Paring Down the Kitchen

Breakfast was homemade biscuits and sausage gravy, all from scratch. An inexpensive yet filling meal, one of the few that my daughter actually likes in this picky stage she is in....

My tub of flour is going down steadily. Part of me wants to use it all up then buy another large bag of flour, but I have been working on this last large bag for over a year, so do I really need quite that much? Can I perhaps pare down how much flour I buy? I must admit that of all my kitchen staples, flour gets used the most, for I bake homemade bread and dinner rolls, so I am torn. Perhaps I should at least move the flour to a smaller container until I decide?

Instead of lemonade, I have made another small dent in the giant tub of sugar by making some kool-aid instead. Another package of kool-aid bites the dust. I probably have over fifty packages of the stuff in my pantry. All for myself and one ten-year-old little girl.

I buy new things to try, and the old stuff stays stashed. If I like something, it gets purchased in bulk whenever there is a sale, without thought of how long it will take us to use it. On the occasions where I manage to resist the urge to stock up prices have skyrocketed, which acts as an encouragement to continue stocking up, but this chaos is driving me insane. I will corral this chaos however. One step at a time.

Within my cabinets I have a small deep fryer and an automatic can opener. Housewarming gifts from friends that simply do not get used. Today I plan to take those items out of my cabinets and place them in my storage building outside until I figure out what to do with them. I live near Paducah KY - does anyone have any ideas?

Also I will go through that bucket of knives and place some of the extras in storage. I don't know if I can part with them yet, but getting them out of sight may help with the emotion part of it.

I know - I'm getting emotional over knives I never use. Dumb, huh? Not so much the knives - but the thought of needing them someday and not having them. The feeling will pass.

I hope.

Does anyone have some simple fried rice recipes to share? Or any rice recipes at all that a kid would like? I've thought about broccoli casserole to use up some of the rice and some broccoli I have stuffed in my freezer, but have yet to locate a tasty sounding recipe. Thanks!