Culling?

No, I\’m not out in the wheat field. Culling my pantry a bit just seemed like a good New Year\’s project.

Seriously, I\’ve become overloaded with pantry items. Since the prediabetes diagnosis last February, many things have sat there; and some of them had been around for months already.

No food bank would want them, I\’m sure. Not when the Best By date was in 2019! Thus I chucked seven or eight boxes of mac and cheese. Because of my carb-watching, it looked like I\’d never use them. Besides that, I\’ve noticed that, when boxed macaroni has sat for too long, it tends to get weevily!

I also got rid of several boxes of cereal bars that have been sitting around for many months. Once again, the Best By date was in 2019; and I don\’t think a food bank would take them.

Another step in culling the pantry is to start using up what I already have. I worried for much of 2020 about, suppose a big shut-down comes? But I don\’t think I need to worry quite as much as I do. My apartment looks rather like a hoarder\’s den; and I need to leave myself room to move about.

So use up the rice! Start making a dent (no pun intended) in the supply of canned foods! Eat what\’s already in the freezer before I make any more stuff to freeze! I also need to start using up all those dried legumes.

Oh, as to the mac and cheese, I decided to have a last fling with it. On New Year\’s, I prepared a box of it; and mixed it with 10 oz of tuna; a half-cup of canned peas; and sliced, pimiento-stuffed olives. It wasn\’t bad; but it wasn\’t terrific, either. And now I must stop eating junk!