Why is it that my cupboards are full and yet I can’t find anything to make for dinner? It’s the same reason my closet is full but I can’t find anything to wear. I buy things for the wrong reason and then hang on to them ’til death do us part.
Yesterday I got tired of juggling cans while looking to see if there’s any tuna so I took every single item out and only put back what I knew I would use. It was about half of what had been in there originally. I threw out things with long past expiration dates. That was two Trader Joe’s bags full. Another bag full went to my friend Laurie. (I do the same thing with clothes and my friend Caroline. Swapping is a wonderful thing.)
One of the things I “always buy when it’s on sale” is Duncan Hines cake mix and complementing flavors of Jello Instant Pudding. I used to make a lot of cakes, but now I don’t so why do I keep buying mix and pudding? I found four – count ‘em, four – boxes of lemon pudding and only one box of lemon cake mix. Three packages of cornbread mix had gotten pushed to the back, so I bought some more. Now I have A LOT! (I only buy cornbread mix made in Southern states – it’s a G.R.I.T.S. thing.)
There are a lot of sobering statistics on wasted food. A study at the University of Arizona found that about 14% of our household food purchases go to waste. Other studies claim that in this country we throw out almost 100 billion pounds of food each year, but that includes restaurants and grocery stores. Whatever – these days I can’t afford to waste ANYTHING!
Earlier I was bragging about the bargains I found at the $ store. Well, here’s what happened to them: we never ate the raspberries and they went down the disposal, most of the bananas spoiled before I could finish them, and I didn’t eat all the watermelon either. I got caught up in the thrill of the find and bought stuff just because it was cheap. I should have served those raspberries that very evening and shared the bananas with my neighbor. I actually ate most of the watermelon, so we won’t count that. Every time I had a craving for something sweet, I grabbed a slice from the ‘fridge instead of a cookie and ate it standing over the sink. Only a couple of slivers went to waste. I also tossed out a large container of lettuce because we were never “in the mood” for a salad. (Moral to that story: don’t ask your family what they want for dinner, just make it and serve it.)
Years ago I knew a young woman who planned her meals for a week and only bought what she was going to serve. By the end of the week, her refrigerator was virtually empty except for maybe some catsup and mayonnaise. I’ve never been able to do that. I wonder if it’s too late to learn …
