I didn’t know what my husband would think, let alone my stepson, but I threw out the turkey breast they had been saving for about two years, the one part of the fowl they kept from a hunting trip. My husband, John, always says that wild turkeys are not nearly as tasty as farm turkeys, so I’m not sure why they felt the need to save this. It was not Travis’ first turkey. Far from it. So the sentimental argument fell flat. And even if it had once been prime poultry, would the turkey really have been worth eating after two years of freezer burn?
Add to this the Stuffed Sole with Scallops and Crabmeat we received in a gift package from Omaha Steaks three years ago but would never eat, the leftover Pierogies that looked promising in the store but tasted like greasy mush by the time they made it to the dinner table, and the leftover Rhodes frozen dinner rolls that I could never get to rise, and we had quite a full garbage bag of food destined for the nearest landfill. What a waste. Yet it was better to unload it than to keep it and wonder what to do with it. I had to stop the madness, the continual debate occurring in my head every time I opened the freezer door. “Yuck. Sole. Who eats sole? But we can’t throw it out. What if we…no, I can’t do it. I just can’t bring myself to prepare it. But we can’t throw it out…”
The stress of eating out all the time was taking its toll, too. As I mentioned before, this last year I put a ton of hours in at work. Many nights I would call John around 5:30 and ask if he could meet me for dinner. I would then go back to work until 8:00 or so. I worked many Saturdays as well. So when I was home, we went out because I was too tired to think about cooking.
As frugal as we tried to be when we dined out (no alcohol, no desserts, coupons when available, etc.), we still spent $5500 on it in 2010. Yikes!
While I was at it, clearing away all the stuff I knew we would never eat, I actually took an inventory of what we had left.
Wow. Novel idea. A business would never dream of not knowing what inventory it had under its roof along with a systematic plan to keep it moving, but I had never thought of taking stock under my own roof.
It took some time, but as I counted the four pounds of ground venison, the three packages of chicken breasts, the two pork roasts, and a partridge in a pear tree (Oopsie. Hey, were you paying attention?), I began to think of things I could actually make with this food. I didn’t want to have to go through another purging day. Granted, it was freeing. But maybe someone I knew could have made the pierogies without turning them to slop. Maybe someone would have considered the seafood a special treat. You know?
Anyway, I committed in 2011 to spend more time at home, period. And to spend more time cooking for my family as well. In January, we spent $220 on eating out. Little better, huh? Now if I could just cut out that morning McDonalds run, think of the money we’d save…
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