If you're like me, your cabinets are full of things you bought because they were on sale or because you needed a specific ingredient to complete a recipe or you were going to make X (and then never did).  Or, also like me, you live in pathological fear that you might run out of something you use regularly. (Yes, I have this fear despite that fact that there are 4 large, full service supermarkets and a big box store within a mile of my house, 3 within 4 blocks.) 

That means it's once again clean the cabinets time!  Try to build at least one meal a day using ingredients already in your cabinets or freezer.  This Saturday or Sunday, break out that muffin mix you bought on sale and and whip them up for breakfast.  Nuke the canned soup in the microwave at work rather than going out to lunch.  Plan dinners around the chicken breasts quietly languishing in the corner of your freezer.  If something has gone bad, accept the inevitable and let it go.  The freezer is not a miracle machine.  Freezing spoiled fruit or meat past its prime doesn't make it good again.  It just takes up space.

If you think this will be hard, select a section of the freezer, a shelf in the fridge, a cabinet, or a section of countertop and put everything you want to use there.  If you have kids, make it a game.  Who can remember to have a granola for after school snack?  Or to drink that apple juice that's beein in the pantry?  Seeing yourself make progress in clearing out a cabinet will make you feel good.

Let's face it.  The economy is tough right now.  You can't read a newspaper, surf the web, or watch TV and NOT know that.  Waste is the enemy.  We need to make our best use of the resources we have. Please give it a try.