Oh, I think it's been long enough, I might as well post...

[lisalicious]

I've always had some OCD tendencies, but they were in full view last night. Since I needed to clean out my kitchen cabinets, I spent several hours cataloging them. By cataloging, I mean writing down every single thing in them and the quantity and putting it all into an Excel spreadsheet for easy reference. I've made some important discoveries:

• I'm a hoarder of rice. I have, literally, nearly 10 pounds of rice in my cupboard, of every variety you can imagine. Apparently I'm under the perpetual assumption that I'm out.
• I can't remember the last time I made jello, which doesn't go far in explaining why I have 10 boxes of it.
• Soup can go bad. Who knew?
• The equivalent of two cabinets can hold a LOT of food.

My evening of writing and puzzling has made me want to try a little experiment...I want to see how long I can go with just using as much of the food in my cabinets as possible. I want to reclaim my cupboard space, I think it would be fun, and it will get me to try or come up with new recipes. So my rules are that I can spend upwards of $10-15 a week on things like fruit and veggies, and the occasional bit of meat or other staples, but other than that I'm taking from the cupboard. If anyone would like to help me come up with ideas, I'll be happy to pass along the spreadsheet (Betsy, I'm totally looking at you). I'm also going to try to post what I come up with. Everyone needs a summer project, this is mine!