Sarah and Engie were doing refrigerator tours. Why not me? 😊
Pantry. Small and old. Walk- in. Right in our kitchen. The only place we store things that do not go in the refrigerator plus things we don’t know what to do with.
A place for aprons, hot water bottle, barbecue tongs, mop, bucket, and broom. A box of masks left over from the pandemic (new). Our vacuum lives in the pantry. Lunch bags, grocery bags, and light bulbs coexist peacefully too. Paper towels stand like little soldiers. A big bag of Amazon bags waits to be filled to the brim and sent over to Target to be recycled. Cans of cat food.
I tried to give the pantry some kind of system.. Coffee with tea, pasta with rice, baking goods all together. It’s impossible. We don’t have enough goods in there to warranty a full, separate, category. So everything kind of sits together. We know where everything is, for the most part.
Maybe, one day I will feel inspired to get clear plastic bins and organize everything. It could be my summer pet project! For now, it stands as is.
Refrigerator. Bought it in 2012, right after closing on the house. Has two sides- refrigerator and freezer. It’s deep and narrow.
I am the most basic meal planner. Protein, veggies, starch. Nothing glamorous and many of our meals are tired and true. And they are boring. I haven’t made a new recipe in I don’t know how long. Just don’t have mental bandwidth in this season of life to be experimenting with food.
When we need something, we add it to the list and do a weekly or biweekly online order and pick up. We do not belong to Costco but use a local grocery store – Stop and Shop.
Freezer has some frozen meats, pirogies, chicken nuggets and French fries, and red bean buns that are there since Lunar New Year. Also some frozen pizza, vanilla ice cream and frozen fish. Edamame, peas, and string beans.
I forgot to take a picture of our vegetable drawer. Usually you can find tomatoes, broccoli and potatoes. Onion, scallions, and garlic. Avocados. Crap. I have two in there that must be eaten, like, now.
I don’t like to waste food (grew up with a Russian mother) so we try to use up what we have and just fill in holes when we shop. In fact, at the beginning of each week, I like to write a list:
HAVE (all the things we have)
NEED (what we need to buy)
EAT ME (any leftovers that must be eaten)
That’s all I have for today! Would love to see other people’s refrigerators and pantries.
Mom of Children 