Nia pares down the pantry. First, she trashcans what’s beyond its expiration date. Bye-bye sweetened condensed milk. Next, she combines half-finished duplicates into single containers. Walnuts… Meet your fellow walnuts. Finally, she polishes the shelves and replaces the
😔 Now for a severe case of cook’s remorse. I’m one bound to pack every shelf of our small kitchen, which invariably leads to expired this and that. “It’s not that far out of date,” I’ve been known to say. 🤷🏽 Solution: wish for more shelves!
How does one hope to bake without 6 different Pyrex type baking dishes?! (I can explain...) Or make the perfect flourless chocolate cake without a spring form pan! Two sizes of muffin pans, 2 of each size. Cooking with the “Right Stuff” is as important as eating!
Working on myself🤔🤔 At 74 saying I’m a work in progress may seem a bit overly hopeful. Then again, today - just this day and moment - is what I have to work with. I kid Beth about my needing to write cabinet contents on the doors to save search time. But I can search contents before heading to the store to avoid out of date canned milk.
In the final analysis, it’s my brain that could benefit more from a good house cleaning and polishing of shelves. Tackling procrastination frees up energy and results in accomplishment. Mentally, “I’m a getter-doner” has a better ring to it than “I’m a procrastinator.”
I’m familiar with the expression, but I don’t recall our discussing it. I can see the value of doing so. My appetite is pretty strong most mornings... 🐸
I'm sure you already know, but before somebody else mentions it... a lot of times the "expiration date" is a "best when sold by" date, and "best" is entirely at the whim of the manufacturer. (I got schooled on this by a friend who worked for Nabisco, but I've seen similar things elsewhere.) So whether to pitch something has to be evaluated for each kind of item.
So (for example) a can of black beans will probably be fully edible six months after the expiration date, and maybe longer if (like me) you will dump it in with chicken and salsa to make chili, so you won't be able to appreciate the full-bodied black bean flavor in any case.
Some items (my friend used dog biscuits as her example) never actually go bad, if left unopened. But they have "Sell by" dates because if left on the shelves too long they get dusty, so nobody buys them anyway.
OTOH, if something is open and in the fridge, the stamped date can indicate whether, perhaps, the item just needs to be chucked. Or at least examined for fuzzy spontaneous flavor additions.
Ahhh!!! I did learn some of this on my entrepreneurial food expedition. Despite all of the regulations, choosing a “best by” date was completely at my discretion. Odd!
I did a little research on nuts and seeds and randomly chose 9 months from date of manufacture.🤷♀️
Also part of that escapade had me enrolled in a serve safe food safety class. The instructor left her fingerprints on me. I never defrost meat on the counter anymore and I scrub all melons with soap and warm water before slicing.
When in doubt… I throw it out. A bout a food poisoning is never worth it to save a few bucks. 🤷♀️
Good point! Fresh stuff scares me more than packaged stuff. I can never judge quite right with some fresh foods. And then there was the time a melon seemed fine on the outside, but had mold on the *inside* — wait, how was that even *possible*? 😳
😔 Now for a severe case of cook’s remorse. I’m one bound to pack every shelf of our small kitchen, which invariably leads to expired this and that. “It’s not that far out of date,” I’ve been known to say. 🤷🏽 Solution: wish for more shelves!
How does one hope to bake without 6 different Pyrex type baking dishes?! (I can explain...) Or make the perfect flourless chocolate cake without a spring form pan! Two sizes of muffin pans, 2 of each size. Cooking with the “Right Stuff” is as important as eating!
Working on myself🤔🤔 At 74 saying I’m a work in progress may seem a bit overly hopeful. Then again, today - just this day and moment - is what I have to work with. I kid Beth about my needing to write cabinet contents on the doors to save search time. But I can search contents before heading to the store to avoid out of date canned milk.
In the final analysis, it’s my brain that could benefit more from a good house cleaning and polishing of shelves. Tackling procrastination frees up energy and results in accomplishment. Mentally, “I’m a getter-doner” has a better ring to it than “I’m a procrastinator.”
Now where did I put that blending stick? 😬
Eat the frog? 🐸
Did we talk about that once? I rarely eat the frog first thing in the morning, but Ivalmost always make sure the frog gets eaten! 🤣
I’m familiar with the expression, but I don’t recall our discussing it. I can see the value of doing so. My appetite is pretty strong most mornings... 🐸
I'm sure you already know, but before somebody else mentions it... a lot of times the "expiration date" is a "best when sold by" date, and "best" is entirely at the whim of the manufacturer. (I got schooled on this by a friend who worked for Nabisco, but I've seen similar things elsewhere.) So whether to pitch something has to be evaluated for each kind of item.
So (for example) a can of black beans will probably be fully edible six months after the expiration date, and maybe longer if (like me) you will dump it in with chicken and salsa to make chili, so you won't be able to appreciate the full-bodied black bean flavor in any case.
Some items (my friend used dog biscuits as her example) never actually go bad, if left unopened. But they have "Sell by" dates because if left on the shelves too long they get dusty, so nobody buys them anyway.
OTOH, if something is open and in the fridge, the stamped date can indicate whether, perhaps, the item just needs to be chucked. Or at least examined for fuzzy spontaneous flavor additions.
Nia's pantry organization, btw, gets hearty applause! 👏
Ahhh!!! I did learn some of this on my entrepreneurial food expedition. Despite all of the regulations, choosing a “best by” date was completely at my discretion. Odd!
I did a little research on nuts and seeds and randomly chose 9 months from date of manufacture.🤷♀️
Also part of that escapade had me enrolled in a serve safe food safety class. The instructor left her fingerprints on me. I never defrost meat on the counter anymore and I scrub all melons with soap and warm water before slicing.
When in doubt… I throw it out. A bout a food poisoning is never worth it to save a few bucks. 🤷♀️
Good point! Fresh stuff scares me more than packaged stuff. I can never judge quite right with some fresh foods. And then there was the time a melon seemed fine on the outside, but had mold on the *inside* — wait, how was that even *possible*? 😳
Nice.