Wednesday, January 6, 2010

New Year's Resolutions and My Own Challenge

All shelves are full
Pantry is full too


yep, 3 bags of groceries on the floor that I don't have room for

no room on the freezer shelves either


At the start of the year I said I was working on resolutions for myself. Not the typical "I want to lose weight" type resolutions since I always fail at those. I needed to come up with something that I can achieve and maintain. I mentioned a long time ago that I was going to do a Pantry challenge in an effort to clean out cupboards and the freezer. I have some odd compulsion that makes me buy food when I don't need it. Our cupboards are so full I have a couple bags sitting on my kitchen floor that I can't put away because I have run out of room. That is just plain wrong. I also mentioned that I was waiting to post my resolutions or 'goals' due to some changes happening at work. Nothing is settled yet and now I was told it wouldn't be until some time in February, so one of my goals had to be revamped a little to make it achievable. I still don't know what will happen at work. We lost two of our team members on my team-both due to them moving to new places in the plant, and they won't be replaced right away due to how jobs are filled at the plant. There is a chance that my schedule will be changing a bit, but it isn't certain yet. Right now I work over nights on a 12 hour shift, and my days are different each week. I either work Mon/Tues/Fri/Sat, and then the next week I work Sun/Wed/Thur and then switch back. I will still be working the night shift-nothing can change that. We have to work nights until we reach about 11 years and will have enough seniority to bid a dayshift job. That is neither here nor there for now; I may have a set weekly schedule because someone else that is trying to bid into our Phase needs to work only certain days because of child care issues. Nothing is stone yet, so I'm crossing fingers and hoping, but not betting the farm on it.
My Goals and Resolutions 2010
1) To make 30 new recipes over the course of the year. I wanted to do a new one each week, but because we are going to be short-staffed on our Phase, I may need to work overtime and that will cut into the days I have available to cook.
2) To cook out of my cupboards and freezer. As evidenced by the photos above, you can see that we have vast quantities of food at our disposal. Some of it will be making its way to the food shelf as well. My 'challenge' is to only spend $100 from now until the first of February to purchase milk, bread, eggs, fruits and veggies. No canned food, no meat, no baking supplies.
3) To walk twice a week on my treadmill. This is a big one. I'm not doing this to lose weigh per se, but to increase endurance and lung function. I have asthma and has been flaring up a bit lately due to illness. Hopefully with more exercise I will sleep better and be healthier. If I lose weight in the process-good for me. If I just tone up the lower half-good for me.
4) To finally get all of my recipe clippings entered into my laptop so I can use it in the kitchen for cooking. I have sat and gone through almost 30 magazines piled up in my living room and pulled out recipes and tips and pictures of kitchens I like. I have then recycled the magazines.
5) To get a menu put together for the month. Because of my rotating days off, I usually only cook on my days off and hope that I have enough left overs to get us through dinners at work and have food for Drama Queen to eat before she heads to the neighbors house to stay on work nights. She prefers to eat at home before going since she is a picky eater just like her Mama. I need to be better prepared with ideas to throw in the crock in the morning when we get home for dinner that night and for the days that I do have to cook, make double to freeze. Planning at work has always come easy to me; at home-I flunk this task day in and day out. I think my brain just freezes when I walk in the door.
I found this when I was strolling through blogs tonight. I guess the whole challenge thing is popular! I had already started this post when I needed some inspiration and found this through another blog I found.
I'm off to bake a cake for my co-worker whose last night is tomorrow-well, actually tonight now. Cake mix out of the pantry and frosting pictured above in the blue shopping bag. Then I'm going to rough draft some menus.

21 comments:

Emily said...

Great post. I love that you're cooking through your pantry and freezer. I'm curious what you'll come up with. I bet you get creative. Keep me updated!

Also, the treadmill thing. I wish you the best of luck with it. I like to get it over with as soon as I wake up, and then I don't dread it all day. :( I know that sounds terrible, but it really is a good workout. It gives me a lot of energy for the day.

Anonymous said...

Hi Tamilyn
just found your blog and love the title. It struck a chord with me., someone who likes to cook and have a glaas of wine . I'm looking forward to reading your blogs and getting to know you .
Cheers from Australia,
Erica.

Shelby said...

You have some great goals Tami and the all are achievable! I too like you used to buy groceries we didn't "need" and the only reason it ended was because we moved into a house that had no where near the cupboard space we used to have.

I really like your goal of getting your paper clippings into your computer!!

Coralie Cederna Johnson said...

Not only a GREAT idea but you'll have some fun along the way as well! Enjoy!!! Happy New Year!

Donna-FFW said...

Great resolutions Tamilyn, I wish you the best of luck. I cant wait to see how u use all your pantry items. Also your new recipes:)

Lea Ann said...

I'm the same way, I stockpile food. My freezer looks the same way and I'm trying to get it under control.

vanillasugarblog said...

Tam do your very best to keep up with the walking and exercising. It will give you a TON of energy in the end so that you'll automatically finish this list and more off your other to-do lists. Trust me, walking and exercising are the very best things you can ever do....

Leslie said...

whoa..you do have a full pantry!!!
Because I know nothing about computers..how are you going to get your recipe clippings in your computer? Are you going to type them in or do you have some fancy schmancy scanner thing-y?

Inspired by eRecipeCards said...

those are actually very tough challenges for the resolutions... Good luck with them.

And I feel for you... Alternating days and nights is a tough life

noble pig said...

Those are great resolutions and congrats on the cabinets and freezer, it makes life so much easier when it's organized.

Ali said...

Great goals! My hubby would be jealous of your pantry--ours is always empty! I've sat down the past couple of days and have a list of 13 new recipes I'd like to try and I'm hoping that I'll find a few keepers out of the list.

Bob said...

Good luck! Much more realistic goals than most people set.

Debbie said...

This makes me want to organize my cupboards and pantry....
because yours are organized and you can take pics of them and not be ashamed. LOL.....
Good luck on your resolutions.

Monica H said...

hey I've got the same Spice Stack and love it!

I'm pretty good at eating what's in the fridge and pantry, it's the freezer that kills me. Everything htat gets put in there gets lost!

Hungry Dog said...

Good luck with your resolutions--they all sound like good ones! Happy new year!

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

I applaude and admire you goals! How nice if I would spend $100 bucks @ the grocery between now and Feb 1st.

buffalodick said...

I'm due for a major restock of my pantry. The weather has prevented me from really doing a proper stock up..

Barbara said...

Laughed when I saw your photos! During the holidays when everyone was here, we completely ran out of pantry and fridge space. I would come back from the grocery store and just stare at everything- no idea where to put one more item. But slowly everyone ate it all and now I have all the space I need.

Kudos to my fridge for keeping up! I was kind of encouraging it as I walked by at one point....

Gypsy Girl Gourmet said...

I can totally relate to your fourth goal! I had the BIGGEST stack of magazines and just recently finished taking the recipes, pictures, and tips from them. Now i have to do the same thing, get them into my computer! I have an account on epicurious so I have been saving many of them there, to cut down on time! Good Luck!

Alea Milham said...

Great goals! I have found that blogging is slowly helping me get my recipes on my computer. The other day my daughter wanted to use one of my recipes and I couldn't find the hard copy, but remembered that I had it on my blog. She was so excited to find that she use the search function and find the recipes that she wanted. Her reaction has encouraged me to keep posting more recipes. :)

nuclear family mom said...

I just love these challenges and hope to see that you accomplish them. I like the one about the pantry and to clean it out... we kinda do a similar thing in our house since we have hurricane season. My goal is to have the family eat up what's in the freezer before the month of June so if we do have to evacuate for a hurricane, then we are not wasting food during an electrical outage.

I've added you to my blogs I watch... hope that is okay.

Take care and hope to see more updates!