to the delightful dining experience of Liz.
He is survived by his friends of extended shelf-life, Cheerios; and Kashi Go-Lean.


Friends, I am sorry to report that Crispix will no longer be gracing the pages of this blog...the writer requests no condolences but offers up this advice: don't take your favorite breakfast nosh for granted. Amen.

Down! Goes! Pasta!

Laaaadies and Geeeentleman!!!! Introducing, the first ever Pasta Boxing Battle

About to enter the ring ....... at 16 oz is...... Whole Wheat Pasta!

And in the other corner....hailing all the way from the couch.....We Have Liiiiiiiiiz!!!

The match is off...we have pasta straight from the box, Liz weaves and into the water goes pasta. Down Goes Pasta!! Pasta bobs twice and the match is over...

Or is it?

Contrary to popular belief, pasta is indeed victorious because...if you have ever eaten whole wheat pasta you will know that no amount or anything short of Alfredo sauce and bacon will "fix" it. And I am short on both.

Whole wheat pasta tastes, looks, smells like wet cardboard. Who eats wet cardboard?! I covered it in mayo and tuna and called it a night. Pasta 1, Liz 0.

Its kind of like this:

Once there was a girl named Liz. She went through A LOT of phases. There was the time that she wanted to learn French. That phase lasted 4 days. (Merci). There was the "buy cool shoe phase." (That phase has yet to end but she's not complaining). She went through a "Let's be culturally diverse" phase and stocked up on rice wine vinegar, sesame seeds and cumin. And then she went through the "Buy only healthy sounding foods" phase. She ended up with a pantry full of items like flaxseed, soy flour, whole wheat pasta, and almond butter. (She also has no idea what to actually do with almond butter...is it almond or is it butter?) Anyway, Liz had a pantry full of crap that sounded like a good idea but wasn't and now she is forcing herself to eat it all while blogging about it. The end.  

Good story right? totally true.

Separate Note:  I stopped by Wal-mart tonight and the place looked like a mecca. I haven't been there in a while and as hard as it was, I walked out with ONLY a peach, strawberries and milk. I stayed within the challenge. (ew). I have one more weekend out of town and then I am going to start attacking the stuff in the freezer. So I think this should be the last tuna night for a while...which is a good thing because I might start getting some sort of mercury condition....

God Bless Good Friends and Tuna

As day 8 draws to a close I am left with some much needed bolstering of confidence from some good friends (Ms. Devore and Mrs. Darrah, I am talking to you) :) I am determined to finish this project. Otherwise it will be just another week where I didn't go shopping.

Meals for the day:

- Apple for breakfast. (I want to go back to smoothies but an extra 20 minutes of sleep this morning was more appealing than fighting with the blender)

- Tuna and mayo over pasta for lunch (I am now down to 25 cans)

- Crispex as a snack...I have one bowl left :(

- Dinner with Antuan at Outback....I actually did something good here.

Instead of eating my whole meal at dinner I decided I would take half of it home and eat it for a lunch tomorrow. I am starting to run out of things to take for lunch (It was SO much easier when I have a pot full of ready made stuff).  Thanks to the support of some good friends, I am going to have some thyme chicken tomorrow for dinner over that rice pouch (we'll give it another go and maybe doctor it up a bit). 

As some of you know, I was out of town for 5 days and will be going back out for 3 more. After I get home, I am planning on making another stock-staple meal that can last me a few days. Here is a short list of the stuff I know I have on hand:

-25 cans of tuna fish (they make those mercury warning levels for people like me) 

-10 lbs of frozen chicken wings (I think I bought this in some sort of party-planning mood...little did I know that it would be a party of 1 haha...but hey, that way you like everybody at the party and there is no awkward small talk)

-3 racks (again with the Sam's Club) of pork spare ribs that I am thinking of marinating in some sort of duck sauce, peach preserve concoction and finishing with BBQ sauce (thank mom!)

- A 7 lb Boston Butt pork thing (because apparently I cannot leave the store without a side of pig)

-Around 9 or so chicken breasts (various marinades to come...or I may just grill 'em all and freeze for future use, thank you Mrs. Darrah)

-Some fresh broccoli, frozen green beans, and various pantry items that I am sure I will put to good use...

A more detailed list to follow shortly :)

And so it continues...Plans A,B,C and D

I get home tonight after a long weekend in Georgia and some habits die hard. After 5 days away, I would have loved to have driven to the grocery store to get something tasty for dinner. But, I didn't. I was saddened to find out that even with my vigilant efforts to try to do better with throwing stuff away, there were still some products that I had to toss :( In fact, I had to go through a few plans to figure out a meal on the go...

Plan A: I had to throw away an entire 1/2 block of really delicious cheese (and seriously, no amount of cheese-love was going to rationalize the greenish color growing on the side or the sour vomity smell radiating from the container). So I couldn't make a quesadilla tonight. 

Plan B: I unearthed this "gourmet" Archer Farms microwaveable packet of basmati rice and nuked it. Lemme tell you a little something about packing peanuts. I have never actually eaten a packing peanut but I am pretty sure that this rice resembled those plastic-y, sort of crunchy, foamy things. The only difference is that rice is not shaped like an "S". I couldn't eat packing peanuts.

Plan C: So last week, because I had made that huge pot of chicken and dumplings, I didn't really have "time" to eat anything else. And that is okay, promise...but I made the mistake of taking out this chicken to defrost and never got around to eating it last week. What I did instead, the night before I left, was slow poach it in spices and broth and chuck it in the fridge. I opened it and it was kind of slimy and weird and greenish (the thyme). Can you eat poached chicken 5 days later? Make it 6 for tomorrow? 

Plan D: The winner! Crispex and Milk! Yay! Except I am almost out of Crispix which is going to be a sad, sad day...

So this Day 8 tomorrow...I am losing my pep and motivation here :(

Few Days Hiatus

Hello all. I am writing to let you know that I have not gone all extremest- fasting, rather, I am on vacation for the holiday weekend in Georgia with my family. I would like to report that there are some of the same principles working here that have been in place all week. I have not been to the grocery store and there have been a few times when somebody has said "We have no toast" or "We don't have the right amount of ingredients for that recipe" and we have just made do. Its even better to do that here since the nearest grocery store is about 12 miles away. So if you forget something, it is kind of a big deal to go back for it.

But I had made it through the week successfully and will continue on upon my return home. The 5 or so days here, I will not count as part of the experiment.

Waste Not= Not a lot of Waste

Today is trash day and I noticed that I have a surprisingly sparse amount of trash. Normally, (and this is terrible to admit), I will heave a good three to four bags of crap into the pail and drag it out to the street. Because I have spent the week eating from the same pot of food (made Sunday), I have had very little trash to speak of. There are no egg shells, no fruit rinds, no discarded chicken bits, no burned messed, no packaging, no wrappers and best of all? NO FOOD THAT WENT BAD BEFORE I COULD EAT IT!!! Which means that somewhere along the way I have managed to save some money.

I have also noticed a considerable lack of dishes. It stands to reason that this would occur seeing as I am not doing any cooking at all. I have been, instead, dragging the same pot out of the fridge, scooping some into a bowl and putting the pot back. I then wash the bowl and put it away. (Do I qualify for minimalist status yet?). I also eat this for lunch, so I take out a container, fill it and at the end of the day, wash and refill for the next day. Planning ahead is a beautiful thing...especially when the tempting "what do I have to eat at my desk" blues kick in and you resort to Chipotle (delicious, but at almost $7 bucks a pop, not all that wallet friendly)

My only thought? I wonder if the Wal-Mart employees have noticed I am missing. I mean, I am on a first name basis with a few of them. (This can happen when you are there everyday, multiple times a day...sad). And it has successfully been 7 days of no Wal-Mart and no new groceries.

So the good news? I am saving some money, saving some piece of the planet somewhere (less of a footprint or some such thing) and I am kind of happy to be doing so.