Pantry/Freezer Clean-Out Month!

I hereby declare December to be "Bianca Cleans Out Her Pantry and Freezer" Month. I have so much plant meat in my freezer and a ton of dry beans, grains, and other goodies in my pantry. Yet every couple weeks, I make a grocery list filled with all sorts of other foods that I "need" to get through the week. Honestly, I could live out of my pantry for several months without ever hitting up a store. But I can't seem to stop buying more stuff to cram in there.

It's time for a clean-out. So this month, I'll be making simple meals using the foods I already have with the addition of fresh veggies, fruits, and a couple perishables like tofu and almond milk. It'll be nice to clear some of the plant meats out before I launch my usual 28-day January cleanse, which is mostly raw and unprocessed.

To launch pantry/freezer clean-out month, I organized my pantry, fridge, and freezer this weekend. You wouldn't believe all the old expired crap I found in that pantry! Anyway, I threw a bunch of stuff out and organized the shelves.

Disclaimer: Any non-vegan items you see belong to my boyfriend Paul.

Anyway, to kick off the week, I made veggie dogs two ways. I had several packs of Lightlife Smart Dogs in the freezer that I got on manager's special sale at Kroger months ago. I thawed them out and added spicy kraut (leftover from a meal pre-Thanksgiving) and Slawsa (a mustard relish-slaw blend that's been hanging out in my fridge).

And then today, I used those same veggie dogs and some frozen chili that has been lurking in my freezer for nearly a year to make chili dogs! I added some canned jalapeno corn and some leftover vegan queso.

Stay tuned throughout the month for more pantry creations. Some will be junky comfort foods like these, but since my pantry is filled with grains and beans, I'll have some healthy stuff in here too.