Misty shared her awesome list of things to eat once we are free to roam our island again. We are getting lots of suggestions of things that we have never tried and plan to once we can. As far as lists go, I guess that is why Misty and I get along. We are both list people. I love checking things off my list. Every morning, I redo my PERISHABLES LIST so I have a visual representation of all the perishables I want to use up. It is like an episode of Chopped. I look at what I have and try to figure out what I can make with it.

If I use an ingredient, I place a check next to it. If I use up the ingredient, I cross it off the list. I use Post-Its to plan out and remind me about the different ways I can use up the ingredients that day. It’s a game to me — hoping to check off or cross off as many things as possible. On this particular day, I could only cross off one item. But I did check off a lot of things.

I have a list of dishes in my planner I want to make and when I go to the grocery store, I use that and my perishables list to help guide my purchases. The factor that throws a wrench in my system is that my husband goes to the grocery store and buys things for the household that don’t match my meal planning list. And he doesn’t just buy one. He buys plenty — he has hoarding issues. And he buys things that we really don’t eat. He bought 7 boxes of frozen meals. We don’t eat frozen meals except for an occasional frozen lasagna. We don’t need 5 boxes of frozen lasagna! He bought 10 cans of Chef Boyardee. Although I did enjoy it as a child, we don’t really eat Chef Boyardee these days. Anyway, I make my list so that I am sure not to forget something in the back of the freezer or at the bottom of the fridge drawer. It gives me something to do and makes me feel good that I’m not wasting what we have. How do you manage your perishable ingredients so that you don’t forget to use them? Living Hilo Style.