When Graham the cakemaker came into the kitchen to cook this year, the cupboard was still plentiful - but there had definitely been a spring cleaning.
Graham can still cook a decent cake.
In fact, it will probably be better than most of that foreign muck which turns up on the kitchen table early in winter.
But the ingredients Graham likes to use for his cake have undergone a big change.
Some of them have gone off to a foreign kitchen, far away from the home oven.
Others have simply fallen by the wayside or got crook, while the odd one has simply gone stale and been thrown away.
Graham has always had the core ingredients of a good cake.
He has always had the flour, the butter and the sugar to put on a good spread.
But this year that butter and sugar also started to go off.
Graham was forced to go deeper into the cupboard to find the ingredients.
It may be a somewhat silly comparison to compare baking a cake with assembling a competitive All Black team but coach Graham Henry is having to delve right down into the playing cupboard to come up with a tasty morsel.
Henry can only put out a side from what is on offer.
Of the 37 All Blacks who took the field in 2007, no fewer than 24 are unavailable for Saturday's match.
Of the starting All Black XV which will take the field at Carisbrook against the French on Saturday, possibly only three of them would have played at the World Cup quarterfinal 20 months ago.
That is a massive core of experience lost to the side.
Some retired, others are injured, but many headed overseas - like Nick Evans, Carl Hayman and Byron Kelleher.
Luckily some are coming back: Luke McAlister is wearing black already while Chris Jack is coming home, to the Crusaders, anyway.
There is no doubt some of the new players Henry has picked would be better than those that have left.
But more importantly Henry's key men from last year - Dan Carter, Richie McCaw, Ali Williams and Rodney So'oialo - are down.
Look at any key moment at an All Black test last year and they were there.
They were the sugar and spice which made things nice.
Henry is now having to look at other men - such as Stephen Donald, Jimmy Cowan and Liam Messam - to make the key plays.
If they do, and there is only one way to find out, then Henry would have cooked up another layer of leaders in his side.
But the proof of that will be very much in the eating.
On Saturday night we will see if Henry is on the way to cooking up a chocolate treat or some stale shortbread.
