This weekend we defrosted our freezer to prepare it for the winter. Last year was our first winter in this house and we had set up in our garage an extra fridge and an extra freezer. Well, when temperatures hit -18F in January the freezer in the fridge gave up. Not that it mattered much to what was there since it was cold enough to keep anything cold. This year we want to have all of our food in the freezer and nothing in the fridge.
In the process of moving everything that was there to a temporary place, I was able to make an inventory of the food I have stockpiled in the freezer. We have about 10 lbs of steaks, 10 lbs ground beef, around 10 lbs of boneless skinless chicken breast and 5 lbs of chicken quarters. Add to this frozen strawberries from our trip to a pick-your-own-farm and any vegetables from our garden I was able to freeze.
But my point is about all of this meat. I used to think that I tried to stockpile just enough to carry me to the next good sale. Since the time I bought this meat, those prices have come around at least two other times. I am not only all stocked up on meat, I also have a ton of pasta and cereal in my cupboards. I know pasta doesn’t really go bad and should last me for the longest time. But cereal, that’s another story. When we moved to this state, in the summer of 06, I had to throw away at least 5 boxes of cereal because I had bought it on sale, never ate it and it was out of date.
I don’t think I am being a good steward of our money. I hate to have all that money tied up on meat. I know it won’t go bad but should I consider keeping less meat stocked up in the future? I have put myself in a sort of grocery exile. I am not buying anymore meat, cereal or pasta until I use up a significant amount of what I have stockpiled. I also need to work on my menu plans to make sure that I include all of these items on my menu weekly.
