Pantry Overload with an Update

So far the spending freeze has been a ho-hum affair. One thing I've discovered along the way is that I have a ton of non perishable food in the house, probably too much. A side benefit of our decreased spending is that we will wade through some of this excess and reclaim some storage space.

There are certain staples that we just go through by the truckload, mainly whole wheat bread flour, whole wheat pastry flour, and oatmeal. These turn up so frequently in our cooking that I need to stock up on at least every other month if not sooner. Most other dry goods I don't need to buy more than once every 6 months or so (bear in mind I buy these in 25 or 50 pound bags.) You would think after buying in bulk for so long I would have this down to a science but its still just a work in progress.

We are running low on veggies and soymilk, as I suspected we would. I'm going to head outside and pick some dandelion greens before Jim mows the lawn. It always freaks the kids out when they discover that I've harvested our own dandelion greens yet they don't blink when we bring them home from the CSA. Ultimately, as long as I do it before any school children arrive home they're fine with it.

I used some of the sprouts yesterday. I'm not sure if its my imagination but I swear they were crunchier than the sprouts from our winter sprouting. The reamining ready sprouts will be used in sandwiched tonight. I defrosted what I thought was apple butter but it turned out to be broth from seitan (remember back in the old days when we boiled seitan???) I'll be using it to make Red Lentil Spread. I did eventually find the apple butter and I'll use that in a dessert, although I'm not sure what. I think I'll peruse the Use It All: The Leftovers Cookbook for ideas.

In gardening news, our currant bushes have sprung to life over the last few days. They look like they'll be very productive this year. I'm really pleased, epsecially considering the traumatic uprooting they endured this time last year. I'm anxious to see how the blueberries are doing.

UPDATE:
I've just stumbled upon the socially acceptable way to gather dabdelion greens without having your teenagers moan and groan about all the ways you are ruining their lives. All you need to do is send out one of their younger siblings to gather them for the "guinea pigs"! Of course you have to actually give some to the guinea pigs and this excuse won't work as well unless you have guinea pigs.