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Organizing Tip of the Week
Stocking Your Pantry for Quick Meals
I have created a list of food items that I keep on hand in my pantry, refrigerator, freezer, etc. I did this for a friend of mine about a year ago when she asked me what I eat to stay healthy. She also asked me how I always seem to have to have the ability to have a dinner ready in a pinch – even if I didn’t just step out of the grocery store.
While these may not be staples in your house, this list can give you a good idea of what you can try to keep on hand so you can make flavorful, homemade recipes ALL the time. The key here is to stay relatively stocked up, make things you can freeze (like the turkey chili, spaghetti sauce, and even the turkey burger patties – recipes in “Pantry Meals” article), and have plenty of variety to keep things interesting, available and yummy!
Pantry Items
Staples:
Oils for cooking:
Condiments for cooking:
Baking Items:
Snacks:
Refrigerator Items
Condiments:
Dairy:
Carbs:
Vegetables:
Fruits:
Freezer Items
Fruits:
Using a Menu Planner
Menu planners: A terrific tool to help you save time and money.
They help you remember which items to buy at the grocery store and which coupons to bring with you. For many families, groceries are one of the largest monthly expenses. Creating a weekly menu can help you save on your monthly budget because you are less likely to rely on last minute and more expensive options like eating out or delivery. You are also less likely to buy on impulse once at the store.
The kind of weekly menu planner that you decide to keep can be as simple as a writing your planned meals on your grocery list, using an online menu planner that will save your grocery lists from week to week, or you can try one of our free templates [Word format - PDF format]. Remember to check back often for new templates!
Should I Keep It or Toss It?
The start of the year is a great time to get rid of the paper clutter around the house.
Perhaps you want to be able to see the office floor again or simply not have piles of paper that come back week after week. When I do get around to purging paper around the home, I find myself sometimes wondering which records to keep or toss.
There are some documents that you want to permanently keep in a safe place - birth/death certificates, marriage license, deed to your house, and Wills. Documents like investment statements, bank statements and even tax returns do not need to be kept permanently. Credit card statements can be tossed once you have verified the changes. The guidelines below from Good Housekeeping can help you determine which records to keep and how long to keep them.
Once you have determined which documents to toss, remember to shred! A personal story…..my parents were the victims of identity theft. Resolving the incident involved countless hours dedicated to writing letters, filing reports with credit bureaus and making many many phone calls.
Unfortunately, identity theft is on the rise, affecting almost 10 million victims in 2008 (a 22% increase from 2007). It’s a situation that you do not want to find yourself in and that you can help avoid. To reduce your risk of becoming an identity theft victim make sure that you always shred all documents containing your social security, financial information, birthdates or passwords.
Yes, even those letters that come in the mail informing you you’ve been preapproved for such and such offer (especially if it’s for a credit card) should go in the shredder. Local office supply stores carry good quality paper shredders or you can bring your confidential waste paper to free shred events across the country. Click here to find a local event near you!
