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The Peaceful Life: Waste Not?

(This is part of an on-going series Momma’s Soapbox and I are doing on Keeping Our Inner Aloha/Peaceful Life. See here for the Aloha lowdown and here for the Peaceful Life reason!)

Have you ever taken a $50 and run it through the trash compactor?  Or churned it down the drain using the garbage disposal?  How about taking a handful of money and throwing it in your trash can?  No?  Well I have.

Oh, I haven’t literally taken the actual cash-money and done this but listen to this tale.  It is an on-going one in our household.

I decide to clean the freezers out.  I pull out several containers and zippered baggies full of unidentifiable frozen food objects.  I say to Alpha Hubby, “Do you have any idea what this is?”

His response is always, “No. What does it look like?”

Me: *Huff* of frustration.  

“If I knew what it looked like, I could probably figure out what it is,” I say showing, I believe, great patience.

“Well I don’t know what it is.  Why don’t you thaw it out and see?” he says, wisely.

So we do.  We leave all these containers and baggies in the sink or on the counter.  Much later we will come back to take a peek.

I say to Alpha Hubby, “Do you have any idea what this is?”

To which his response is always, “No.  What does it look like?”

Me: MAJOR *HUFF* of frustration.  

“If I knew what it looked like,” I respond very patiently, “then I could figure out what it is.  Why don’t you taste it and see?”

This brave man who used to say he had a cast iron stomach and could eat anything always replies, “I’m not eating that. We don’t even know what it is!”  

At this point the entire conversation spirals downhill pretty quickly.

Does this sound like a merry-go-round conversation to you?  Me, too.  And we have it every time I decide to defrost the freezer.  So all that food always ends up down the garbage disposal or sealed in the baggie and tossed out because we usually can’t figure out what it was.

When this happens I always think that I should mark the container somehow (ya think???).  I should become organized enough to buy those stickers or use one of my millions of Sharpie permanent markers.  I mean, how hard is that?  It’s NOT!

But I never do it.  Somewhere along the line, I failed Suzy Homemaker* 102, the class about organized freezing of foods.  And the one for sewing.  And the one for organized homes.  I am a Suzy Homemaker failure.  Oh, the shame.  My only excuse is that I am a crossroads generation – raised by the 50’s generation that believed in Suzy Homemaker and living in the 70’s that threw Gloria Steinem, NOW, and bra burning in my face!  I didn’t know who I was.

To save myself a lot of frustration and work next time, I’m just going to take the grocery money and throw it on the burn pile.  It will save a lot of time, trouble and merry-go-round conversations!

And you want to know why Momma’s Soapbox and I are starting a bi-weekly blog about being better organized when there are so many blogs about it out there???  We need it. Desperately.

Peaceful Tip:  Invest in a magic marker or Sharpie pen and write down, ON the container or baggie, the name of whatever food is in it.  Write the date, too, so you will know how long it has been in the freezer and then will understand why there is fuzz and green hair growing on the food.  It will make you feel oh so much better organized!

*Suzy Homemaker definition

  1. n. a personification of the quintessential female American housewife. (During the 1960s, this was a brand of child-sized kitchen appliances and also a doll of the same name.) : Well, aren’t you just Miss Suzy Homemaker! You’re even wearing an apron!
  2. Suzy Homemaker – Topper Toys 1966-1970’s – Topper Toys made many different cooking toys under the name Suzy Homemaker. Toys that worked just like Mom’s! Most items plugged into the household outlet to operated lights such as the oven,  dish washer, grill, or the corn popper which really worked. With the sinks and dishwasher – you could actually pump water through them! Smaller items such as mixers, and hair dryers used batteries to operate them. Also, the kitchen appliances such as the ovens and washers came in 3 sizes. and washers came in 3 sizes. 

Copyright © 2010 Nan C Loyd
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10 thoughts on “The Peaceful Life: Waste Not?

  1. this made me laugh out loud as I have a habit of saying to other half that I will freeze the extra portion we dont need for a meal. Then when we have the freezer stuffed we are on our knees at the freezer trying to work out what it is, what we can use it for (not enough for a meal for 5) and how long it has been there.

    Sharpies a good idea to identify and put a use by date on.

    looking forward to following

    carol

  2. I have been guilty of this but since I have been home with my daughters I have gotten better mostly out of necessity. We now have those nifty Sharpies (now if I would only remember where I put them since my daughters love markers and I hide them a little to well).

  3. Rule should be if I am not eating it now and you are going to put it in the freezer you can save yourself the money for the sharpie and the wonderful mystery of what is it. I am not going to eat it later. Maybe you think I will have forgotten I didn’t want it or even like it. Not! Save space send it to the can now!

  4. Yep…been there. That’s why I hardly free anything other then the stuff that is already bought frozen! I don’t like frozen meat anyhow!

  5. Yeah, we had this problem too, but them our budget got a little tighter and I was forced to be more conscious of labeling and dating what I am putting in the freezer. We couldn’t afford to throw away money like that anymore. I loved this post! I hope you have a great weekend!

  6. This post had me laughing, I’m the one who stocks up in the freezer so I don’t even bother having the arguement with my husband :)! But yes, I invested in Sharpies a while ago … the ziploc freezer bags are great because they actually have a spot right on the bag where you can write, complete with “DATE” label. Freezing for dummies, I gues :)!
    From follow friday over 40 … and I have too many LBD’s in the closet to count…

  7. Oh hon – if you could SEE the baggies I have full of markers. I even have some from: ready? The 70’s – and they are still good. It’s wild! I was so bad that almost everytime I went to Wally World, I’d get the latest and greatest type Sharpie!

  8. Good plan Nan…..hey that rhymed…ya I know, I’m a dorko…I have to admit I don’t blame Alpha hubby for not wanting to taste the food. If you can’t tell what it is by the look or smell after it has thawed it’s probably time to hit the ol’ garbage can.

    Great idea to label it with the date. We are going to be so peaceful and organized we won’t know what to do with all the extra time on our hands.

    I have to go. I need to buy more black Sharpie pens. I’m KIDDING, I’m sure I have plenty here that I will find when I finish organizing my desk! It’s on the list.

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