What's in your refrigerator?

Wednesday is usually clean the fridge day.   Life in the kitchen is a lot easier if you have zones in your refrigerator.   If  categories of food are placed in the same zone, it is easier to tell if you have enough if a particular product , or even where it is.  

Top shelf - condiments. That is where you will find the pickles. Jelly, mayonaise, etc.
next shelf. bread those products and eggs .    Tortillas. Baguettes. Eggs
Next : dairy.   Leftovers,  yogurt, sour cream cottage cheese
Bottom shelf.   Cheese in lock n locks, fruit in green boxes.

Drawers.  Meat, vegetables, cheese.
Door. Milk, small bottles of condiments, syrups etc.

On cleaning day, wash any spills.
I go threw the fridge top to bottom.   This week, I baked another dozen eggs.  I had a surplus because of Easter specials.  
Next stop, check expiration dates on dairy.  What needs to be used up soon.   Can you incorporate leftovers into lunch!
Fill the cheese boxes if,needed from cheese in the freezer.    Check the fruit and veggie for freshness.

Meat drawer.  Check dates.   Use up oldest first.  
Vegetable drawer, change the paper towel in the bottom of the drawer. Check freshness and not what needs to be used  soon.
Cheese drawer.  Check stock . Grate cheese if needed.  

Post what you have and star  anything that needs to be used up soon to meal plan work sheet.

This only takes a few minutes, but saves a lot of time and money,    You know what you need and what you have before you shop so you aren't duplicating anything.   You also use up what you have before it is food for the garbage disposal.  

No food can do you any good if you are feeding it to the garbage disposal.  

Groceries on the cheap is looking at the Put Dinner On The Table meal train from a different

 pro spective.  The emphasis is on purchasing good food( shelf- stable/ freezer staples )at the lowest possible cost and purchasing enough to last you until it goes on sale again -- Keeping a controlled non-perishable stock of the things you use on a regular basis. It means that when you shop, rather than purchasing just what you need for a day or a week, you  buy a loss leader protein, produce you will need on sale, a stock item if it's a RBP, and dairy instead.    This allows you to put well balanced meals on the table consistently  for a four dollar a day budget per person.   You spend more time on the planning and shopping end of the meal train and less on the cooking end by cooking efficiently.    

Four dollars a day is the target amount for people on snap.   My premise is that of you can do it on four dollars a day, spending more isn't hard.   You still get more bang for your buck.