Yeah, that makes sense. I think I've accomplished the same thing with my staples routine, then. I make pasta for dinner every night, cook on of my three staple meat substitutes, put it on the pasta with seasoning and cheese, and cook whatever vegetable looks good in the fridge on the side. TJs Italian sausage with herbs and parm, Field Roast Apple-Sage with TJs 21 seasoning salute and parm, or a jar of red sauce with TJs ground beef. Now and then I'll do sauteed shallots/savory/marjoram with feta over pasta, or goat cheese/lemon/black pepper/sauteed arugula if I've had a higher protein rest of the day or am having some fish (and I use Barilla+, which has more protein but tastes like normal pasta). I had no idea how standardized my meals here are until I thought about this planning you're talking about. I think I basically buy the same groceries every time, so I don't have to think about it, just have to make a note if I'm running out of something like mayo or lemon curd that is more occasional. I've got dinner 'cooking' down to about... ten minutes, not counting the time when veggies are roasting or pasta is boiling, and I'm not actively stirring and stuff. Chopping up a fennel or some carrots, or tossing some lettuce with oil and vinegar, while the pasta cooks, and a sausage fries up, doesn't take long, though of course I'm only chopping up enough veggies for one.
My fridge is basically like a chest of drawers inside using these clear rectangular organizing bins that are the perfect size for things.
Bottom shelf: I've got four that are the width of a normal jar, one for pickles and sour things (the big jars go in the door), three for jams and sweet things, so when I want something I slide out the bin a bit and retrieve the jar I want, even if it was all the way at the back of the fridge. Like a card catalog, but for jars? Then a large bin that takes up the rest of the space, for cheese.
Middle shelf: Large bin for meats. The rest of shelf is free-form, like egg cartons (I usually buy three dozen at a time, which stack perfectly in the space) and leftovers from takeout and stuff.
Top shelf: Large bin for breads (I generally keep on hand brown sandwich bread, nutty/seedy sandwich bread, english muffins and a fancy loaf from my local bakery, and maybe challah or something special like that). Medium for stuff like onions, shallots, lemons, herbs, garlic, apples and other snack fruit. Behind this bin is a cold spot that freezes anything that hangs out there, so that's where the maple syrup and next-milk live. A large for veg (which often overflows in the free space in the middle of the middle shelf, now that I'm buying like 3-4 weeks of food at a time. I've found that fennel, carrots, beets all keep really well for that period of time, so I go through my baby lettuces, arugula, spinach and other more delicates before moving on to broccoli, zucchini, and then to the sturdiest stuff, though I have had butter lettuce and arugula make it two weeks no problem).
If there's ever a spill in the fridge, it gets contained to one or two bins, which I can slide out, empty, clean, and clean whatever was in them before putting back. Often one random bin gets weirdly gunky, and instead of it being a big deal to clean the fridge, it's compartmentalized or subdivided and thus much easier to tackle. Also, liquid spills get contained, instead of going everywhere.
A picture is a worth a thousand words etc. and I can dm one to ya on twitter if you want.
[Took some clicking to figure out what graft on, stem, and uproot meant, whew. Hopefully I'm not just making a new comment but replying to yours.]
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
My fridge is basically like a chest of drawers inside using these clear rectangular organizing bins that are the perfect size for things.
Bottom shelf: I've got four that are the width of a normal jar, one for pickles and sour things (the big jars go in the door), three for jams and sweet things, so when I want something I slide out the bin a bit and retrieve the jar I want, even if it was all the way at the back of the fridge. Like a card catalog, but for jars? Then a large bin that takes up the rest of the space, for cheese.
Middle shelf: Large bin for meats. The rest of shelf is free-form, like egg cartons (I usually buy three dozen at a time, which stack perfectly in the space) and leftovers from takeout and stuff.
Top shelf: Large bin for breads (I generally keep on hand brown sandwich bread, nutty/seedy sandwich bread, english muffins and a fancy loaf from my local bakery, and maybe challah or something special like that). Medium for stuff like onions, shallots, lemons, herbs, garlic, apples and other snack fruit. Behind this bin is a cold spot that freezes anything that hangs out there, so that's where the maple syrup and next-milk live. A large for veg (which often overflows in the free space in the middle of the middle shelf, now that I'm buying like 3-4 weeks of food at a time. I've found that fennel, carrots, beets all keep really well for that period of time, so I go through my baby lettuces, arugula, spinach and other more delicates before moving on to broccoli, zucchini, and then to the sturdiest stuff, though I have had butter lettuce and arugula make it two weeks no problem).
If there's ever a spill in the fridge, it gets contained to one or two bins, which I can slide out, empty, clean, and clean whatever was in them before putting back. Often one random bin gets weirdly gunky, and instead of it being a big deal to clean the fridge, it's compartmentalized or subdivided and thus much easier to tackle. Also, liquid spills get contained, instead of going everywhere.
A picture is a worth a thousand words etc. and I can dm one to ya on twitter if you want.
[Took some clicking to figure out what graft on, stem, and uproot meant, whew. Hopefully I'm not just making a new comment but replying to yours.]