I wish I had decided to do some kind of “total pounds decluttered” challenge because after today I’m pretty sure I’m getting rid of my basement fridge. It’s an old fridge. Like, almost as old as me, old. It came with this house, and I used it as a second fridge for years. The seals are dying on it and it sucks electricity, so I unplugged it a couple years ago, but I’ve still been using it as storage for non-perishable foods. It’s just out of the way enough that I often forget to check it before shopping, which apparently led to me unintentionally stockpiling 3 ½ bags of brown sugar, a dozen cans of beans and way more packs of dried seaweed than anyone should probably consume (thank you to my middle school and beyond friend for teaching me 3 Korean words and a love of dried seaweed.)
After seeing those (and many other foods) all piled up on my kitchen table, I decided to stop trying to keep track of my stores of food between the basement and the kitchen and only keep food in the kitchen.
Maybe it’s just because I went through my clothes last week, but as I went through my cabinets, fridge and basement storage, a comparison came to mind. When I cleaned out my closet, there were some clothes that I really liked, but they weren’t part of a complete outfit. That great flowered skirt without a top to match became just another piece of clutter. Likewise, that super interesting ingredient, without a recipe, other ingredients, or a plan to use it, just becomes clutter. No matter how cool juniper berries looked on the “free with purchase” rack at the spice store.
As I think about getting real about my food, it needs to be not just being more thoughtful about consuming “real” ingredients but also having a real plan for them. Because otherwise, that little jar of red-orange beads that remind you of the beads on top of your favorite sushi are just clutter in your cabinet, not actually an ingredient worth storing. (Was that a little too specific to be relatable?)
Today’s results –
I realized I don’t use pasta sauce enough to warrant keeping all the jars I have. Most of them are heading to my local food pantry.
The ancient fridge will be leaving with the next bulk garbage pick-up
The juniper berries are being added to the menu for this week. I’m planning to try a potato recipe I found online, but if you have any tips or recipes, let me know!
Uncovering Real 