Kitchen question

Hi all,

Long time lurker first time poster.

I need a little advice.

Ive been living in my apartment for six years, originally as part of a couple now its just me but the kitchen was always my domain and i did all the cooking. Over the years ive lost track of everything i have in the kitchen especially the fridge and freezer. Recently i look in the fridge or freezer, don't see anything i can eat so order takeaway.

Should i maybe do a purge of everything in both fridge and freezer , clean it, defrost it and start from scratch. As a single guy( yes an eager cook but even so) the fridge should not be full of unusable quick things.

I don't mean unusable as in it has no use, but, i mean, dozens of jars with no easy or obvious use.

I suppose my question is, how do other people approach this?

Ive been researching the subject of time management for a book i was considering writing. One tactic i found was to put things in an envelope and on the envelope write the date and whats in it. 3 months from the date if you've not needed anything in the envelope, fling it straight into the bin. Do I need something similar for the fridge?

woodchuck

I think starting off with a purge is a good idea! Once you've cleared it out, start from scratch.

I make a meal plan and go food shopping once a week. Before I put any of the new stuff in the fridge, I see if there's the end of anything old that needs to be thrown out first. So pretty much everything in the fridge has a purpose! Try to avoid impulse purchases at the supermarket. There's no point in buying an interesting looking veg, jar etc if you have no idea what you're going to use it in!

When putting together a meal plan, I often look in the fridge first to see if there's the end of a jar, packet of veg etc that needs to be used. If so, I'll try to include a recipe for the following week where I can use up that ingredient.

Freezers are great too, provided you make good use of them. If you have something you know you won't use before it goes off, freeze it (depending on what it is of course). Again, look through your freezer before making a meal plan for the week to see if there's anything you can use up so you don't just end up with a freezer full of clutter.

Dial Hard

Definitely purge, defrost, clean and start again. Like Woodchuck, I meal plan but it's not for everyone, my mother can't get her head around the concept, she decides what she's going to eat on a daily basis.

I also keep a freezer inventory on a magnetic whiteboard sheet on the fridge door, all I need to do is glance at it to see what's in there when I'm doing my weekly food plan.

As for the fridge, do a quick audit weekly and chuck anything that you know you're not going to use. Again, my mam is a divil for putting tiny bits of leftovers in there that are never going to be used. We joke that everything in the house has to do a two-week stint in the fridge before it's allowed go in the bin.

Finally, if you are batch cooking or freezing leftovers, make sure you label them, otherwise you'll find yourself trying to peer into a tub or bag that's frozen opaque weeks later and playing freezer roulette with what might be in it.