Awareness

I can't say much has gone from my freezer or my pantry. What I can say us that I'm more aware of wasting food than I usually am.

Case in point - a quart of milk lurking behind the iced tea pitcher. Had not been opened; had an expiration date of 2/20. On a normal day I would have poured it out and gone to the store to buy another quart which could well sit unopened until I poured it out. But now, because I'm not buying groceries, this is the last quart of milk in the world. It smelled ok; drinking it straight or even putting it on cold cereal didn't sound attractive, but it certainly seemed like it could be used in recipes.

So Friday morning I pulled down the box of Bisquick and decided to make a batch of pancakes. I realized that in addition to a cup of milk, these pancakes would take 2 of my precious 6 eggs, but I also realized I would get more than one meal out of the batch so it was ok. I made the pancakes, which were fine, stored the rest in the fridge and went on with the day.

Saturday I used another cup of milk in a bowl of oatmeal, made my favorite way with dried cranberries. This very plebian food now became special because I was using my precious milk to make it.

I still have 2 cups of milk left. I know I will need to use it by Tuesday at the latest, so tomorrow I will hunt up something else I can make with it that will have a longer shelf life. I hope it won't call for eggs.