Call me Old Mother Hubbard

I’m not a mother, and I’m not that old, but like Old Mother Hubbard, my cupboard is often lacking. In no way am I suggesting we go hungry. Goodness, no. We have more in our pantry right now than so many unfortunate families have in a month. What I mean is, I don’t always stock well.

I’m actually better than I used to be. I cringe to think about it now, but I used to make a Wal-Mart or Winn Dixie trip almost every day of the week. Talk about planning ahead. I’d decide what to cook ‘round about lunchtime and get the specific ingredients I needed during my lunch break or on my way home from work.

When I realized how much time and frustration I was wasting, I began to limit my grocery trips to once a week, twice if absolutely necessary. But even now, I still only buy what I will cook that week (on average, two meals) and maybe a few frozen dishes for lunch.

I guess when just two people make up a household and don’t always eat at home, it’s tough to buy in bulk. One, it’s hard to make decisions in advance and two, food goes bad before we eat it. I kid you not – when we moved from our house in Andalusia, a bunch of our canned goods had expired…CANNED goods, supposedly non-perishable. At the Akridge house, the non-perishable perishes.

So if I find out at the last minute that I have to prepare a covered dish or have people over for supper, I must make an emergency trip to the grocery store. Two days before Thanksgiving. Because not only did I not have any food to contribute to an impromptu get-together at my house last night, but I didn’t even have anything to drink!

We try not to drink a lot of soft drinks, so I don’t buy them for home. Our sweet tea tastes more like dishwater, so I don’t have tea on hand, either. So what do you get to drink when you come to my house, unless I get to the grocery store? Water, water with Crystal Light flavoring or sometimes milk. One day, I’ll write a book on hospitality.

I do have a few staples in the pantry, not because I planned it that way but because I forgot I had them and needlessly bought more. If I were to stock up with commonly used food, I guess these would be on my list:

Frozen chicken breasts and ground beef
Frozen vegetables
Frozen pizza
Cream of mushroom soup
Cream of chicken soup
Shredded cheese
Uncooked pasta
Spaghetti sauce
Nestle Instant Breakfast
Vegetable oil
Canned corn
Moore’s
Dry onion soup mix

Okay, that’s a good start. What would be on your list?