Operation Perryville Pantry

I have somewhat of a dilemma.  I'm afraid that my mom and I might have slightly overestimated the amount of food that I am going to eat while here for a month.  So far I have had to throw out a bag of bagels, the rest of the basil parmesan bread that my mom secretly stashed in my food tubs from Great Harvest Bread Company (one of my favorite places), some cucumbers, some snap peas, and I'm sure there will be more to come. 

I knew that I was not going to have access to a lot of fresh produce while I was here, so we stocked up on those when we were shopping.  I came to Perryville with a veggie tray all for myself, a bag of mini cucumbers, a container of grapes (with seeds, which is why I haven't been eating them), a bag of baby carrots to take with me in my lunch, a bag of snap peas, and a bag of oranges.  I don't even eat that many fruits and vegetables when there are people to share them with, let alone when I am by myself.  I am having the hardest time eating everything before it goes bad.  And seriously, who wants to eat broccoli every night of the week just to try and save it from going bad?  I like broccoli, but I don't like it that much. 

Really now.  Who needs that many vegetables all to themselves?

I also knew that I was going to need food for lunches so we got 2 loaves of bread (plus the Great Harvest bread), 2 bags of bagels, and 2 packages of lunch meat.  Now I like sandwiches, but eating a sandwich 5 days a week for 4 weeks is a little overkill.  That's why some of the bread went bad.  I just couldn't eat it fast enough because I didn't want a sandwich or bagel every single day.  I have since put some of it in the freezer to save it from molding.

So basically, I have been eating things just for the sake of trying to save them...not because I'm actually hungry for them, which is never a good idea.  I'll eat my dinner each night and be full, but then I'll think to myself, "I really should eat those cucumbers/peas/vegetables/etc. before they go bad."  So then I'll eat more and I end up stuffed.  I just don't like wasting food, but I also don't want to overeat and stuff myself with food that I don't really want.  I think it may have been a better idea to just get one of everything rather than 2 or more of everything.  I would have survived.  I'm pretty sure that I'm either going to have to throw a lot of food away (hopefully not), leave a lot of it here, or pack up what I don't eat in my tubs and take it back with me.  I still have about 2 1/2 weeks left to be here, so we'll see what happens, but I guess my eyes really were bigger than my stomach while I was shopping.  Can you blame me, though?  I was shopping for a whole month of food.  I've never had to do that before.  At least I didn't bring any frozen meats, like chicken or beef with me.  There's no way I could have eaten all of that fast enough. 

To be fair, I actually took a lot less food with me than I could have.  I said no to several things that my mom suggested because I figured I could live without it for four weeks, and it would have just been a hassle to pack it, even though it might have been nice to have while I was here.  For example, my mom suggested spaghetti (which I love), but then I knew I would have to bring spaghettie sauce along with it.  Or she suggested bringing stuff for no bake cookies so I wouldn't have to worry about baking, but then I would have to pack all of the separate ingredients, which would mean more stuff.  I tried to downsize and simplify things rather than complicate them.  So at least I didn't come with more than I already have. 

So here's my new plan of action for operation "Perryville Pantry."  I am going to try and eat all of the food that will go bad first, and what I can't eat I will put in the freezer.  Then I am going to eat all of the "good" stuff (if you can really call it that).  By that I mean the meals that I would rather eat than say...cup o' noodles.  Some of the boxed meals or frozen foods I have aren't half bad.  My original plan was to save those for when I was sick of the other stuff, but then I'll be left with all of the good stuff when it's time to go, so I'll try to eat all of those up next.  The only problem with the boxed or frozen foods is that the servings are meant for more than one person, so when I make them I will have to eat the same thing mulitple nights in a row, but oh well, I'll live.  Then, after I have eaten or frozen the food that will go bad and the food that is better than the cans or cup o' noodles, I will eat whatever is left.  Hopefully that will leave me with all of the non-perishable food.  When it's time to go home I can either pack it back up and take it with me or just leave it here for someone else to eat.  

When it comes down to it, I suppose that it's better to have more food than I need rather than not enough.  That's something to be thankful for.