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.

http://www.moneysavingmom.com/money_saving_mom/eat-from-the-pantry-challenge/

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.