Feb. 4th, 2015 08:43 pm
Closing my kitchen
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nightengaleskndI am moving in approximately 7 weeks.
No, I don't have a specific date. No, I don't have a specific plan. No, I don't know what I am doing with my car, and right now I don't want to talk about any of that. Any question asked along those lines has already been answered with "I don't know" and no further answer will be forthcoming until I do know, and I'll let you know when that is.
I want to talk about my kitchen.
I am looking at a kitchen at once full of food and seemingly devoid of anything to make for dinner or pack as lunch. The kitchen is rooted in the past, food previously purchased, and looking towards the future, when I have to close it and clean it and survive on peanut butter and cheese and crackers and eating out until I can move and open a kitchen again.
I have to go shopping to buy food to eat this week, and next week, and the week after until the kitchen is closed. I don't know what to buy. I don't know how much to buy.
At the one end are the rapidly consumed items. A half-gallon of milk lasts approximately a week, so I can, must buy milk. A large box of Cheerios lasts about 2 weeks, so there will be more purchases of Cheerios. Aside from those items, I have never paid attention to the frequency at which I need to purchase specific foods. I will buy more cheese, as I eat a lot of cheese, but probably only one type of cheese rather than the several I like to have lying around. I will need produce, of course. I may need another dozen eggs.
At the other end are the pantry staples. I may end up packing a box of non-perishables, not a bad way to seed my new kitchen, since I will not have a car for an initial bulk buying trip. There is no reason that some beans, and barley and flour in a canister, some dried fruit and even some uneaten crackers can't make the trip. If I am packing canisters anyway, the innermost ones might as well travel full.
I'm good with extremes.
In the middle lies everything else. I have most of a bottle of olive oil, and not much of a bottle of canola oil, but at this point it doesn't make sense to buy more canola oil. I need to do meal planning around what I have. I should eat tuna, which would use up tuna. I should make chili, which would use some beans and canned tomatoes. I predict a lot of oatmeal in my immediate future. The freezer is full of homemade broth I should use in some fashion. Can I finish the soy sauce? Can I finish the jam? I may need more rice to finish the soy sauce. I may need more bread to finish the jam. I will not buy more soy sauce for the more rice, or more bread for the more jam.
I may give some things to friends, the sort of friends to whom one can offer half a jar of apple butter or an opened bottle of mustard. I'm not sure who I know locally who would like half a jar of chutney or hoisin sauce. There is talk of throwing me a good-bye potluck and I may bring previously owned condiments, free to a good home.
What to pack for lunch tomorrow? What to make for dinner? What to buy at the store besides milk and Cheerios and apples?
I am re-re-re-reading one of my favorite cookbooks, Arthur Schwartz' "What to cook when you think there's nothing in the house to eat?" I suspect I will be cooking from it a lot in the coming weeks. I wish the author would write a sequel, "What to buy when you are cooking with nothing in the house to eat?"
No, I don't have a specific date. No, I don't have a specific plan. No, I don't know what I am doing with my car, and right now I don't want to talk about any of that. Any question asked along those lines has already been answered with "I don't know" and no further answer will be forthcoming until I do know, and I'll let you know when that is.
I want to talk about my kitchen.
I am looking at a kitchen at once full of food and seemingly devoid of anything to make for dinner or pack as lunch. The kitchen is rooted in the past, food previously purchased, and looking towards the future, when I have to close it and clean it and survive on peanut butter and cheese and crackers and eating out until I can move and open a kitchen again.
I have to go shopping to buy food to eat this week, and next week, and the week after until the kitchen is closed. I don't know what to buy. I don't know how much to buy.
At the one end are the rapidly consumed items. A half-gallon of milk lasts approximately a week, so I can, must buy milk. A large box of Cheerios lasts about 2 weeks, so there will be more purchases of Cheerios. Aside from those items, I have never paid attention to the frequency at which I need to purchase specific foods. I will buy more cheese, as I eat a lot of cheese, but probably only one type of cheese rather than the several I like to have lying around. I will need produce, of course. I may need another dozen eggs.
At the other end are the pantry staples. I may end up packing a box of non-perishables, not a bad way to seed my new kitchen, since I will not have a car for an initial bulk buying trip. There is no reason that some beans, and barley and flour in a canister, some dried fruit and even some uneaten crackers can't make the trip. If I am packing canisters anyway, the innermost ones might as well travel full.
I'm good with extremes.
In the middle lies everything else. I have most of a bottle of olive oil, and not much of a bottle of canola oil, but at this point it doesn't make sense to buy more canola oil. I need to do meal planning around what I have. I should eat tuna, which would use up tuna. I should make chili, which would use some beans and canned tomatoes. I predict a lot of oatmeal in my immediate future. The freezer is full of homemade broth I should use in some fashion. Can I finish the soy sauce? Can I finish the jam? I may need more rice to finish the soy sauce. I may need more bread to finish the jam. I will not buy more soy sauce for the more rice, or more bread for the more jam.
I may give some things to friends, the sort of friends to whom one can offer half a jar of apple butter or an opened bottle of mustard. I'm not sure who I know locally who would like half a jar of chutney or hoisin sauce. There is talk of throwing me a good-bye potluck and I may bring previously owned condiments, free to a good home.
What to pack for lunch tomorrow? What to make for dinner? What to buy at the store besides milk and Cheerios and apples?
I am re-re-re-reading one of my favorite cookbooks, Arthur Schwartz' "What to cook when you think there's nothing in the house to eat?" I suspect I will be cooking from it a lot in the coming weeks. I wish the author would write a sequel, "What to buy when you are cooking with nothing in the house to eat?"