Welcome to my first post on this new blog! A few words of introduction:
I decided to start this blog because, like many people these days, my husband and I are feeling the pinch of current economic circumstances. We are, however, extremely fortunate in that I have a good job, Joel is in a great PhD program at a university that's actually paying him to go to school, and we have the basics like food, shelter, and health insurance that so many people are unfortunately having to go without, or at least choose between, these days. We are also expecting our first child, a girl who will be showing up sometime around September 23rd, which is a true blessing!
Oh yeah, one other thing about me: I love to cook, perhaps even more than I love actually eating the food that I make. I love discovering and trying new recipes, and I take particular joy in finding ways to make delicious, healthy meals from fresh, high-quality ingredients.
However, sometimes my zeal to try new ingredients and new recipes results in more wasted food than we'd like: I buy some half-and-half for a quiche, use some of it, and then the rest just sits and eventually turns into a horrifying science experiment in my fridge. This is a problem for several reasons: First, it results in our spending more of our monthly budget on groceries than we need to, when that money could be used for things like paying down student loans or donating to charity. Second, with the number of people who are hungry around the world right now, there is just no reason to be wasting food. I always feel bad when I clean out the fridge and end up throwing out bags and jars and containers of expired food, and I'm ready to stop doing that. I'm hoping that starting this blog will hold me accountable as I try to move to a pattern of using everything up, cooking with ingredients already on hand, and only purchasing new ingredients that I can use for more than one purpose or dish.
So, my goals for the next year:
1) I will not throw out any food; I'll use everything up before it goes bad
2) I will keep processed, pre-packaged foods to a minimum and avoid them entirely whenever possible
3) No factory-farmed meat, milk or poultry; no farmed fish; only certified-humane or local eggs
Thank you for reading this blog. I look forward to sharing my experiences and lessons learned with you!
