Living On a Raft!

I live kinda close to lots of places, but not close enough to any place to stop and pick up a quart of milk, go get takeout, or buy something on a whim. It takes at least thirty minutes for a whim. Shopping requires planning. The up side is we save money not going out to eat. Getting pizza at Papa Murphy's in Colville is a treat. Coffee drinks are few and far between.

The down side is when I do my "big shopping trips" I feel the urge to stockpile enough supplies and food for six months. I buy tomato sauce like it will never be on sale again. Yes, when olives are marked down it is a good deal, but how many cans do we need? Don't even get me started on what I think I have to bring home on my infrequent trips to Costco in Spokane.

I think part of it stems from being raised by my "depression baby, Bargain Betty, coupon cutting" mother. I used to find joy and rearranging the canned goods in our basement pantry. I still like that feeling when the shelves are stocked, the paper products are organized, and I have enough Campbell's soup for three years.

Then it gets out of control. There are too many bags of chocolate chips I didn't use for Christmas baking. Why did I buy maraschino cherries? How can we use the extra oatmeal? My friend SueDean introduced me to the term "living on a raft". That is what her sister calls it when they work to use everything  up. SueDean has a husband that loves to stockpile food also. She has also participated in the "living on a raft" project.

My goal is to live on the raft until the shelves are down, the freezer is ready to defrost, and the lazy susan in the cupboard can turn again. We will buy fresh food and staples, but that is it. So far we have had healthy meals using up canned beans, ground deer meat, frozen chickens, tuna, whole wheat flour (the breadmaker came out), and pasta. It will get interesting in a few weeks when I will be creating meals from canned tomatoes, water chestnuts, frozen berries, rice, dates, sliced almonds, mandarin oranges, maraschino cherries, and sesame seeds!

I feel blessed to have an abundance of food. I feel secure having shelves of canned goods. I share that abundance at food drives and local food banks. I just don't always need to stock up for the next year, even if the sign by the mayo says buy five get two free.

If I create any divine recipes with the combination of food I have left I will be sure to post them!