I did pretty well with this one. I made quite a few dishes from this book in January and February and felt comfortable enough with the flavors to wing it a few times. I love how Turkish cuisine uses familiar ingredients like tomatoes, potatoes, bell peppers and chiles in different ways with different flavors than I'm used to. I have bought big bags of sumac and za'atar and really enjoyed cooking with them.
I didn't empty everything from the freezer and basement shelves, but I have used up quite a bit. The freezer went from only two water-filled juice bottles to seven, so now my food pickin's are a little slimmer. If I took time to re-arrange the basement shelves, I could probably eliminate the bakers rack that holds my baking supplies. Instead, it's easy to see what I have since it's all spread out instead of jam packed in place. Baby steps...It looks like I am in good company! I'm not only going to start making holes in my freezer, I plan on filling those holes up with empty juice bottles that have been (almost) filled with water. That way the freezer will still be "full". I also have to resist the temptation to buy something that is on sale at a real steal of a price and have it replace one of the juice bottle taking up the space!
It does seem that way, just about everywhere! When I cleaned out Mom's freezer, when she passed away, that's when I said I had to take action. No Foodsaver there, and there were some freezer burned things in ziplocs I couldn't recognize! Nobody else handles my food, so I can stay with it - any time something goes in, or comes out, I WILL put it in the inventory book! I just have to keep at it.
That's something I just did a few weeks ago - I took all those jars off my shelf I keep the beans, grains, and other often used items in the kitchen, and dusted all of them (some I hadn't looked at for a while!), and put the beans into smaller jars (some were in gallon jars, but only had about a pint still), some of which I labeled "Use 1st", and 3 of them are gone already. There is actually a lot of empty space, from all of the consolidation. Those things that I don't use often, I have vac-sealed in the mason jars, which works well, to keep them from going bad, though the ones prone to rancidity are always in the freezer.
Make a list of the basement things, then tape it up in a cupboard or pantry where you store similar, frequently used things. Having a list bumping into your nose each time you open a door will remind you what you have and where. Just don't actually bump your nose, OK?
Hi CG, the only thing wrong with that (well, one of the things lol) since we don't have a "downstairs" more stuff goes into the garage, (never has been the car) and we don't have room for a freezer. We are lucky there is just room for the washer and dryer. lolRemember, cookieee, that if you live where you can have a "downstairs, you also might live where you can use the garage as your backup freezer for part of the year.
She lives in South FloridaRemember, cookieee, that if you live where you can have a "downstairs, you also might live where you can use the garage as your backup freezer for part of the year.
I wouldn't count on freezing temps in the garage. We have neither a garage nor a basement, living in a historic neighborhood built mostly without them, near a river, so we have a high water table. Basements here frequently flood during thunderstorms and nor'easters.
