We’re making a deliberate effort to eat everything left in our fridge and freezer. We haven’t done a full grocery run in at least three weeks — aside from a few small trips under $30 for milk, cereal, and some fresh produce — and we plan to avoid shopping entirely for the next two weeks. There’s more than enough food to get us through until we move, and our goal is to minimize how much we’ll need to keep chilled during the few hours between handing over the keys to our current house and receiving the keys to the new one. We were able to schedule both closings on the same day, but the bank still needs time to transfer funds, so we’ll have a gap of several hours. To avoid packing coolers or relying on family refrigerators, we’re focusing on using up refrigerated and frozen items first.
To stay organized, I created a simple system to guide our meal choices and reduce food waste. I’m a list person, and having a visible plan helps us stay on track. At first I wrote down every single ingredient and item that needed to be eaten before moving day, but that list was chaotic and hard to follow. So I grouped the items into meal categories — breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snacks/dessert — which made the plan much easier to use. Now the list lives on the fridge, and we check things off as we finish them.
- Breakfast:
- eggs
- oatmeal
- waffles
- smoothies
- Lunch:
- peas and carrot sides (J)
- broccoli soup (S)
- grilled cheese (J & S)
- turkey, cheese, & deli flats (J & S)
- tuna on wasa crackers (S)
- laughing cow cheese or almond butter on wasa crackers (S)
- Dinner:
- breakfast-for-dinner omelette with frozen veggies
- pot stickers with frozen vegetables
- burritos with frozen veggies
- pancakes with mixed berries
- spaghetti
- frozen Amy’s pizza and fries
- sides to eat ASAP: brown rice & couscous
- Snack/Dessert:
- pumpkin bread
- ice cream
- tea
- mixed nuts & pistachios
We simply cross items off as we eat them, then move on to the next thing in that category. So far we’re doing well and expect to eat through most of these foods before moving day; we still have a few servings of pasta, pot stickers, a big stash of Wasa crackers, and other small items. This strategy reduces stress during the transition and keeps us from wasting food or worrying about refrigeration during those few unkeyed hours.
Have you ever planned meals strategically for a move, to save money, or to stay organized? Some people follow weekly themes — Macaroni Monday, Taco Tuesday — and that kind of predictable routine can feel comforting. Growing up, our family had a reliable rotation that made weekday meals easy; I still miss Wednesday night pizza dinners. Even simple patterns can make meal decisions effortless and reduce food waste.
Aside from this practical fridge-cleaning mission, we’ll soon return to more DIY-focused projects. After the holiday and our recent turkey-induced languor, we’re preparing a few homemade gift ideas and a free downloadable calendar for the upcoming year, plus another short home-related video. Stick around for those updates — we’ll get back to the creative stuff shortly.
Also — on a lighter note — who watched last night’s episode of Dexter? It was intense. John and I were still buzzing and had trouble sleeping from the adrenaline. Great television.
UPDATE: See how we did cleaning out the fridge before our move in the follow-up post on the blog.