Kitchen Congestion: What To Do When the Fridge Holds 8,568 Little Bags of Odds & End

[Rozzer]

Just read the (very good) article on preserving and using parsley stems posted here several years ago. I agree with the author entirely. Such things should not just be thrown away. But after two months of anybody's serious cooking, that philosophy tends to decorate the fridge with piles and piles of little bags with stuff in them. Leftovers from food you've cooked, uncooked leftovers from dishes you've already made, odds and ends of every kind, shape, pattern or form.

Which of course makes it a kind of obstacle race to figure out what's relevant to the particular dish you're doing right now, not to mention figuring out what in there has been dead and gone for some time. Are any of you professionals out there familiar with the problem and if so have you found out some kind of solution? I'd suppose the problem wouldn't be quite as problematic if you're cooking in a restaurant and doing umptillion dishes a night with a real fast throughput on ingredients. Any advice for us consumer kitchen hangers-on?

[KarenB]

It is easy to become a food hoarder. I confess I used to be one. Now on friday I take all the leftovers out of the fridge and do the following;

1. Sort them into leftover meat, veggies, sauce. match up what I can (can it become a stew or casserole in its next life?)
2. Get tough and throw out what I really didn't like, If I,m tired of it, it might get frozen for the future.
3. Never wrap anything in foil (out of sight, out of mind)
4. Use only glass containers, preferable to use those of the same size for stacking and easy visible reference
5. Use one shelf for things that need to get used. leftovers, raw meat, time sensitive like avocados etc.

For the freezer;

Everything has a label and a date. I buy in bulk then divide into portions size. Double wrap in foil and put in clear plastic freezer bag. I also insert a paper with item, date and how many portions are in each.

Keep a list of what is in there. Not just for keeping track of it but helps to make meal suggestions.

[al dente']

Since we are all Seniors here; and on a budget, I try really hard not to throw any food away. Unless, of course, it looks like something in a petri dish!

I make lots of soups and stir-frys or roast combinations of veggies. Meat always gets used up; cut in small pieces and mixed with celery, mayo, onion, etc. to top lettuce and tomatoes. Or an open-faced sandwich on Wasa crackers.

The one food category that somtimes goes to the javalinas is cake or pudding that was not well-recieved.

I save bacon-fat for cooking or feeding birds. The birds also get apple cores, melon rinds, stale cereal, rancid nuts (!) moldy grapes and strawberries, etc. Meat juices left from soakng pan before washing tops the dog's breakfast bread. He also gets the little dabs of soup that are sometimes left-over.

We have kept a compost pile for many years; where ever we lived. Presently, food and moisture are so dear; that the wild animals take out of the pile what they want; (vegetable and fruit peelings) and the rest makes nice compost for our vegetable garden and flower beds. It all works out!

I am a food-hoarder; but don't consider it a problem. I have a big back-pantry because the kitchen is inadequate in the cupboard dept. By buying ingredients ahead, I don't have to stop whatever I am working on to fetch a needed ingredient at the store. And gasoline and diesel are increasing in price daily; so why make extra trips to the store!?

I got on a rant there; Brigid. One of my push-buttons....

[Mariah-RoseCass]

I try my best to NEVER throw out food. It is such a waste when there are many people in this world who are starving to death! In my house, we do the same thing as Karen. We sort through at least once a week to see if anything has gone bad. Also, to know how long things have been in our fridge/freezer, we put the date on the conatiner, using tape. This makes life a WHOLE lot EASIER! Sometimes though, things do go bad, so if we can we give it to the dog.

[KarenB]

Everytime I have a leftover I think can I make this into a soup.

[Auntymimi]

Since we are all Seniors here; and on a budget, I try really hard not to throw any food away. Unless, of course, it looks like something in a petri dish!

I make lots of soups and stir-frys or roast combinations of veggies. Meat always gets used up; cut in small pieces and mixed with celery, mayo, onion, etc. to top lettuce and tomatoes. Or an open-faced sandwich on Wasa crackers.

The one food category that somtimes goes to the javalinas is cake or pudding that was not well-recieved.

I save bacon-fat for cooking or feeding birds. The birds also get apple cores, melon rinds, stale cereal, rancid nuts (!) moldy grapes and strawberries, etc. Meat juices left from soakng pan before washing tops the dog's breakfast bread. He also gets the little dabs of soup that are sometimes left-over.

We have kept a compost pile for many years; where ever we lived. Presently, food and moisture are so dear; that the wild animals take out of the pile what they want; (vegetable and fruit peelings) and the rest makes nice compost for our vegetable garden and flower beds. It all works out!

I am a food-hoarder; but don't consider it a problem. I have a big back-pantry because the kitchen is inadequate in the cupboard dept. By buying ingredients ahead, I don't have to stop whatever I am working on to fetch a needed ingredient at the store. And gasoline and diesel are increasing in price daily; so why make extra trips to the store!?

I got on a rant there; Brigid. One of my push-buttons....

Now you've pushed my button! Who says we're all seniors. Just because I'm old enough to be a grandma (which i'm not), and my roots are more white than brown, doesn't make me a senior.....yet. My husband thinks it's funny that if he keeps his hair very short (cuts of the grey) he actually gets carded!!! I had some one ask me for my card, she wanted to give me a senior discount! I was over due for my hair coloring, I've seemed to inherited my Nana's white hair. sigh...

I love fixing something amazing, stir-fry, soup, BBQ sandwiches in minutes after everyone in the family opens the fridge and can't find anything too eat and I can have dinner on the table in 20 min with the same ingredients. Nothing worse than throwing away food, it makes me feel as though I have failed somehow.

[Kookie]

for being disorganized and food spoiling. Seems the x never taught the kids how to rotate food,hell according to what they hae told me she served them hotdogs, or kraft mac and cheese when she would do anything, so I have my work cut out for me teaching them. I go out every Friday and have to throw out leftovers I made the week before. So now when I cook there I portion meals for them that they can reheat in the microwave for the following week. One of my biggest pet peeves is when they open new things when the old isnt finished yet, once they had two mayos, 4 sourcreams, 3 sticks of butter, 2 milks, and 2 oj's open and were complainimg how they needed a bigger fridge. Told them all to shut up and look beyond their noses, and stop being lazy.

[brigid]

Since we are all Seniors here; and on a budget, I try really hard not to throw any food away. Unless, of course, it looks like something in a petri dish!

I make lots of soups and stir-frys or roast combinations of veggies. Meat always gets used up; cut in small pieces and mixed with celery, mayo, onion, etc. to top lettuce and tomatoes. Or an open-faced sandwich on Wasa crackers.

The one food category that somtimes goes to the javalinas is cake or pudding that was not well-recieved.

I save bacon-fat for cooking or feeding birds. The birds also get apple cores, melon rinds, stale cereal, rancid nuts (!) moldy grapes and strawberries, etc. Meat juices left from soakng pan before washing tops the dog's breakfast bread. He also gets the little dabs of soup that are sometimes left-over.

We have kept a compost pile for many years; where ever we lived. Presently, food and moisture are so dear; that the wild animals take out of the pile what they want; (vegetable and fruit peelings) and the rest makes nice compost for our vegetable garden and flower beds. It all works out!

I am a food-hoarder; but don't consider it a problem. I have a big back-pantry because the kitchen is inadequate in the cupboard dept. By buying ingredients ahead, I don't have to stop whatever I am working on to fetch a needed ingredient at the store. And gasoline and diesel are increasing in price daily; so why make extra trips to the store!?

I got on a rant there; Brigid. One of my push-buttons....

Me? What do you mean? I haven't commented in this thread til now.

[K. Slink]

I think she just got confused with who she was responding to.....