GUEST POST from Don – Bad Food?

BAD FOOD?

[Reminder:  I would love for you to participate in an Independence Day event.  I have written a historical short story.  I would love to see your poems, short stories, or artwork included.  Just submit to Owly.]

I found an interesting factoid recently:  On average, stores toss over a third of their perishable food.

That’s enough fresh food to feed all of Canada.

It’s also one of several reasons beef, as well as apples, bananas, and potatoes, are so expensive.

Recently you may have seen multiple stories which declare that we must forego eating meat (for the benefit of the planet??).  I have made it clear that if we removed meat proteins from our lives a third of the world would starve to death … so, that’s not really an acceptable option.  Then, don’t get me started on those weirdos who proclaim that insect protein is the way to go … I know that if you eat an insect you are also eating its digestive tract and sex parts…yummy!  On the other hand, I know enough to know that the beak, feathers and other nasty parts WERE removed before I ate that chicken.  

We don’t need to remove meat from our diets if we were better at reducing spoilage of fresh meat and produce products, like milk and cottage cheese.  Thank goodness for electric coolers!!!  But imagine if we could reduce the number of energy-hog coolers at the grocery store because they didn’t over-stock by 33%.  

You are thinking, “Hey!  Don’t stores donate food to homeless shelters and such?”  Yup!  They do.  However, less than 8% of the waste goes that route.  Nearly 60% just goes to landfills.  Bad fish, meats and dairy in particular (~15%), are destroyed by incinerator (wouldn’t want some unlucky dumpster diver to get food poisoning).  Less than 3% is turned into animal feed and fertilizer.  The rest magically disappears??  

It is impossible to totally eliminate over-stocking, I understand, unless we become like Russian stores and only serve 2 types of bread today:  Fresh or none.

Families also fail to consume over $1,500 of the perishable food they purchase.  For a long while, on a different vein, we had a deep freezer.  When we finally emptied it and turned it off our electric bill no longer was the size of Al Gore’s.  That kitten sucked juice!!!  That was when we decided we could live without one ever again.  Now!  I say that, but I’m not condemning those who find them handy.

I am condemning those who use it as a way to not toss or use things which should be tossed or used.  If you ever find a pound of hamburger which fought in the Korean War that should be your sign.  If you spent two weeks preparing and freezing okra for all the dishes you never made 3 years ago…that’s another sign.  If you find things there that you wonder whether they belonged to an ancestor on your father’s side…that’s a sign.  You are using the deep freeze as a semi-final resting place until you have space in your dumpster.  You should have land filled those items instead of clogging up the icy receptical in your mud room.

When our daughters were about finished with high school and started going out with friends to restaurants they almost always came home with doggie bags.  That is when I began to look at our refrigerator differently.  BEFORE it was a place where foods were preserved.  It extended the deliciousness of desired foods.  However, SUDDENLY the refrigerator took on a new job.  It was NOW the place where things rotted slowly.  We began to label those restaurant additions (whose, and when).  When 2 weeks had passed without either young adult even sampling the doggie fare, it got tossed.

So, if we don’t over-buy perishables AND the store doesn’t over-stock them, then we have just saved space in our global climate for those chicken tenders you always get at the restaurant.

(*  This is where food co-ops and church trades are great!  You can buy 10 pounds of potatoes and donate half to the co-op or church trade group while they are fresh.  You aren’t paying the jacked up price of the 5 pound bag.  In many cases, if a 10 pound bag is $5, a 5 pound bag is $4.  You can even keep the nicest 5 pounds and donate the rest.)

In other words, as if I need more, stop being so dumb with perishable foods.  Uneaten food is “Bad Food.”  You will save money, which you can donate to your favorite charity.  It won’t cost you anything.  You were going to blow it on food you were going to throw away anyway.  

When my wife tells me (I grocery shop) to pick up sweet potatoes, I do.  Then when I bring them home I pull out recipes for using them in creative ways.  Those babies won’t go to waste here.  

One day I noticed that the 8 oz package of fresh mushrooms wasn’t so fresh anymore.  Well, I had a wonderful stir-fry with onions, mushrooms, and tomato wedges.  Tasty!!!

I’m not a “foodie” but I am efficient (cheap).  I will find a way to use something we bought if possible.  So, once a week I will look in the refrigerator and find something that is beginning its downward journey.  That is the next pie filling, or stir-fry, or snack.  

If the planet fails it won’t be my fault.

[PLEASE NOTE that Don is always open to discussing the thoughts and opinions he shares here and welcomes comments as shared in the comment section. He doesn’t use other social media platforms and won’t see whatever you’d like to share with him if you post it elsewhere.
ALSO, Don is always open to offer his thoughts on various topics. If you have a specific request, you can let him know in a comment; he reads – and replies to – them all. ~ Sherry]

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