After we made the New Year's resolution to get organized in the kitchen, a reader named Susan left an excellent suggestion for how we could pare down our overflowing food cupboards:
Can I make a suggestion? I try to do this with my family every so often... Can you take a period of time (say a week), where you spend absolutely zero $$$ on food? I find that between my freezer and my pantry, there is enough food to feed us for up to probably a month!
If you did that, you would certainly be able to justify purchasing that crown roast! And you would probably have some fun adventures meanwhile, trying to make decent meals out of the excess in your cupboards!
We loved Susan's idea -- so that's just what we're going to do! And we want you to play along at home.
Here's what we'll do.
Next week, starting with Sunday night dinner, we're not going to spend any money on food for an entire week. Instead, we're going to use up whatever we have in the pantry and the freezer. Might this result in a lovely dinner of Orzo with Clams and Fig Preserves? Yes it might!
We'll post about our experience every day next week -- what ingredients we had on hand, how we combined them, and how it turned out.
So why are we telling you this right now? Because we want you to join us! Take the Cupboard Cleanout Challenge with us!
Here's how it'll work:
-- On Sunday, we'll allow ourselves to spend $15 at the grocery store for items like milk, produce or proteins. We'll use those to augment our meals through the week.
-- For the next seven days -- 21 meals -- we won't allow ourselves to spend any more money on food.
-- We're going to take the money we don't spend on food and donate it to Share Our Strength, a wonderful nonprofit focused on ending childhood hunger in America (that just happens to be Clay's employer).
So consider taking the Cupboard Cleanout Challenge with us! Your pantry will end up more organized, and you'll have a lot of cash leftover to give to your favorite charity -- or, heck, to treat yourself to a nice dinner out once the week is over.
Are you in?
