I did the walk of shame yesterday.

I am really mortified by the results of my pantry purge.

Post Christmas, I decided to deep clean the cupboards and pantry. We are functionally empty nesters now, and our grocery needs have decreased exponentially. We started out our remarriage journey with five hungry kids, ages 10-23. We are now two adults trying to eat healthy, and I wanted to do an inventory of our food.

I have thrown out two large laundry baskets full of expired food. Canned goods, staples, snacks. All uneaten, expired, and wasted.

I’m ashamed.

I can come up with lots of excuses – until six months ago I was working full time, with a lot of commuting as well. I bought ingredients for recipes without looking at what I had at home. Frankly, with the amount of food I had, I never really knew what I had.

Turns out I had a lot of wasted food.

I’ve been poor. I’ve been no joke broke. I’ve lived off potatoes, ramen soup, and cereal.

I’m horrified at the waste.

In my continuing path to minimizing my home, I’ve rearranged (again) my pantry so I can clearly see everything.

I’m dedicated to looking at what I have and considering my stock of food when I am meal planning.

Deep sigh.

Today I’ll finish up the last of the pantry purge.

From now on, I’ll take my time and look at what I have before I buy more.

Lesson painfully learned.