Eat-What-You-Have Week
We noticed recently at our house that food drifts to the bottom of the freezer, and to the back of the cupboard, and then we buy more of the very same thing when it goes on sale.
Beans – on sale! Chicken breasts. Applesauce. Soup that looks great in the winter, and is less compelling in the spring.
We noticed recently at our house that food drifts to the bottom of the freezer, and to the back of the cupboard, and then we buy more of the very same thing when it goes on sale. We are amazingly fortunate; we have the luxury of forgetting about food. People on the edge of hunger know exactly what they have to eat.
Now, for the first week of the month, we don’t grocery shop. We eat from the cupboards and the freezer, and we debate things like whether buying butter is an essential, or could wait. (Painful consensus: wait until the end of the week.) My husband looks online for ways to use up that Costco jar of artichoke hearts that seemed smaller in the store, and the elderly frozen chicken. We think more about people who don’t get to choose their food, who get meals from friends or shelters or food banks, and take what’s available. Our resistance inevitably comes up, and we think about ordering pizza.
I’m embarrassed about my tendency to buy more, instead of looking at what I already have. This hard stop on shopping for a week makes me grateful for the abundance that’s already there. The taste of something odd reminds me how fortunate I am to have food, and how often I take it for granted. When we shop again the next week, we do it with more care. For the odd, lumpy packages from the freezer, and the bits of leftover rice, and the soups that were once on sale, I’m thankful.