I mentioned recently that my ‘nesting’ instincts were starting to take hold. They’ve been getting stronger still, though I know it is far too early to really let them go wild.
However, the past several days, I have been doing what I guess could be called “pre-nesting”. It started because boneless, skinless chicken breasts were on sale at the grocery store this past week. I have numerous recipes that use chunked up chicken, and since I prefer white meat, this was a good deal. Usually, I would divide up the package into the amount I needed for whatever I was going to make a batch of, and stick them in the freezer. But a light-bulb moment clicked in my head, and I said to myself, “Self, why don’t you go ahead and cook it all, then chunk it up and then divide it into the portions you need and freeze them?” The answer was, “Self, that’s genius!” So I cooked (basically boiled) all of the breasts, let them cool, cleaned off any extra fat or skin, and cut them up. I stuffed two quart bags fill of ready-to-go chicken, which will make either a double serving of one recipe or two different recipes once it’s thawed! Then, I looked at the frozen hamburger in my freezer, and thought that it would be equally genius to thaw and cook then crumble all but one package. The whole package can be used for when I decide to make a meatloaf, but in the meantime, I have two packages of pre-cooked hamburger for when I want to make spaghetti sauce or something else. And the best part is that these bags can be labeled and stacked in my freezer, requiring very little space!
I haven’t started restocking my pantry yet, but I did get it organized and made a list of things I will need for a full restock. Because of the continued problems I’m having that make my chiropractor one of my favorite men in my life these days, I realize that it is best for me to do this in several shopping trips and phases, rather than force myself to have to carry heavy bags of canned goods up steps and into the house and all of the way to the kitchen, which is at the back. Living in a 200+ year old building that doesn’t offer much cabinet storage makes me limited in what I can store up on, but at least the cabinets go all the way up to the ceiling. My handy-dandy step stool and “Grabber” will get their usual workout come winter!
Of course, now my kitchen needs a good cleaning. Off to do it!
Ramblings and Ruminations 