My wife and I moved this past weekend. And again Monday night, when we finally finished cleaning out the old place.
The last item of business was cleaning out the fridge at our old house. In a 10 p.m. frenzy of food waste, we ended up throwing away an embarrassing amount. Here are the highlights lowlights:
1. Condiments really pile up. We had a whole fridge door full of sauces and toppings, including some examples of “one-use waste.” Mint sauce (to go with lamb) comes to mind.
We had a container of yellow mustard with a sell-by date of October 2004. And then there was the Filipino banana sauce that I couldn’t quite bring myself to throw out after the pantry purge. That jar finally saw its demise.
2. I tend to acquire food that I often don’t want or need. We still had that virtually full 2004 mustard because we inherited a big squeeze bottle of French’s after an in-the-park cook out.
I can’t recall how we got a jar of Guinness mustard, but I know that I didn’t buy it. And that it wasn’t that good.
3. Most of us Delay Waste. “Waste delaying” can take the form of saving leftovers you know you won’t eat or leaving bad food in the fridge.
Many friends tell me that they avoid tossing food for a few days, just like the mother in the Today Show piece. Who doesn’t?
This classic guilt avoidance tactic was the reason I hadn’t thrown away that freezerburnt iceberg of orange sherbet. I felt bad that I’d let it get that way and avoided the dirty work of dumping it down the drain.
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We all waste food. That’s because at times, food waste is unavoidable. If you’re at a gathering and the host is throwing away mint sauce, you have two choices: let them toss it or bring the jar home to keep for two years before pitching it. I suppose you could also prepare lamb and serve it with that…but I don’t even like lamb.
The important thing is to try to minimize waste without becoming a fanatic (easier said than done).
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