Got your paper and pencil from yesterday? Good. First stop is the freezer.
Step 4: look in your freezer (look in your extra freezer too if you’ve got one) and see what meat you have on hand. Make note of what you’ve got and the quantity. While you’re there, make note of what else is lurking in there that can be incorporated into a main or side dish. For instance, I freeze shredded cheese so I noted how many bags of mozzarella and cheddar we’ve got. I counted the bags of frozen veggies as well as the easy to throw together things like fish sticks (yuck but my kids love ‘em) or frozen pizza. Be sure to shut the door tight when you’re done!

Step 5: Open up your pantry and take a look. Jot down how many cans or boxes of whatever you see. I indicated quantity by using hash marks. Do whatever makes you happy. Now go look in your cupboards. Indicate quantity the same way. I also made note of things like Jello and pudding. I tend to buy boxes of it and then forget we’ve got it. The kids think its a wildly special day when I serve pudding or Jello after dinner.

Whew, that’s a lot of counting! Tomorrow we’ll start pulling all this together into full meals.