Cleaning Out the Pantry [Real Food]

I cleaned out the refrigerator and pantry today. I had no idea just how many things we had that we wouldn’t be able to eat this month. Things that we bought thinking they were healthy choices. Whole Foods fruit preserves, Pita chips, Kashi cereals, Quaker rice cakes, bread crumbs, multigrain crackers, granola, store-bought bread, pitas, and mini bagels (all labeled 100% whole wheat) …

All of which we eat regularly for breakfast and lunch. It was then that I realized I did a good job of planning for dinners this month, but not such a good job on breakfast or lunch.

So I put the whole wheat bread in the breadmaker. Made with only eight ingredients: whole wheat flour, olive oil, egg, honey, yeast, salt, water, and wheat gluten.

When it was done, I loaded the maker up with Cinnamon Raisin Bread. Also made with eight ingredients: whole wheat flour, cinnamon, water, canola oil, yeast, salt, honey and raisins.

Which brings me to a compromise we’ve decided on already. Oil. If we were being real technical about it, we would only be using unrefined oils this month. Coconut oil, unrefined cold-pressed olive oil, sesame oil … no canola oil, no grapeseed oil, no regular ole’ olive oil. But I used coconut oil in muffins once … and it was not a pretty sight. And depending on how this bread turns out – olive oil might not be the answer for everything. Besides – I have no idea if the olive oil in my pantry is unrefined or not. So – we’ll use canola oil and grapeseed oil in moderation.

So, the dinner meal plan is done and recipes have been collected. We’re still working on our breakfast, lunch and snack plans. It’s going to be a month of homemade items … but I’m already discovering that even though we might be cooking more, our grocery list will end up shorter.

Here we go…