The Cluttered Pantry

I’m still getting my feet wet with promoting The Cluttered Pantry using Twitter, Face Book, participating in the FoodBuzz community, and sending out emails and notes to everyone I can think of who might be interested in the content of our site.

It’s going well, we continue to have nice growth in our regular reading audience, and I’m learning what kinds of posts are more popular and that writing about recipes that include peanuts makes some people lose their minds.

This process of writing for this blog has given me the head-space to really focus on the food we eat, how we prepare it, where it comes from, even what tools we use to cook with.

The past year was about getting calories into the girls and trying to be as organic as our pocketbooks and circumstances would allow.  Anything to undo and remediate the effects of the girls having spent the first two or three years of their lives eating food that had little or no nutritional value and that was produced and served in a manner that made the consumption of food a lower level function and not an experience to be relished and nurtured by.

The girls and I have planted and harvested from our own vegetable and herb garden, we walk to our local produce shop and, when we can, we go to the farmer’s market days here in Hyde Park. We bake together, and try new foods. Our Refrigerator and pantry are stocked with home made, and locally grown items that we pick with a level of awareness and intent that I never had before we came home from Siberia.  It’s been an ongoing search process to find sources and resources that match our desires to have the girls grow up with a totally different relationship with food and as healthy and happy as they can be.

One of the most interesting side effects of participating in the wave of social networking tools is the ability to find out about services and products and get instant feedback from people who can recommend those services or will tell you why you should stay away…in 140 characters or less.

My iPhone is now packed with links to foodies, sites and services that I would never have come across without twitter and other content aggregators, who make it so easy to search for topics that interest me.

Last week I came across a post on Twitter by Dana Joy Altman of Real Food Rehab.  I had been reading a few of her posts recently on HuffingtonPost.com – there is a great one on creating an authentic kitchen that matches my style of using things like the Juice -O-Mat and other kitchen items that are meaningful to me, instead of hitting big box stores for the next shiny item.  So when I saw her twitter post about a new service she is offering for a short time it made me take notice. She is offering Pantry and Fridge makeovers. Makeovers to help people transition from using so many processed foods to real foods.

Dana writes, “There is a Real Food Revolution happening in this country and my mission at Real Food Rehab is to help make it available to everyone, not just the self-styled foodies of the world.  What I see out there are thousands of people who want desperately to eat better but don’t know where to begin. I understand it can be intimidating to learn how to use fresh, seasonal produce, learn cooking basics or even throw together a healthy meal without falling back on processed and pre-packaged foods. It doesn’t help that we’re inundated with information that creates so much fear around food; irrational fears about fat and carbs, food safety concerns such as e. coli, not to mention the fear that can arise when we try to make significant change in our lives.”

The service includes up to eight hours of one-on-one time (she says that it’s usually split into two or more segments based on the client’s schedule) with Dana. You pay for the groceries and containers, but with her help I’m betting the end result will be a Pantry you can really cook and live from.  You also get a resource guide with recipes for your new pantry as well as a listing of markets, etc.

I don’t know Dana personally, but you can tell a lot about a person from their writing style and the topics that are important enough to them to write about. From that I can say that her approach is real, friendly and informed.   In her email to me she made a point of saying that her approach is pleasure and satisfaction based. “I am not a drill sergeant.” For me it’s her description of quality, not just ingredients but experiences in the kitchen.

The great news is that she has reduced the price of her service to make it more accessible.  Dana will only be offering her service until November, so if you are ready to get a fresh start, don’t wait until New Year’s for resolutions that you’ll break.  Give Dana a chance to explain her service and see if it’s a good fit for you and your pantry.

To schedule an appointment and inquire about fees, please call: 773-342-1927 or  email: info@realfoodrehab.com.

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