Back in the day, three kids meant cram-packed kitchen cabinets. Being well-stocked and never running out of food required planning, money, and adequate space.
Living alone in a big house, I can make different choices. Particularly in the grocery shopping department. It’s just me now, and for two years while my husband was on a feeding tube, I shopped for one then too.
No longer must I buy a five-pound bag of sugar or flour. Or the industrial size bottle of olive oil from Costco.
This week, I got the urge to bake an apple cake. I didn’t have the vegetable oil the recipe called for, so I headed to the store. I feared my flour had aged too, so that got added to the shopping list.
Shopping is always a fun adventure
It was fun to look at the little things on the shelves — the stuff for smaller households. I wandered the aisles and pondered the changes I’ll be making to my pantry this year. Changes I should have made years ago when the last adult child flew out of the nest.
Old habits die hard.
The two-pound bag of flour cost a bit more per ounce, but I’ll avoid wasting flour again. I hate throwing out food! It’s not a saving if half of an item gets tossed in the garbage.
I’ll still maintain my Costco membership. Buying some things in bulk won’t stop for me.
So while I am paring down my food stock, I’ll be learning new things too. I love that about the “mature” life. Doing new things, learning along the way, and always thinking about better ways to accomplish things. Which means…
Breaking old habits. Hopefully, they won’t break me or the bank.
I wrote this in response to a prompt over on Medium.com–Best Aspects of Aging