Coffee Table Declarations
Wednesday, May 05, 2004
Ever since I started cooking I end up having to go grocery shopping every weekend. I have my own system. First, I select 2 or 3 dinner recipes for the week and then I make a list of the ingredients. Next, I go to the grocery store, mindful not to get more than can be carried into my apartment in one trip.
Sometimes I wish I didn't have to go every week, but things just don't stay fresh forever. My fridge too often feels like a graveyard for rotting vegetables. My roommate and I clean it out on a fairly regular basis but every now and then I pull something out of the back of the produce drawer that has become brown and liquidy. Now there is an episode of Fear Factor for you. Who is brave enough to eat the contents of my produce drawer?
I've been saying for years that food should be sold in portions which are just right for people who cook for one. I can't tell you how much food I end up throwing out because I only need a little and the rest goes bad. (If my mom was reading this she would be so mad at me right now, yikes!) Case in point - vegetables. If I'm making soup that calls for one stalk of celery, diced, why do I need to buy a whole bag? Likewise with carrots. And how about bread? Or eggs? And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. In this day and age there are so many singles living in apartments on their own trying to cultivate a stable, domestic atmosphere. Why should we be forced to get take out every night? There is a whole demographic out there just waiting to be harvested.
When I was little and I'd ask my mom what was for dinner, I'd dread the nights her reply was "leftovers". "Left over what?" I'd ask. "Just leftovers," she'd say. And then I saw this movie and got really freaked out. Usually our leftovers were much more benign, but they did consist of a compilation of dinners-past in various states of freshness. Perhaps that's why to this day I have a lingering aversion to leftovers. I'll make a whole casserole and proudly tell my mom what I made and she'll say, "You're not going to end up throwing it out are you? You know, you could probably get several more meals out of those leftovers."
Sometimes I wish I didn't have to go every week, but things just don't stay fresh forever. My fridge too often feels like a graveyard for rotting vegetables. My roommate and I clean it out on a fairly regular basis but every now and then I pull something out of the back of the produce drawer that has become brown and liquidy. Now there is an episode of Fear Factor for you. Who is brave enough to eat the contents of my produce drawer?
I've been saying for years that food should be sold in portions which are just right for people who cook for one. I can't tell you how much food I end up throwing out because I only need a little and the rest goes bad. (If my mom was reading this she would be so mad at me right now, yikes!) Case in point - vegetables. If I'm making soup that calls for one stalk of celery, diced, why do I need to buy a whole bag? Likewise with carrots. And how about bread? Or eggs? And I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels this way. In this day and age there are so many singles living in apartments on their own trying to cultivate a stable, domestic atmosphere. Why should we be forced to get take out every night? There is a whole demographic out there just waiting to be harvested.
When I was little and I'd ask my mom what was for dinner, I'd dread the nights her reply was "leftovers". "Left over what?" I'd ask. "Just leftovers," she'd say. And then I saw this movie and got really freaked out. Usually our leftovers were much more benign, but they did consist of a compilation of dinners-past in various states of freshness. Perhaps that's why to this day I have a lingering aversion to leftovers. I'll make a whole casserole and proudly tell my mom what I made and she'll say, "You're not going to end up throwing it out are you? You know, you could probably get several more meals out of those leftovers."
