Why cleaning out the fridge/freezer is important- True story!

I am annoyed with myself- for oh so many reasons today!

I have been putting off cleaning the fridge for a few weeks, mainly because there has been hardly any food in there. I was away for a few days last week/ I have been working so much and I can eat while at work, I just haven't kept a lot of food in the fridge.

Honestly there were maybe 5 types of beverages, a ton of condiments, some eggs, bread, onions and potatoes in there.

Now, I don't know about you, but I keep my onions and potatoes in the pull out bins in the bottom of the fridge. (oh the horror- I know better than to do that, but it keeps them from going bad quite as quickly)

I went to grab a potato earlier- the ones on top were soft so I threw them out, then I spotted them. My delicious sweet potatoes that I had forgotten all about- black, moldy and smushed! I knew there was a weird smell in there- hence me cleaning it out.

I am so annoyed at myself $5 bag of delicious/healthy sweet potatoes wasted! UGH!

Needless to say everything in that drawer was thrown away- probably $10 worth of potatoes :(

Luckily that was all that needed to be thrown away in the fridge. Now onto the freezer....


I ended up throwing away some frosted over bagels, and waffles- that had never been opened- but were expired. Another $5 worth of items! I'll say it again UGH!

Then what did I find? A bag of Mexican shredded cheese- the exact same kind I bought last night at the grocery store because I had none! And on a side note I paid $3.59 for the bag last night- yeah you read that right, the coupon chick paid that much for cheese! I know for a fact that the exact same brand/size/type of cheese that was in the freezer cost me $1.25!

So here is the point of this whole post- Know what you have on hand and use it!

I am officially on a very limited grocery shopping list for the month of August. I will let you know what I end up making each week- with the stuff out of the freezer and cabinets. I have a ton of frozen veggies and meat. So beyond milk and some fresh fruits there will be no real shopping for me.

This will be good because I will save a lot of money over the next month, and I will be using up stuff so I do not end up having to throw things away because they are expired.


PS- how cute is that fridge?