After vacation, I thought I would do a physical cleanse/detox. As my bro-in-law Jay said, “I was like a human garbage disposal.” I couldn’t find a better description. I took more than a healthy indulgence when it came to all the things I normally stay away from: cheetos, steak, pizza, soda, and every kind of chip imaginable.

Then, on the 5 hour drive home, while Isaiah and Nick played in the back, I wondered when the last time was that I cleaned the fridge. It’d been a while. Sometimes I even find some kind of foreign experiment – once called produce – in the back of a drawer, in a disgusting state of decay. I wonder how much money I’ve wasted from an ill-placed food soon forgotten in the excitement of a new entree that got front row attention in the fridge.

So I started a project. Other than Isaiah’s basic needs of milk and fruit, I refuse to buy one more item from the grocery store until everything is used up in the fridge.

I’m going to post what I’ve managed to cook up here and share the revelations that come with creative cooking and MAKING MYSELF find the time to cook and use what I have. I feel that I’ve been sloppy lately – buying things that I’m not completely sure I need but want in the house just in case. Just in case what? Just in case nine hungry adults show up and demand a freshly prepared Mexican dinner? Otherwise why buy all these cans of REFRIED BEANS?

So, cheers to using what we buy, and buying what we need. Cheers to creatively using what we have and not seeking more just in case. Cheers to letting go of just in case and saying, “I’m sorry, we don’t have any_________” to unexpected guests and dealing with that bridge if and when I have to cross it. Cheers to saying what I have is enough, probably more than enough. Cheers to using the peppers and corn, syrups, and whole grains, cooking them with carved out time and giving them the proper attention they need to nourish my family’s bodies.

Cheers to creating nutrition instead of relying on convenience.

Operation: Fridge Cleanse commences!