Food

Darren and I are rushed off our feet most days and were trying to figure out what takes up so much of our time. Food was one of the areas we identified to be really time consuming: shopping, cooking, washing up etc. Now I know that theoretically food should be this lovely togetherness thing in a family where (dressed in white linen) we all sip wine and laugh and cook and eat together, but that is not my life. On bad days I think of all the meals that still have to be cooked and it makes me want to go back to bed. I am resisting Darren's idea of a two week menu thing, so we always know what to buy when one of us goes to the supermarket, but, even to me, that sounds dreadful.

Anyway what I did do this weekend was sort out our grocery cupboard. Because Darren grew up in a family with older brothers who would beat him up when he finished the biscuits / cereal, he now is in the habit of leaving one of everything, so our grocery cupboard looked full but in fact was just housing packets of things with only one item left, and because you cant see through the packaging you are lulled into a false sense of snack security. So I decided everything must be decanted into see through containers, so that at a glance we know what is running low and the food stays fresh for longer. I have tried this before and it didn't work because you have to choose your containers v carefully so that they fit exactly one full packet of rice, cereal etc, otherwise you land up with tiny irritating bits in the bottom of the packet.

Luckily "Spotlight" was having this 50% off special on Tupperware containers and so I went mad and bought like 60 of the things in different sizes and shapes. Once I had decided which container would adequately fit which product I labeled the containers with waterproof stickers so that when empty or being washed we would know what was missing.

Our neighbours came over for dinner last night and Stew mocked my pantry cupboards mercilessly but I love them.