Shopping My Shelves First

 

Before I do any grocery shopping, meal planning or prepping I will shop what I currently have on my shelves of my working pantry, the freezer in my kitchen and the deep freezer in my garage first.  Then I will formulate my meal plans and a list of items I want to meal prep from what I already have on hand.

 

I love to make a variety of different soups in my slow cooker

One of the things I really like to do when I meal plan and prep is to make soups.  More often than not all of my soups are made using up bits and dabs of items that I have in the pantry and my kitchen freezer.  It is a great way for me to use up partial bags of frozen vegetable or meat, small containers of broth as well as partial packages of items in the pantry like pasta or rice.  I am also able to use up leftovers in the refrigerator as well as any jars of home canned items that are getting older.

 

I try to buy the best quality food I can afford

Once I’ve made a pass through the pantry and kitchen freezer I will restock any items I am low on first using items I’ve stockpiled in my deep freezer and also my LTFS shelves where I keep shelf stable and home canned and preserved items.  After that I will add to my shopping list anything I am getting low on as well as any fresh produce or dairy I feel I will need and use at the time.  I constantly work to maintain a certain level of inventory in my deep freezer and LTFS shelves while keeping a well stocked working pantry and refrigerator freezer in my kitchen.

 

I am very blessed to have the space & ability to keep a LTFS

Shopping my shelves first not only allows me to save money when I go to the stores, but it also helps me to make sure all food items are used up in a timely manner to eliminated food waste.  Anytime I have to through food away I know I am literally throwing my hard earned money into the trash so I want to always do my best to make sure that doesn’t happen.  Saving money on what I ultimately spend for groceries is also very important to me.  Making sure I have plenty of solid nutritious food on hand to prepare wholesome, healthy and satisfying meals is my ultimate goal.