Day 2: Waste Not, Want Not: Changing Mentality

Before I left for work yesterday, I made dinner and took out a frozen gallon of milk to defrost. When I came home from work 10 hours later, dinner was still out, and so was the milk. No one had bothered to put them away. Fortunately, they were still salvageable, otherwise both would have been wasted.

Lest you think that's a rant, it is not. It is simply a statement of our reality: we think there's always going to be more, so what's the big deal if a little is wasted? The new reality (particularly these next two weeks) is: there may not be more, or if there is more, it likely won't be what you are used to, so you might want to take care and make sure what you have lasts.

I think my family's habits--ignoring what if--is pretty reflective of the general populace, especially here in America. DH grew up in a family where there was abundance. I grew up in a family where both of my parents grew up in families which planned for "what if." I spent summers with my maternal grandparents: my grandfather literally raised everything the family ate during the year, with the exception of grains. My father grew up with grains being pretty much all they had, with the occasional supplement of vegetables. Both sets understood that what they had in front of them might be it.

So the lack of care, (I call it stewardship) to preserve and make things last, is not really surprising. A bit disappointing that my kids haven't quite caught on yet, but not surprising. I think it's not until it's gone gone that one appreciates what was squandered (life, materials, relationships, time.) If we are going to use these next two weeks as a training ground, then that mentality of "there's always going to be more, so we can afford to be careless" needs to change. I'm not saying we need to become misers, but there is definitely room for improvement and discussion.

Day 2 found me really craving fresh fruit and vegetables, something until Thrive freeze dried foods we lacked. We had stocked up about 4-5 liters of Bolthouse juice and that's helped abate the craving, but that won't last long. Once the challenge is over, I'll make more of an effort to home can fruits and vegetables (like my grandfather) but again, this will only last a year, and no amount of canning will ever equal fresh. The advantage to Thrive (and I'm not just saying this because I'm now a consultant) is that it is fresh fruits and vegetables, freeze dried (dibs on the slogan.) This means (1) I can have an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables stockpiled (2) because it's freeze dried it will last 25 years unopened and 1 year after opening, vs 1-2 years home canned. 

DD19 made lemon orzo soup the other night with Thrive celery and onions. We have both of those dehydrated, somewhere (see Day 1 blog!), but Thrive was right there in the living room (yeah, haven't gotten that far to put it away yet.) I was really, really surprised that the celery really tasted like fresh. If you hadn't told me it was freeze dried-reconstituted, I would never have guessed in a million years. 

I'm getting a bit off track. The point of my bringing Thrive in to the conversation ties in to not wasting food. Day1-blog I mentioned canning in quarts as I couldn't find my regular mouth pint lids/rings. This means if I don't want to waste the food in the quart I'm going to have to do a full meal of mainly beans, or 2 days in a row with beans and I'll be lucky if none of it is wasted. Sure, I could home can all in pints: except that's not what I have stockpiled, and I generally keep pints for meats (quarts are what my grandparents and mother canned in, what can I say--old habits are hard to break.) Unlike dehydrated, with Thrive, 1 cup of freeze dried equals 1 cup of fresh (the texture and volume via freeze drying results in very little volume loss) so I can use exactly what I need, rather than winging it. I'm not a wing it person when it comes to cooking, and after 20+ years, I'm conceding that DH will not voluntarily choose leftovers. Frankly, "in the day" refrigeration might be limited, so leftovers might not be an option.

Okay, Life Lesson for Day 2: make exactly what you need, not more, and be thrifty with what you have to reduce waste. Adjust the attitude: what you have today might be it, so rejoice and be glad. Then do something more :)

Think hard about how you are going to bring fresh fruit and vegetables in to your diet. Some of us have mason jars and equipment to home can. Most of "us" don't, so how are you going to acquire fresh or nearly fresh fruit and vegetables? I'd encourage you to consider Thrive, you can set up a "Q"ueue online and start getting a little bit shipped direct to your home each month. (Of course you could always get free food by eHosting an event, and you know I'm all about free food!)

Until tomorrow, vaya con Dios.