And finally one blogger's cabinets are bare

By Diana D'Abruzzo

 There was the man who got sucked in by senior discounts on Tuesdays and had recently purchased 24 cans of soup because they were on sale.

There was the woman who was addicted to poultry sales and had filled her two freezers, plus her son's, with legs, thighs and other parts.

And there was me.

We all had enough of our ever-growing supply of food and made the decision in January to stop the madness. We'd just eat what we already had stocked in our kitchens and see how long we could go.

Four months later, my cabinet and freezer are empty - save a bottle of pancake syrup, some Popsicles and a few other items.

And I've concluded that you could look at this experiment in one of two ways: as an incredible success or an eye-popping failure.

The success: I used to spend an average of $110 a week on groceries - despite needing little of what I was buying. Over the course of this experiment, I saved $712. I learned to appreciate what I already had - and give thanks for those three dozen packets of instant oatmeal and endless cans of tuna. And I discovered new ways of preparing food.

The failure: Oh, there's this little thing called a global food crisis that is causing a bit of panic these days. Some stores are limiting the amount of rice you can buy. Investors are predicting the cost of food will only keep rising. One online Wall Street Journal column titled "Load Up the Pantry" begins, "I don't want to alarm anybody, but maybe it's time for Americans to start stockpiling food."

And my cabinet is now as bare as Old Mother Hubbard 's.

So, to be honest, I'm not sure what to make of the whole thing. Was the experiment a success? Some would say it wasn't, as now I'll spend hundreds of dollars to restock.

But I am sure of one thing: The experiment has taught me a lesson in appreciating what you have.

That's one of the reasons why Chesapeake mom Dory Nissen shops the way she does. Nissen contacted me after my experiment began to pass on words of advice. She's something of an expert, as she only goes to the grocery store every two or three months. She'll stock her pantry to the max - spending $450 to $600 - and her family of five will live off what's inside until the cupboard is bare.

"I quickly learned that it taught my family a valuable lesson about eating what is available to us, not what is necessarily desired or convenient," Nissen wrote.

"My kids know that 'odd' meals are a way of life as the pantry gets leaner and leaner, yet I still refuse to go to the commissary."

She is a firm believer that the method is a money-saver, as she - and her children - aren't frivolously buying items they don't need. If they run out of a beloved item, Nissen will point to the other foods that are available.

"There is no reason for a child to expect Pop-Tarts and Juicy Juice and Cheez-Its in the pantry when they come home from school," she wrote.

"My theory is if you're hungry enough after school, open that can of tuna. It's better for you anyway."

A number of readers decided to join me on this mission, and their own experiments produced some interesting results.

Sally Hartman of Norfolk had quite the stash in her pantry - and basement and laundry room, where the cans overflowed. In January, she counted 29 cans of various tomato products, 50-plus cans of vegetables, 35 cans of soup, 27 bottles of sauces, 15 cans of fruit, 10 boxes of pasta, and the list went on. Her freezer offered even more gems.

"We don't even eat a lot of canned goods since we try to eat fresh produce and fruit," she wrote.

But she was determined to chip away at the stash. Her first recipe was Chickpea and Sausage Stew that used up Italian sausage, tomato products, chicken broth, chickpeas and frozen spinach.

In the past four months, she was able to make a good dent. And as a result, her grocery bill went down, to about $50 a week for her and her husband. Her only canned purchase these past few months has been some kidney beans to round out a chili recipe.

"I do find that when I go to the grocery store now I have to resist the urge to buy more barbecue sauce, tomato products and beans," she wrote. "It's just a habit. The worst is when I go to Trader Joe's, where the urge to stock up on intriguing sauces is overpowering. I guess that explains why I had about 15 kinds of Trader Joe's sauces in my pantry."

The experiment did more than make a dent in her kitchen, though. Hartman moved from organizing the pantry to an upstairs closet. "I realized we don't need to buy toothpaste, dental floss, soap, moisturizers, shampoo or other toiletries for a long time." As a quilter, she also is trying to use up her huge stash of fabric rather than constantly buying more material.

Barbara Morrisette started her own food challenge at the beginning of the new year in an effort to save money after spending too much on Christmas gifts.

"In reviewing my budget, this seemed about the only thing that I had control to slash," wrote the Norfolk resident, who knew she couldn't cut back on medicine and gas.

She took an inventory, avoided the grocery store and was able to save enough to pay for most of her Christmas bills.

"I also enjoyed my new ways of creating my meals," Morrisette wrote. "I intend to do it often, maybe every four or five months, as a way to keep my inventory of food fresh."

And then there is Ann Powell. The Norfolk resident found some success emptying her cabinets, using up many of the older canned and packaged goods, getting reacquainted with her cookbooks and saving money in the process, but she is still fighting against two full freezers.

She can't, she says, shake the urge to buy chicken when it's on sale.

"I have managed to clear out a bunch of frozen chicken," she wrote in April, "but you would not believe it got replaced today with the good old Farm Fresh special: chicken legs at 39 cents a pound. Yep, another 10-pound bag got in the house."

She's not giving up, though. "I will get to the bottom of the chest freezer and see the back of the refrigerator freezer shelves." Her goal: By June.

When the cupboards dwindled, the meals became more interesting.

I had some wonderful surprises (couscous mixed with corn and peas - who would have thought?) and some disasters (a low-on-ingredients tuna noodle casserole).

Linda Chilton of Chesapeake found a jar of chipped beef left over from the holidays, so she served it up on toast for the family one night. The kids weren't too happy.

Hartman's oddest discovery: three tins of octopus her husband, Ron, brought back from Cuba. She ended up making an octopus salad for a Peace Corps potluck -using up the octopus plus a jar of capers, olives and roasted bell peppers.

"This was my most creative use of pantry products," she wrote.

Still up: Two bottles of raspberry sauce that the label says is "for meat." "I need to work on that," she wrote.

So what now? Well, I plan on slowly filling up my kitchen, with the goal of never buying "repeat" goods. If I haven't used up that brown-sugar oatmeal, I will not buy the banana bread kind. Oatmeal is oatmeal. I hope to keep my grocery bills lower than that old $110 a week, simply by avoiding items I just don't need.

In thinking back on this experiment, trying to assess how it went, reading the stories from others who have been making similar efforts, I have made a decision. That economic stimulus check that comes my way? Every penny will be donated to the Foodbank of Southeastern Virginia.

After a personal inventory, I now know what I have. And it's more than enough.

Diana D'Abruzzo

diana.d'abruzzo@pilotonline.com