Iron Stomach

I've been going through a purge in my fridge and food cupboard. This is probably a good thing. I am somewhat well known for my ability to hoard food. I'm not entirely sure where this behavior came from. I see things I like, and then I just like to have them, but I don't always use them. But I do like to have them. This means I accumulate things and then I can be reluctant to actually use the things I have.

So last week I just started throwing out things in the fridge that have been there over a year. Or two. No, I'm not joking. Don't judge me. At some point those things would have still been fine, but I came to my senses and decided they probably weren't. And now the amount of time had passed of my having them that I probably didn't want to find out if they were still edible or not, so out they went. Which was good- cleared up some space in my fridge.

But then there were some other things that I thought even though they were old, I would probably still try them because I figured they were most likely okay. However, I am trying to push myself towards actually using these things, before another year passes and they cross some magic line in my head that means they just go straight to the trash.

So for lunch today I decided to try this bag of Japanese vegetables that was sort of vacuum packed and only two years past its best by date. In truth, they were completely fine. The vegetables were unseasoned, so just had a mild flavor and I added spice, sesame oil, soy sauce, and sesame seeds and ate it with rice and it was completely fine. Still, part of me has a slightly edgy twang for having eaten something that was two years past its date. So if I never post again, or end up in the hospital having my stomach pumped, we will all know why.

I know that my attitude towards food freshness is probably extreme, but on the other hand, I think that people throw away things that are perfectly fine and edible far too often. Don't worry though, if you come to my house, it's highly unlikely I would serve you very out of date stuff. I tend to save that sort of experimentation for myself.