Sunday, April 22, 2012

The great Paleo pantry makeover

So while we've started eating more like cavemen for almost a week, today was finally the day we cleaned out the pantries. Yes, pantries. I have been couponing heavily for about 2 years now, and while I'm no candidate for Extreme Couponers/the insane asylum, I had a pretty sizeable stockpile of non-perishable food. Here are the before pics:



And after:



Geez, what a difference! It's pretty scary actually. I had no idea how much processed food we had here, even though I've been trying to get rid of it. I haven't thrown out everything on the "forbidden" list, but I'm close. I am not the type of person who goes cold turkey on anything. Having the little bit of Easter candy and baking supplies stashed away helps me feel like I'm not giving up everything. Right now, I still plan on treating myself to some conventional birthday cake and some cookies once in a blue moon. I may change my mind eventually, because I'm already feeling pretty great. Plus, I had some M&M's the other night and almost threw up. TMI, sorry, but I needed to share. I'm not being sanctimonious, they seriously hurt my stomach A LOT and I needed some Maalox.

Want to see what I'm tossing out?




And this isn't including what my sister and brother-in-law (newlyweds who needed to go grocery shopping) took, either. I said goodbye to Kashi cereal, granola, panko, rice, spaghetti and a whole bunch of other stuff I would have normally considered healthy foods. (Also, some Kraft mac and cheese and a bunch of cake mix and frosting, but shh! already)

I am going to donate the rest of the baking supplies to the home ec teacher at the school I used to teach at, and the rest to the food pantry around the corner from my house. Now, some holier-than-thou food types will say that I should pitch this stuff and let it rot in a landfill, but I heartily disagree. Even though I don't want to eat those foods anymore, it's still FOOD, and there are people with NO FOOD who would love to have it. If we were in a position where we needed help from a food pantry, I would take anything I could that would fill us up and provide some nutrition. Changing what we give to those in need is a public policy issue that I'm not getting into right now.

My grocery list is getting smaller, too. It's Super Doubles at Harris Teeter this week, and my list was super teeny-tiny. It was like a joke list.


Bananas? Kleenex? Nuts? Seriously, that's it? Yes, seriously. And I bought only one bag of Alexia fries because I found out they have sugar and some other stuff in them that we're not supposed to be eating anymore. Sheesh. I did buy a bunch of produce at Trader Joe's and BJ's a few days ago, and with the meat I have in the freezer, that should round things out.

And I'm always thinking about food now. I think it's just the adjustment phase. It's like going on vacation or moving to a new country. My eating habits and pantry have been turned upside down and I need to adjust. Tomorrow, I'll post a few yummy recipes I've found so far.

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