11 boxes of pasta...
As a general rule, I work from home on Mondays. I don't need to be on campus and it helps me ease into the week, getting things done before all mayhem cuts loose on Tuesdays. Plus, I like working from home - it means I get to do laundry while I'm getting some writing done (or, in today's case, blogging). It also means that I feed myself real food, as opposed to the take out that generally keeps me alive most days (assuming, of course, I've gone grocery shopping). Which brings me to today's discovery: while making lunch (soup), I discovered that there are 11 boxes of pasta in my cupboards. That's right, eleven. For clarification, I am a single woman who lives alone with two cats (insert bad spinster joke here), so why in the world do I have 11 boxes of pasta?
It doesn't stop there. I have 3 boxes of rice and 2 of quinoa. I have 2 boxes of gluten free bread mix, 4 cans of coconut, two bottles of BBQ sauce, and two bottles of curry sauces. Plus some cake mix and a can of frosting. And more oatmeal than I could ever eat in my life (which is saying a lot, because I like oatmeal). In fact, a closer examination, it looks like I'm trying to feed the Duggars. Where does all this food come from? Clearly, at some point in time, I thought it was a good idea to buy it, but why? I don't cook. The most complicated foodstuff I have ever made is a Spanish Galician stew that was only complicated because it had more than 5 ingredients. I consider adding canned artichokes (yes, I have some of them too) to pasta sauce to be the height of culinary excess. And the only meal I regularly eat at home is breakfast, which usually consists of a banana and a bowl of gluten free Corn Chex. Sometimes, if I'm really feeling cheeky, I add strawberries AND bananas to my cereal. It's like a party.
Seriously, the only recipe that I can spout from memory is for sangria.
This discovery got me thinking, in light of two different things I've read in the last week. First, America is throwing away 40% of its food supply. That's a BIG deal and I know that I am part of that problem. I often buy food and forget I have it until something starts to smell funny. Or because on Saturday, mangos seems like a good idea, but come Monday morning, I see the slippery and impossible to cut fruit for what they really are - communists. And this morning, this article from Slate.com got me thinking. Like the author, I often rely on take out to get me the necessary nutrition to keep going, mostly because cooking is hard and I'm not any good at it. Unlike the author, however, I have an income that hasn't forced me to get creative. But that seems like a bit of an easy way out.
I know better than to waste food (my mother did her job well), yet I do it ALL the time. And I don't have to think about the consequences of my actions, because I live in America. There's always more food on a shelf somewhere and I have the disposable income to buy it. But that's not a good way to approach the world and I can do better. We all can. So I'm going to start - in my own cupboards. Clearly, I've got plenty of food. So throughout the month of September, I pledge to eat it - to use it before it goes to waste. To cook for myself for an ENTIRE MONTH. That's right - no take out for an entire month (that includes Starbucks). Stick around; it's going to get interesting.
It doesn't stop there. I have 3 boxes of rice and 2 of quinoa. I have 2 boxes of gluten free bread mix, 4 cans of coconut, two bottles of BBQ sauce, and two bottles of curry sauces. Plus some cake mix and a can of frosting. And more oatmeal than I could ever eat in my life (which is saying a lot, because I like oatmeal). In fact, a closer examination, it looks like I'm trying to feed the Duggars. Where does all this food come from? Clearly, at some point in time, I thought it was a good idea to buy it, but why? I don't cook. The most complicated foodstuff I have ever made is a Spanish Galician stew that was only complicated because it had more than 5 ingredients. I consider adding canned artichokes (yes, I have some of them too) to pasta sauce to be the height of culinary excess. And the only meal I regularly eat at home is breakfast, which usually consists of a banana and a bowl of gluten free Corn Chex. Sometimes, if I'm really feeling cheeky, I add strawberries AND bananas to my cereal. It's like a party.
Seriously, the only recipe that I can spout from memory is for sangria.
This discovery got me thinking, in light of two different things I've read in the last week. First, America is throwing away 40% of its food supply. That's a BIG deal and I know that I am part of that problem. I often buy food and forget I have it until something starts to smell funny. Or because on Saturday, mangos seems like a good idea, but come Monday morning, I see the slippery and impossible to cut fruit for what they really are - communists. And this morning, this article from Slate.com got me thinking. Like the author, I often rely on take out to get me the necessary nutrition to keep going, mostly because cooking is hard and I'm not any good at it. Unlike the author, however, I have an income that hasn't forced me to get creative. But that seems like a bit of an easy way out.
I know better than to waste food (my mother did her job well), yet I do it ALL the time. And I don't have to think about the consequences of my actions, because I live in America. There's always more food on a shelf somewhere and I have the disposable income to buy it. But that's not a good way to approach the world and I can do better. We all can. So I'm going to start - in my own cupboards. Clearly, I've got plenty of food. So throughout the month of September, I pledge to eat it - to use it before it goes to waste. To cook for myself for an ENTIRE MONTH. That's right - no take out for an entire month (that includes Starbucks). Stick around; it's going to get interesting.
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