Taking inventory

As most anyone with a freezer other than the one in their refridgerator knows, its easy to loose track of what's in there.

Over the years we've gotten better at using up everything, but about every 6 months or so we need to take inventory.

Yesterday, since our dog is off at "sleep over camp" with our daughter, we decided to take that inventory.

I make up a list that we keep posted on the door, and it helps us with planning meals and making sure that nothing ends up as a science project gone bad.

Since we had been so good doing that, this morning I did an inventory in our other food storage area--the basement.

This is where I keep everything from paper goods to home canned tomatoes, and what's in this area helps us with meal planning and saving on groceries too.

A lot of people envision 50 pound bags of wheat when you say the words "Food Storage", but for us, its more about having on hand those things that you actually will eat.

On the whole, if we had to, we could probably go 2 or 3 weeks without buying anything other than fresh fruits and veggies, which isn't ideal (longer would be better), but it does mean if I needed to I could produce a decent meal on very short notice.

So my challenge to all of you today is: do you know what you actually have in your freezer? How about your pantry?

Its time to find out!