This summer is about taking inventory, something of a State of the Union. I am taking a hard look at where my time and money and emotion is being spent and fixing any little (or big) leaks that I am finding. As Ann Voskamp famously quips - 

A pail with a pinhole loses as much as the pail pushed right over. 

As we have been cleaning the refrigerator weekly it has became clear we are losing too much food due to poor planning and poor execution.  Time to tighten up the ship and be more intentional in what we buy and seeing it through to being used. 

Some efforts to that end:

make a menu

shop from a list

prep food soon after shopping (wash/chop/store)

store it so you can see it

use leftovers creatively

This last part is essentially what is composing our breakfast and lunch menu.  Leftover fruit, vegs and meat are finding their way into smoothies, soups, frittatas, wraps, omelettes, stir fries.  If it is likely to be used within the next day or so it goes into a small storage container.  If not, it gets frozen. (the last serving of smoothies and soup are easily poured into extra ice cube trays) 

Todays breakfast took five minutes to prep.  Line muffin tins with one slice bacon each. Pour in beaten eggs – average one per muffin cup.  Add leftover sauteed vegs. Bake 20min in oven. Mine was set to convection. Your time may vary.  We have done this minus the bacon and used leftover ground meat or sausage. (pardon the iphone pics pleaseandthankyou) 

Anyway, maybe it's just me.  It seems as we get busy we get little leaks in the budget like this.  We move faster and there is more expense and more waste.  For a season you can compensate but it's not a good long term default.