I know. I know.  You’re tired of spring cleaning already.  Your hands are chapped from cleaning solution and your back hurts from moving stuff.

This bit of cleaning won’t hurt your hands or your back.  Once again, it’s time to look in your cabinets and pantry and freezer and eat the food you have stored there.  If you aren’t going to eat it, donate it to a local food bank (In growing need of resources in these tough economic times). 

It’s good to periodically rotate any food you have stored to keep things fresh.  And, with the summer growing season on the horizon, you’ll want room to store anything you might preserve or to freeze vegetables and fruit at their peak.  For example, you can freeze fresh strawberries at their peak of flavor (and at their lowest price).  While they won’t have quite the texture of a fresh berry, they’ll have all the nutrition and will add wonderful freshness to smoothies or to fruit bread.  You can also puree them with a little liqueur to make a lovely sauce to top ice cream or cake.  But I digress.

Take a look in your pantry and freezer and see what you have stored. If you know you won’t use it, put it in a box for donation.  Otherwise, use the list of stored food as the basis for planning menus for the next few weeks.  Try to use at least one or two stored items at every meal.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the sort of food that should replace what’s stored.