It basically started one day when I got completely fed up with having no room in my pantry, spending too much on groceries, and still constantly complaining we had no food.

So I went through the pantry. I combined partial boxes or pasta, and generally tidied everything up. Then I grabbed a notepad, and I made a list of everything I already had. I jotted down all the boxes of spaghetti that I kept rebuying because, standing in a grocery aisle, I wondered if I had spaghetti. All the little sauce packets and vegetable cans and cans of beans.

I was shocked! I actually had a ton of space in my pantry. This was after weeks and weeks of cramming things into little nooks and crannies. Only in America, where we have become so accustomed to a life of plenty, could we have a pantry full of food and declare ourselves foodless. Seriously!

Then I went to the freezer. I reorganized there, and realized I had several packages of meat I had frozen when I’d realized the expiration date was approaching and I wouldn’t have time to prepare them.

Essentially, this left me only needing to buy fresh items such as dairy and produce. Let me tell you, that slashes the crap out of your grocery shopping bill. It also lets you put some extra emphasis on the fresh ingredients. It was easier to afford organic, for example, or to get cheeses at my local farmer’s market.

I made some unique side dishes and grains that I had overlooked for months simply because I was afraid my family would reject them. I even discovered dishes that all five people in the family loved that I had never even tried before.

I was actually able to live off the staples and stash in my pantry for several weeks of shopping. I got lax about it the past several weeks, and already I have the same situation… a pantry packed with food, and yet I am spending way too much on groceries. I will revive my reverse grocery shopping list.

Here are some tips for doing your own grocery shopping list:

• First, clean out all of your food storage areas. Look for items that are past their expiration or best by dates (yes, cans do expire!). Consolidate items that are similar, such as pasta with the same cook times.
• Make a list of all meats and side dishes you have. Include notes about what you might need to turn each item into a meal (maybe it’s just ingredients for as sauce for a pasta, or a marinade for a meat).
• Look for recipes that include these items if you have time, and take those with you. You honestly don’t have to make a to-buy list, though. If you’re standing in the produce section, for example, and your list has rice and beef you can buy some fresh broccoli to accompany it.
• Watch your stockpile of unused food whittle away in your pantry.

Photo of pantry, © Gary Scott.

Here is a blurb:

I am all about the speed dinner. In fact, I will be so bold as to declare myself the Queen of the Speed Dinner. When I was working full-time plus blogging plus freelance writing, I would arrive home after work with three screaming, whining kids (including baby twins) almost daily. I could — and had to — slap togethher a healthy, enjoyable dinner for the kids in a matter of seconds.

Read the rest at the Martha Stewart Dinner Tonight blog.

And this whole guest blog thing is something they are just experimenting over there. Let’s be sure to show them how beneficial partnerships with bloggers can be. Please be sure to Digg and Stumble the post (the version at Martha Stewart, not here). Thanks!

In the chaos that is my house, I also find it soothing to go outside to check on my veggies and water them. Some gardening tasks I don’t like. They actually seem to me to be hard labor with dirt and bugs, to be frank. Would it be wrong to hire someone to dig up my grass for a garden plot? Hmm…

But I digress. The idea had been in the back of my head, but then I went to a local used book store, Downtown Books and News, and flipped through the cookbook section. I happened on Fresh in Winter, and that basically sparked the idea that I should plant, in fact must plant, a fall and winter garden.

So I started with some pumpkin seeds I actually bought in the spring. Those have been growing like crazy in front of my house. Here’s how they look:

I also purchased a whole bunch of seeds from Park Seeds. Here is my little basket full of seeds and my new winter cookbook:

I am not feeling in the mood to undertake a whole project of digging up a new garden plot. I do have a book with really cool directions on a low-effort method to have a plot next year by laying down cardboard to cover the grass, piling up organic materials on top, piling on compost all fall and winter, and then ta-da: garden plot next spring. That sounds more like my kind of effort level.

For now, I am going to clear some of the flowers from my bed, put in something for the climbers like the peas, and plant in front of my house. I also have three big aluminum containers with holes drilled in the bottom that I plan to use for the lettuce, broccoli, cauliflower and cabbage.

Here are the seeds I have. I may not get room to plant them all, but I hope I get close. The root vegetables concern me the most, since I know they need some room down deep and around the roots to grow. I thought there wouldn’t be much that was enticing to choose from, but then I happened on this great Cool Weather Vegetables section at Park SeedCool Weather Vegetables. And the entire order cost something like $20 plus shipping:

• Leeks
• Celery
• A master chef lettuce blend
• Blondie (white) peas
• Touchstone gold beets
• Radishes
• Very cool-looking orange cheddar cauliflowers
• Small miracle hybrid broccoli
• White satin carrots
• Tumbling cherry tomatoes in yellow and red (which I plan to try inside in a hanging basket with a light)

I can’t wait to see how they do as I get into fall and winter (and I need to get to planting ASAP with some of these!). There are some really amazing-sounding recipes in my cookbook, like Allspice Cabbage, Chicken and Butter Leek Soup, and Thyme Buttered Baby Roots.

In my kitchen, I have gadgets for making yogurt, juice, pasta, even sausage. I have a bread maker missing just one piece. Besides that, I have the knowledge (or the ability to Google and find out) to make any number of things from scratch. I have plenty of land to grow my own stuff, and I live in Asheville, NC where it is super easy to find cool locally grown produce.

Yet, my gadgets and cookbooks are gathering dust. I still hit the Super-Walmart so I can super consume. I spend $200-plus at least once a week on groceries. And I do still, sometimes (although definitely less and less often as I am at home more), give my children processed, packaged crap. OK, I said it. I may be a foodie mom, but I am a real mom. I am buying things in extra packaging for extra money and being totally non-green when I could just make and store things at home. Criticize away, if you must.

I blame life and having lots of work and having three kids and all of that. But when my twins were babies, I was working full-time and making homemade baby food and pumping milk for them to have at daycare. It wasn’t easy, and I was pretty much psychotically exhausted. But it should be even easier now, much easier. So I clearly CAN do it.

So I’ve decided I will create this public Sustainable Kitchen Project as a way to motivate myself, to keep myself honest, to connect with other moms who want a more self-sustaining kitchen, and to track my progress. I’ve already started in a few ways, and I’ll post about these very soon. For example, we are starting an organic vegetable garden. Here is a lettuce seedling I’ve started:

And I made orange juice this week:

Here are just some of the things I want to do as part of my Sustainable Kitchen Project. Hey, are there some I am not thinking to list? Let me know…

• Grow herbs, vegetables and fruit
• Make juices, teas and sodas
• Make yogurt
• Make pasta
• Bake breads
• Start a compost
• Buy more local produce and products
• Learn to preserve items when they are local and fresh with freezing, canning, etc.
• Make jams and other condiments
• Make butter
• Make beer and wine
• Make cheese (can that be done at home? that would be coool!)

I know I’m forgetting some. I’ll also keep track of the grocery bill, and any other side effects and impacts of the project.

Wish me luck with my self-sustaining kitchen!

Read the rest of my post at Kids Cuisine