Where do we put the pork and beans

Downsizement

We live in one of the four Cohousing cottages here at Oakcreek Cohousing Community. All homes side-by-side in a neat little row. They range from about 1k square feet to about 1500 square feet. Each with a front patio with its own design and painted color. Across the middle walk way is four more of the same facing our row of houses. So these eight cottages are designated as ‘Pod-3.’ There are two more pods. Pods one and two. Makes sense huh?
So all pods are set on seven-acres of grass, a larger Common House, garages and car ports, several outbuildings, wooded areas, and a creek running through it.
Now inside sits a puzzlement. We have a refrigerator, a dishwasher, and a washer/dryer combo. All about one third smaller than a typical home large appliance. Thus downsized. So here is where confusion comes in. We still buy and prepare full-size meals. Meals enough for our two daughter’s and their families. But they live far away. But anyway our fridge and pantry is crammed with full-size food goods. Sometimes hard to open or close the little slide-out pantry. Thus we still eat full size meals and wash full size amounts of dish washings. So what have we not learned here? How do we learn how to downsize? What are we doing wrong? Would the local University have beginner courses in downsizing? Maybe we could send a letter to Dear Abby for advisement.