Last night Nat and I decided we needed to clean out our refrigerator. I've figured out that we're the most wasteful, horrible people when it comes to food. We'll go to the grocery store and buy all this crap. And then we either forget to make it, or are too lazy to make it. So we'll either just toss it out or put it in the freezer.
Let's just say that we get lazy a lot. We'll have meat in the fridge and I'll ask Nat, "so are we going to have that roast you bought?" And she'll be like, "eh...I don't feel like cooking. Wanna barbeque it instead?" And my response is usually, "yeah...or we could just get Taco Bell?" Taco Bell almost always wins out.
So into the freezer the roast goes. Along with the ten pounds of hamburger we didn't cook. The multitude of tri-tip roasts. The steaks, the chicken, the pork chops. It's all in the freezer, totally forgotten. And yet we just keep buying more stuff, and shoving more shit in there.
The day before, we went to the store and bought ice cream and frozen pizzas and some french fries. We opened the freezer up and there was literally no place to put these items. The freezer was so full it was completely dark in there. The little light was blocked out like a total eclipse. It was like a pork chop eclipse of the freezer.
Something had to be done. For the moment, we creatively shoved our items anyplace we could find. And we did throw out a few things just to make room. But there was a lot more work to be done there, so we did that last night.
I am ashamed at how much food we wasted. And I realize that frozen stuff stays good a long time because it's frozen. But most of this meat was totally freezer burnt. And some of the TV dinners were like blocks of ice with frost all over them. A bag of hash browns we found buried in there could be registered as a lethal weapon because it was just a solid mass of frozen potatoes.
We tossed it all out. The only thing that remained was the hamburger meat we'd just put in there the other day. Some frozen burritos, some ice cream, three bags of fries (we didn't know we had the other two bags!) pizza and one chicken pot pie.
It's like an entirely new world in there! There's light! And space! It's amazing. And we decided we'd better go ahead and clean out the fridge part too while we were at it. This was not as bad. Mostly because we do go through there and toss out old stuff, because we're not quite that disgusting.
But we did find some sour cream that expired in March. And yogurt that had a date stamped on it February 23. Yuck. Our biggest problem in there was the plethora of salad dressings we'd collected in the past year. We both have this overwhelming urge to buy different dressings because they look good, every single time we go to the store. We had every kind imaginable. And yet, usually if we eat salad, we both prefer the Paul Newman light balsamic vinagrette. It's really all we eat. So why the hell do we have 20 other dressing choices that we've tried once, and never eaten again??
They had to go. They were all expired anyway. And we had 4 different jars/bottles of mayonnaise too. Why? What's wrong with us? And don't even get me started on the 5 jars of half empty pickles we had in there.
I've come to the conclusion that Nat and are just not good at buying food and actually eating it. If our mother's could have seen what we did last night, we definitely would have gotten the speech about all the starving kids in Africa. Remember that one? "Finish your dinner because there are starving kids in Africa!"
Maybe we should have wrapped up our freezer burnt pork chops and our 20 bottles of salad dressing, and sent them over there?
evil_twin posted on Jun 06, 2008
| views: 333
Comments
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tizzygirl said on Jun 06, 2008....
On my god! Can you guys come and clean out my freezer/fridge?? I had no idea those things actually had lights?? I usually just find what I want by feeling around! No seriously my freezer, exact same way!! We have so much meat in there that has morphed into glaciers it's ridiculous. No french fries though, but a ton of half eaten bags of veggies! The fridge....oh yeah we are THAT disgusting. In fact tupperware is not reusable in my house. It's disposable! I always save stuff....then just let it sit there. I THINK about cleaning it out but my excuse is always that it's not trash day so I don't want to stink up the neighborhood by putting rotting food out on the curb for a few days! Good excuse huh? Amazing how I never think of cleaning it ON trash day. I'm good like that! But kudos to you two for cleaning both out! Two gold stars!! -
PAPERBACKWRITER said on Jun 06, 2008....
giggle
What´s wrong with me - I got hungry reading your post, Kyle?! :D
Adopt me!
I hate shopping for groceries (this randmom agoraphobia attacks) but I like planning the meals so the fridge is always updated (gah, does anyone say that, lol); it´s my OCD side! On my terrible phases, I use a marker to write the date when I opened the bottle of ketchup, tube of mustard etc.
Otherwise, I´m normal; when I´m in a good place, I don´t do this. I am your average, eat the half of the yoghurt and forget them in the fridge until they cultivate. Or, save the take out until the next take out! lol
When you have growing children, the fridge will be whirlwind of activity: constantly being emptied and filled!
I had to laugh about this:
"Finish your dinner because there are starving kids in Africa!"
I think this is universal mom speak! I swore never to use this on my girls, specially because I have nighmare memories of having to eat up squash in many lunches while growing up just for the sake of African children! I hated squash in coconut milk then (I miss them now!), and kept pushing them around on my plate but this did not deplete their quantity!
Lotsa meat and salad dressings??? You & Natty should have invited SC friends for barbecue and asked us to bring salads! lol ; )
Now, I´m going to make a sandwich
Hope you and Natty would have a lovely weekend! :)
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starchini said on Jun 06, 2008....
I have the opposite problem. My fridge is perpetually empty. Im the starving african!!! lol...naw i just have a weakness for taco bell my self but not the cumpulsion to buy groceries.
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the_infernal_optimist said on Jun 06, 2008....
We have that problem with the fridge and not the freezer...in fact, one of my tasks for tonight/tomorrow morning is to clean out the refrigerator, and I'm not looking forward to it. :-p
That's funny about the salad dressings! :-D
~Infernal
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nytquill17 said on Jun 06, 2008....
I always wondered - how does me cleaning my plate help the African kids not be hungry? Doesn't that, if anything, mean that there is LESS food for the starving African kids, because I ate it all?? I mean, unless my mom was planning to flash-freeze my half-eaten broccoli and ship it over there... Americans are getting fat cleaning their plates and the African kids are STILL hungry!
We have this problem, big time. But your description of it is a lot funnier than mine would have been! It's good to know we're not the only supposedly-mature adults out there who still have a case of "frat-boy fridge!"
My husband does this thing where, when something has gone bad in the fridge, rather than throw it out and wash the dish it was in, he chucks it in the freezer (we have a separate freezer so there's tons of room). The idea is that freezing it keeps it from stinking up the place and makes it less gross. You can wait until you feel like dealing with the nastiness to actually clean it out. Except, of course, he forgets it in there. I can't tell you how much of our Tupperware and cookware I have at some point "rediscovered" in the freezer, pulling double duty as petri dishes!
Oh, and there is this one frozen dinner in there that I kid you not, has been in there since before we got married. I kind of don't want to throw it out now; it's like a keepsake! lol!
Great Bonnie Tyler reference by the way. Took me a second to figure out why you said it quite that way ;)
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pickersplock said on Jun 06, 2008....
I'd rather clean the toilet, than clean the fridge! -
Sunshine_Mariah said on Jun 06, 2008....
You should have called me! I love cleaning... especially the fridge and freezer. Yes, I know I'm crazy! :-) -
CreativeWoman said on Jun 06, 2008....
I lose track of things in the freezer sometimes. I'm pretty good about the refrigerator though. My one exception is that I always buy way too many cucumbers and end up having to toss a few. I have good intentions about fixing them because the are healthy. I don't always do it though. How hard is to slice a cucumber?
CW
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wombat said on Jun 06, 2008....
A pork chop eclipse! You are a riot! We waste alot of food, also. Our freezer seems to freezer burn things too quickly, and we try to keep it set right. I don't cook much, and that may be part of the problem... -
Mr_Box said on Jun 06, 2008....
I haven't seen the light inside our freezer in several years. There's a light in there?Seriously we pack all sorts of shit in there and never see it again. Sometimes if meat goes bad in the fridge and it's not trash day, I'll just shove it in the freezer instead so it doesn't stink up the place.That's why I won't ever eat any of our frozen meat. Because I don't know if it was good or bad when I shoved it in there.I'm still laughing over the pork chop eclipse.... -
cntlvmenuf said on Jun 06, 2008....
This is too funny!! I just opened my refrigirator and my freezer and said to myself..."You need to cook all these stuff before it goes bad!" (its only some vegetables that were left over when I cooked for my guests memorial wknd)...instead, I reached for a can of salmon that can outlast the food in my fridge. The other alternative is to buy the meat the day of....I tried that...by the time I got through the check out I was too worn out to cook!
....and no...you don't need to send the food all the way to Africa..there are children starving in your own back yard....plus most of Africa is not big on packaged food...they like their meat & vegetables fresh and organic.
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hotaka said on Jun 07, 2008....
Well, there's a story I can partially relate to. I often have an idea for a meal and I go out and buy everything I need. The problem is I only need a little of a lot of things and don't use them all at once. I figure it's okay because I can just use them again later for another meal. But later usually doesn't come. Much, much later does, and by then most of the dates have expired or are about to. Sometimes I just take anything out of the fridge that is about to be too old or has passed the date but still smells okay and I just chow down so as not to throw anything out. I hate paying high prices for vegetables like broccoli and then seeing half the head turn yellow and start to smell like a compost heap about to blossom. Having a small fridge and freezer is helpful though. At least the amount of stuff I have to throw away isn't enough to feed a starving nation.
I also have to thank you for the Feb 23 date. There hasn't been an instance of 23 in my day yet but thanks to your post it appeared. -
hotaka said on Jun 07, 2008....
Why does "pork chop eclispe" make me think about Miss Piggy? -
destinydiva said on Jun 07, 2008....
l was lmao at the pork chop eclipse part! :-) and I always use the strving kids in africa on my kids when they waste food! not so much at mealtimes but they'l open something take a bite and then dont want it anymore! :-) xx -
hotaka said on Jun 07, 2008....
destinyD, maybe it's your cooking...?
[ducks]
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minniemouse said on Jun 07, 2008....
Totally been there....however, I'm noticing a new dilema as my girls get older. The older they get, the more empty my fridge, freezer and pantry gets. I'll go in to get something for myself and there will be nothing to eat...maybe 3 cherrios. (seriously, they put the box back with 3 cherrios in it) And I'm thinking, what the hell? I swear I just went to the store yesterday!!!! I swear I must have gremlins because I don't see how 2 girls can constantly be that hungry! I'm going to try to catch those gremlins and send them to your freezer...mine's empty...I would hate for the gremlins to starve...lol... :-) Minnnie
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evil_twin said on Jun 07, 2008....
tizzy--We try to wait until trash day too because we don't want the food rotting outside in the driveway. Usually we just forget though. But this time, we really had no choice! We were out of room :-P
paper--Nat and I love grocery shopping apparently. We always think of these wonderful dishes we're going to make. So we buy everything, but then we're too lazy to cook it! We're hopeless. But I suppose that someday when we have kids around, it'll be a different story!
starchini--If you're the starving African, would you like our freezer burnt pork chops? :-P
Infernal--We clean out the fridge area more often than the freezer, just because stuff starts stinking :-P But in the freezer, it's very easy to forget everything!
Nyt--We're guilty of putting stuff in the freezer after it's bad too. If it's not trash day, or we just don't feel like dealing with it, we'll shove it in the freezer! I'm SO glad we're not the only people who do that!
pickers--I wouldn't go that far....toilets are gross!
sunshine--Next time we have to do this (in another year??) we'll invite you over :-P
CW--We buy cucumbers and tomatoes all the time. We plan to make salads, but then we forget. So everything gets mushy and stinky. We had a cucumber that turned to complete liquid because it was so rotten! Ugh.
wombat--I think the more crap you shove into the freezer, the less efficient is. Ours got so frosty because it was working so hard, everything was pretty much ruined too.
Mr. Box--That is a really good point. We can't eat the meat in our freezer either because who knows if it was bad when we shoved it in there? Because we've done that too!
cntlv--You're right that there are starving children right here too. I don't think anyone wants our old freezer burnt food though. No one will eat that!
hotaka--I am weird about food. If I'm not sure how old it is, I won't eat it. Even if it smells okay. What's the significance of 23?
destiny--I think every mother in the world has said that. But I wonder what the mother's in Africa say??
minnie--Kids make food disappear fast huh? I remember being the one to leave 3 Cheerios in a box too. I was just trying not to be wasteful by throwing them away! I'm still guilty of leaving a sip of milk or a soda in the fridge, rather than toss it out :-P -
botoni said on Jun 07, 2008....
I've no room to talk. NATO has declared my fridge a threat to security. It is only in reading this post that I realize Tupperware is supposedly reuseable. I thought I still could see the light in my fridge. I was totally wrong. It was the radioactive glow comming from the antique buttermilk near the rear. -
evil_twin said on Jun 07, 2008....
botoni--So that's why our refrigerator glowed in the dark? It was the radioactive cloud from spoiled milk! We buy those disposable tupperware containers....then we don't have to feel guilty for tossing them out! -
Sunshine_Mariah said on Jun 07, 2008....
Oh no.. this is a process that should be down more than once a year! :-) -
pickersplock said on Jun 07, 2008....
ET, fridge's can be much grosser!Plus they've invented that disposable toilet brush thingy now, so you don't have to touch nasty! -
hotaka said on Jun 09, 2008....
I am not sure about the significance of 23 but my friend says it is the most used number in the world and some people think it's an Illuminati number.
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