It's still absolutely picture perfect here today ...
... although at the moment there is a distinct 'drip, drip, drip' sound so I think the big thaw is on the way.
Sorting out the kitchen cupboards is proving to be very rewarding, I found these two jars of forgotten about blackberries in alcohol yesterday ...
... and while I was looking for a suitable bottle to strain them into I found this :-)
HOW did I forget a bottle of champagne!!
Anyway the alcohol is now bottled and the blackberries are in a jar in the fridge for having with ice-cream as a quick and very decadent dessert over Christmas.
The cupboard was looking much tidier, so I started on the next one.
And found this ....
... just a little bit out of date then ;-)
What a waste, unfortunately it didn't smell too good so it's been chucked. I'm being really ruthless with this big cupboard clean out, after all if we haven't eaten these things through two 'eat down the cupboards' sessions they are never going to get eaten are they and looking in the cupboards and seeing them 'full' is no good if you need to actually want to eat the contents!!
So this time I have gritted my teeth and gotten rid of quite a few jars and packets of out of date and unused foods, mainly fermented things actually, so that shows me we do not like them no matter if a recipe says they are needed, once that recipe has been done the leftovers don't get used up, and sometimes I don't even get round to making up the dish because when push comes to shove we don't really fancy the dish enough to actually do it. ... so no more buying of them.
After a spot of lunch I'll be back to work in the kitchen, there's just one final cupboard to do. Alan won't be able to find anything in the kitchen cupboards when he gets back tonight ... he'll be glad when this snow is gone and I can get out and about again and the place stops getting re-organised :-)
Sue xx
I did my cupboards the other week, I just have the baking cupboard to do later, not looking forward to it, it is stuffed, but I will feel much happier when I have done it.
ReplyDeleteI just did ours, no matter how hard I looked, there was no chocolate! Funny that. X
ReplyDeleteI threw out so much when I moved into my bungalow and now, with Christmas approaching rapidly, I wish I had kept more of my baking tins.
ReplyDeleteJust started mine this weekend. its amazing the things you find that you just had to have and then promptly forgot about them. I'm think of gutting my pantry because my shelves are too deep and I lose things. I want to make it a walk in with shelves that are not so deep in depth.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a brilliant idea. Lots of the things I ended up binning were pushed to the back of the deepest cupboard. If you can see things you use them don't you :-)
DeleteI did mine recently. No champagne though:) Those blackberries with ice cream sound lovely. The best I found was a Cadbury’s cream egg. Still ok so gave it to OH for dessert.
ReplyDeleteI've gotten in the habit of going through the pantry before every shop, and so far, it's helped keep things pared down but I only have two shelves in a hall closet for a pantry. They are deep, so if not organized, things can get lost. Congratulations on getting yours done!
ReplyDeleteI need to do this badly! If I could even just take one shelf at a time it'd be slow but needed progress.
ReplyDeleteAll these jobs that we're too busy to do...until the weather keeps us indoors!
ReplyDeleteWe are having a new kitchen fitted in January, so I shall be sorting/ purging all kitchen items and food then :)
ReplyDeleteI love going through the cupboards to familiarise myself with the contents again. It keeps my budget down and there is less or no waste.
ReplyDeleteEating the last strawberry jam I made in 2014 and it tastes fine. A spoonful in my morning yogurt and it will be gone soon. Then I can start working on the 2015 jam!
ReplyDeleteOh yes, we are eating 2015 jam and green tomato chutney at the moment, absolutely delicious. Some things just get better with age :-)
DeleteI had thought I would get my cupboards cleaned out last month. I am still looking at them and thinking a good cleaning out is in order. Perhaps after Christmas.
ReplyDeleteYou did an excellent job on yours.
God bless.
Ah it's such a good feeling to clean out and get rid of stuff, and you prompt me to have a go at my fridge this afternoon. Your snowy landscape looks so magical, while here in South Australia we're having a 39c degree day, too hot to venture out in the mid day sun! Only mad dogs and Englishmen! ;-)
ReplyDeleteMy pantry is in pretty good shape at the moment - I have been very strict about rotating things this past year which has helped. I would like to redo my baking cupboard but think I will wait until the New Year once all the seasonal baking is finished.
ReplyDeleteI also had a good clearcut of the fridge this morning. I did have plans to go out but illness has struck one of the other participants so we have agreed to reschedule. So instead I popped a tray full of butternut squash into the oven, cooked a batch of quinoa, fried up a pan full of onions & peppers (from the freezer), hard boiled a batch of eggs, and now I have a pot of bean soup simmering on the stove. All of that will give me meals for the next few days - just adding some salad greens here and there.
It's so cold in Toronto that the city has closed down the Christmas Market and skating rink at City Hall for the day as they feel it is too dangerous for people to be outside for any length of time so a good day to be inside with a lovely, warm kitchen.
Sue, after the first paragraph about the fruit in alcohol and the champagne I really expected a few slurred words and hiccups! It reads well with the occasional 'hic' !
ReplyDeleteexpiry date - 2012, yes I can relate to that, too. And to the best of intentions but I just can't eat that stuff so it sits in the cupboard/fridge til it's finally 'cast into outer darkness'.
Congratulations on a magnificent hen house - they will enjoy the extra insulation and probably reward you with extra eggs, won't they?