HoneyBunch and I come from
families who do not believe in throwing away food, ergo, The Leftover is sacred in our homes.
Any little scrap of food goes
into plastic containers with tight fitting lids or gets wrapped in plastic with
the same reverence as an Egyptian mummy. It shows up at the next meal either in
its original form or under a clever disguise.
Handfuls of leftover vegetables get thrown into stews or soups; old
fries get scrambled into eggs, and though not much can be done for a leftover
enchilada, smothering it with soupy beans can make it edible.
When my own kids were young, I “forced”
a weekly clean-out-the-refrigerator buffet on them but gave them fair
warning. They knew when I called them to
the table, they’d better hurry because it was first come, first served. The
last one to the table ended up making do with The Leftover Leftover, usually something doubly unrecognizable and inedible.
HB is really big on not wasting
food, but I do set limits. In its
original state, if it came out of a can, the frozen section of the grocery
store or a drive-through take out, it never even makes it to the refrigerator. It
is not worthy of being labeled The
Leftover since I consider such food has been handled enough in its lifetime.
It goes straight into the trash can. If
it is homemade from scratch, it can make it as far as a third curtain call
before it goes into the trash can, but if it changes color, emits odor, or
winks at me, it goes into the trash can immediately.
I am all for not wasting food,
but I do have standards.
I WILL NOT give myself food
poisoning and all the discomforts that entails over neon-colored ham slices,
petrified pizza, or a recycled pork chop.
Comments
Post a Comment