More cleaning & downsizing

I’m sorry I missed posting last week. I went out of town for a funeral and when I got home I came down with spring allergies. I felt miserable and my itchy watery eyes didn’t want to focus on typed words. On the brightside, the trees are budding. A sure sign gardening weather is coming. I’m feeling better but the sneezing and watery eyes will continue until the trees around my house have finished budding and blooming.

I’ve also been binge watching RootsTech 2024 videos to help with recording my family history. The funeral I attended over last weekend was the last living uncle or aunt (she was almost 99) of my parent’s generation who could tell me stories of our ancestors. My brother, sister, cousins, and I are now the oldest living generation in our family tree.

I’m now back to downsizing my stuff. I bounce from one project to another. I needed to find a storage space for the wonderful TP gift I had received a few weeks ago. I turned this

into this. Much nicer now that it’s better organized. Sorry the light isn’t very good inside the closet. I like that all the most used items are on a lower shelf for easier reaching. A someday project for me is to get adjustable height shelves. Providing. of course, that I someday find a local handyperson who actually knows how to do shelves.

We have weekly recycle pickup but the cardboard boxes need to be broken down to smaller pieces so they don’t get stuck inside the bin. I have a lot of boxes from both the drive-through foodbanks and the USDA senior food boxes. So I’ve been cutting down a few each day. It usually takes me a whole month to fill up one recycle bin. My actual trash bin never gets over 1/4th full each month. I have very little waste that isn’t recyclables. If I had an enclosed composter to keep critters out I don’t believe I’d need the trash bin at all.

I’m now back to working on organizing my food storage. Organized food storage is important. Regular cleaning of the food storage is important. Keeping an inventory list of the food storage is extremely important. Why? Because you have to know what you have in order to use what you have. “Use it or lose it.” An inventory list is a money saver. It keeps you from buying something when you have too many already. Over the last two months I’ve been eating down the freezer and pantry foods to update and re-organize for more frugal meals but also time saving meals. I want eating healthy to be easy and not become a last minute now what do I cook meals. That’s when I’m likely to just eat a bowl of cereal or make a sandwich.

When defrosting the freezer my mind wandered to the pre-made frozen meals I had made in the past. Those didn’t work for me. The problem was that my chest freezer is small so it wouldn’t hold very many of the meal containers. It was also difficult to reach the ones at the bottom of the freezer. I’d almost fall in everytime I reached for a food on the bottom. I do like the idea and convenience of heat and eat meals. However; I don’t like choosing everything for a meal in advance. What I mean is what if I pull out a meal of meatloaf, mashed potatoes, and broccoli But I’m not in the mood for broccoli. What if I wanted green beans or cabbage instead? Do I eat the broccoli anyway or just add it to my soup container in the freezer? See my meaning?

My idea is that instead of freezing in pre-decided full meals I should wrap and freeze each of the pre-cooked pre-portioned foods separately. For example all the portions of meatballs in one container, all the hash brown potato portions in another container, all the pre-cooked eggs in another, and so forth. That way I can pick out each item for my meal at the time I’m ready to heat and eat. Actually I’m not sure this method will be any better for me than previous efforts but it’s worth a try. Some foods are suited for canning but other foods are best frozen. My idea won’t eliminate cooking but it would make heat and eat meals more what I’m in the mood to eat today friendly.

I hope all the viewers are safe from blizzards and fires. I’m praying for peace and safety all over the world.

Anita