The glass is half full

Barbara Kingsolver’s book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, tells about her family’s year of eating local. A huge part of their plan was to eat stuff from their own garden. They canned, froze, dehydrated and otherwise preserved everything they possibly could. At the end of their “experiment” they were asked if they’d felt deprived not having certain things. Although they missed fresh veggies during the winter, they said something that really got me thinking. She said they didn’t think about what was missing, they focused on what they had on hand.

That seems like a small thing but I tried a little change-of-perspective experiment last night. I’d been thinking about the dinner options for this week and wondering how little I could get by with buying. I got out a pen and pad and did an inventory of what I have on hand. Holy Cow! I’ve got a food pantry in my kitchen! Granted, some of the stuff is a little odd but suddenly there were some new options available I didn’t know I had.

A large jar of off-brand peanut butter nobody likes – Wahoo! Cookies!
Condensed milk and evaporated milk – Fudge!
Pineapple – sweet & sour chicken? Cake? Don’t know yet.
Diced green chilies – Italian chicken soup!
Flake coconut – when did I buy THAT???
Tuaca liqueur – as soon as I figure out what to do with it I hope I’ll be pleased I didn’t dump it down the drain.
Orzo (odd, tiny pasta) – hmmmm, soup? Hey, maybe with the chilies!
And lots of other odd ball items.

I’m not planning to make all that at once but now I know what’s on hand. It opens a whole bunch of possibilities I didn’t know I had. It also refreshed my memory so I won’t waste money buying another can of milk if I do decide to make fudge.

The point is, doing an inventory gave me some new options. I refuse to sit around whining about what I don’t have. I’m going to focus on what I do have and see if I can be creative with it. See? The cupboard isn’t half empty, it’s half full!