Ok this may seem silly and obvious but go with me;).
I really dislike a dirty microwave. And yet things tend to over flow
or explode in the microwave. Then it is miserable to clean…Well it
is if you don’t use my tricks;).
For a general griminess, take a wet sponge, pop it in the microwave
for 45 seconds. But for a more intense mess have no worries! Mix a
little baking soda with water. Then rub the paste on the walls of the
microwave. Then put a very wet sponge in the microwave for 1 minute.
It works even better if you can add lemon juice to the mix.
After you are done microwaving the sponge ( in both cases) just wipe it down!
Ok, I struggle with my pantry. On one hand, if it isn’t clean I get a bit stressed out. An organized pantry is a sign of an organized heart and chef. But on the other side, it is so very easy to have the pantry get so messy that it takes hours upon hours to clean it out. My life had major turmoil this last few weeks and I exorcised it by cleaning out the pantry!
I also wanted to clean it out before all the holiday sales and holiday parties hit! Now I can put plates of finished food in there and I have cleaned off all my counters by putting many small appliances in the pantry!
So I started cooking from my pantry last week and I am aiming at doing it through the month. FishMama asked us how were doing and what our concerns or issues were. Well I have a couple. My big one is knowing where the line is. Do we eat past 4 days a week until it is gone or should I buy potatoes? How much augmenting should I do? I am not sure. The other concern is that my family will become bored. I am cooking a ham out of the freezer but I really only know a couple of things to do with the leftovers (and there will be leftovers). Normally I would freeze what was left in 1 of the 2 dishes I know but that kind of defeats the purpose doesn’t it?
Another issue…Is it ok to skip or toss the stuff we don’t want? You know you do it to..the can of something you should have on hand but don’t care for all that much. We have a few. My husband would like to not be home the nights I use those;). I have learned to not replace them.
Now on the bright side. We are doing pretty good. My goal is to not buy any more meat until my freezer is defrosted and so far so good. We have already thawed some beef to find out that it wasn’t so good. I am taking that as a hint that I need to better manage my freezer inventory after this little experiment so at least I have learned a lesson;).
How about you? Are you doing the pantry challenge? What issues are you having?
