What’s that green, fuzzy stuff?
Today is National Clean OutYour Refrigerator Day, and I’m taking it seriously. You see, I have aninherited tendency to stick things in the back of the fridge and forget them.My mom, God bless her, lived through the Depression as a bride and youngmother. It was an experience she never forgot, and the rest of her life she savedeverything—bits of aluminum foil were washed and re-used; bits of string weretied into one big ball; paper towels, used once to clean a counter, were storedin a special place to be re-used for floor spills. And every tiny leftover wentinto a small jar—often baby food jars she’d saved forever—in the back of thefridge.
When the sad day came that Momcould no longer live in her own home, my brother and I cleaned out herrefrigerator. And found all those jars with unidentifiable things—mostly nevermore than a quarter of a cup. But too many had mold, fuzzy, green, ugly. Ittook a huge garbage sack.
Mom thought I was wasteful:with four teenagers to feed, I chose leftovers carefully—a dab of this and a spoonof that just wouldn’t do anyone any good. Mom would say sarcastically, “I know,just pitch it!” Of course, the one dish that could make me save leftovers wassoup. I grew up on what we called Soup of the Week—just clean out the fridge,throw all those leftovers together, add a can of diced tomatoes or some broth,maybe a can of corn or something, and voila! There’s a cheap, frugal dinner. Mykids now remember liking it, though one did say, “Why did it always turn outbrown?” Jordan’s boys, husband and son, won’t eat it, so it’s been a long timesince I made Soup of the Week. Christian once said “I’d have to know what’s init,” and I told him that was an impossibility.
So today, I decided to inventorymy refrigerator—all those little jars at the back of the top shelf where I can’treally reach. Here’s what I found: enough pickle products to start my own store—cornichons,dill chips, two partially used jars of dill relish, pickled jalapenos (and Idon’t eat jalapenos), and the remains of the red onion I pickled myself. Anunopened, out-of-date small bottle of buttermilk I undoubtedly intended to usein cooking or a terrific salad dressing. An empty used container of Sophie’sinsulin, in its box (the vet told Jordan to keep it, and she’s religious aboutit, so I don’t question). An out-of-date tube of crescent rolls, for which Ionce had some intended use but I have no idea what. One half lime, dried outuntil it is rock hard. Three remnants of sticks of butter, scatteredthroughout. A jar of duck fat—I thought I would use it for lots of things, butit didn’t turn out that way. Three jars of Better than Bouillon, various flavors.Two half empty jars of sauerkraut. Andthat’s not counting the things I really do use, like cottage cheese, eggs,lettuce. Oops! I forgot to tackle the cheese drawer and the vegetable crisper,though the latter gets cleaned pretty often.
I didn't tackle my freezer either, but I keep pretty good control of it. Except, like my mom, I save every end of bread, that stray piece left out of a loaf, some baguettes that have gotten old. Here's a hint: dice all that bread, toss the cubes with olive oil and garlic powder, spread out on a sheet pan, and bake for 20 minutes at 350. Commercial croutons can't hold a candle to homemade!
If you look up National Clean YourRefrigerator Day, the web will caution that you should do this to make room forthe turkey and all the holiday food coming up. Some unknown authority somewhereadvises that you need soap and a bucket of hot water, a sponge, and a garbagebag. You are advised to start by taking everything out of the refrigerator. Ijust didn’t go that far, but the next time the wonderful Zenaida comes to cleanmy cottage, I’ll ask her to look at the fridge. However, unless monitored, she’s liable to throw out things Iwant.
My refrigerator is sadly lowon leftovers, which leaves me wondering what I’ll have for lunch—I’m thinkingthat Braunschweiger that’s only meh, with sauerkraut. But today I expect to addsomething good to the fridge: I have ordered freshly made corned beef hash froma smoked meat company in Wisconsin. Yes, I fell for Facebook marketing—the pictureof that has in a skillet just looked irresistible. Christian said he’d eat itwith me; Jordan said she has a dinner meeting😊I’m thinkingcreamed corn would be good with hash.
So what’s in the way back ofyour fridge?
