Lately my life has been full of little ironies. Let’s break them down in bullet points because I need a little happy in my life right now, and you know how I feel about bullet points. They make me giddy. What can I say: I’m sick, I know. ♫”You down with [OCD.] Yeah, you know me. Who’s down with [OCD.] Every last homie.”♫
- Back in June, I shared how eating clean keeps you healthy and then I got nailed by a virus followed immediately by a sinus infection. By the way, what the hell is a virus? I think it stands for “you look like shit, you feel like shit, but we don’t know what’s wrong with you, so we can’t prescribe anything for it. Good luck though.”
- In September, I mocked all things pumpkin despite it’s ridiculously overwhelming popularity in the blog world. Yep, I said ridiculous. C’mon peeps, isn’t it time to move onto a different flavor? After my pumpkin diatribe, of course I got a pumpkin in my CSA share that week. Upon receiving said pumpkin, I dropped to my knees and cried out “Why God, why?” I think he laughed.
- Just last weekend, I finally decided to join the pumpkin madness because if ya can’t beat them, join them. I should have just beaten them…with my unicorn. I finally roasted my pumpkin and got all MacGyver on its ass (Do pumpkins have glutes?) and made myself a puree, which was supposed to keep in the fridge for five days. Then Sandy hit, we lost power and I lost the contents of my fridge. You can kiss my pumpkin puree bye-bye.
- The final slap in the face: I decided to take pictures of my fridge last Sunday so I could blog about it, which means I have photographic evidence of every morsel I had to toss. Of course, I had just gone grocery shopping on Saturday so the fridge was fully stocked, locked and loaded.
Let’s break it down, and we’ll go in order of appearance, which trumps alpha order today, for obvious reasons. If they aren’t obvious, you aren’t an OCD neat freak. Bully for you.
Top Shelf (from left to right): 2 dozen eggs, oranges, beet juice, the Hubby’s ground beef, the Hubby’s cows milk and orange juice (not from a cow because that would be weird or a frankenfood).
Middle Shelf: Beer (lots and lots of beer), Hard Cider, Pumpkin Juice, Strawberries, Raspberries, Cauliflower (from my CSA), Maple Syrup, yogurt, Tupperwares of pumpkin puree and energy bars, artichoke spread, rose wine, and prepackaged lunches from my beloved grocery store, Nature’s Bin (squash ravioli, pear and cheese stuffed tortellini with fennel, Thai peanut noodles and Moroccan Veggies with couscous).
Two Crispers (not pictured): asparagus, beets (rhymes and rhythms), bell peppers, broccoli, carrots (another CSA score), celery, jalapeno peppers, snap peas, spinach, and thyme.
Left Door Top Shelf: baking soda, earth balance butter, jams. Middle Shelf: my Almond Breeze milk, white wine, veggie stock. Bottom Shelf: avocado oil, barbecue sauce, tomato juice, salad dressing, soy milk and Kalmata olives.
Right Door Top Shelf: (barely pictured): mustard, unsweetened apple sauce, more baking soda and seltzer water. Middle Shelf: raw unsweetened coconut flakes, pineapple juice, ketchup, water, and Peach champagne. Bottom Shelf (barely pictured): unsalted and salted butter.
Bottom Draw: (not pictured): spinach tortilla wraps, corn tortillas (for my huevos rancheros) and hummus. Pictured: cucumber and an insane amount of cheese: blue cheese crumbles, Parmesan cheese, Feta, Havarti, smoked cheddar, more Parmesan, Colby cheese, a block of mozzarella and a ball of mozzarella.
Now that I’ve shared the entire contents of my fridge, which is complete and total exposure, I’m sure there will be some appalled by my food choices, but I stand by them. I even stood by them as I pitched them all in the trash, and I almost cried when I lost all my beloved cheese. What I did learn through this experience is I have a lot of alcohol in my fridge for someone who doesn’t drink very much. Weird, but true. I also keep enough food on hand to feed a small army, and I’m addicted to cheese, which is why my stomach will never be perfectly flat. Oh well, the beautiful thing about living in Ohio is my belly won’t see the light of day for at least another eight months.
In the grand scheme of things, I lost a pretty penny in food costs, but nothing of real value. Everyone I know and love is safe and sound, so I decided to take advantage of my situation. Spin it around, so to speak.
I did what any good OCD neat freak would do, I went to town cleaning the fridge. Granted I do this every couple of months, but it was due for another round. Look I love my CSA, but man those veggies are filthy. Literally they are covered in dirt, and I get it, veggies grow in the dirt so they should be dirty, but it takes a toll on my fridge.
I took out every drawer, every shelf and scrubbed them clean. I also went to town on the interior walls, and by the time I was done, all was right in my weird little world once more. When things are clean and organized, I am happy. I also put back the few items I didn’t have to pitch: the alcohol, my carrots (my CSA lives to see another day), the oranges, a beet, some condiments, the fruit juices and the butter. I find it strange the butter was salvageable, but according to the internet, which everyone knows is factual and always true, the butter is still good. If I get food poisoning in the very near future, we’ll all know why.
Then I went to the grocery store to restock. Sadly, my sweet little mom and pop shop, Nature’s Bin, is still closed due to a lack of power, so I hit up Earth Fare instead. I didn’t want to go there, and I felt like a cheating spouse the entire time, but I had to do it. It has been over a week since I’ve cooked or eaten my own food, which explains my crappy energy levels and overall blase′ attitude.
Now that I’m officially restocked, I can’t wait to get back in the kitchen and get my cook on. ♬“I’m bringing [cooking] back. Them other boys don’t know how to act.” ♬
What’s in your fridge? What item do you use the most, and what item do you use the least? Do you think I should pitch the butter too (I’m kind of scared)?
Jessie says
Awe bless your heart girl! Well your new fully restocked fridge looks great.
Foods I use the most: All the veggies & fruit
Foods I use the least: Wing sauce
Meghan says
Yep, I don’t touch the barbecue sauce, the ketchup or the mustard. That’s all the Hubby.
kirsten@FarmFreshFeasts says
I think you should make cookies with the butter.
My fridge got a thorough cleaning after the derecho knocked out our power for 4 days this summer. Of course I was cleaning out the fridge in the kitchen, silly me, and somehow the pipe in the basement that drains the kitchen backed up. Into the utility sink. The pipe that drains the bathrooms was unaffected, thank goodness. So we went from having no power but having water, to having water and sewer but not in the kitchen. Then, while washing the large fridge shelves and drawers upstairs in the tub, a piece of crud from my 80 yr old pipes lodged open the valve so I was unable to shut off the water in the shower/tub. Of course that meant that I had to turn the water off at the main, since I could not access the shower valve. It was an exciting time. Made me forget about what all I had to toss from the fridge (though I do recall moving my precious cheese hoard to a cooler filled with ice for the duration, since we were eating sandwiches during that time).
But this is your blog, so I’ll wind back to you and say that your clean fridge looks absolutely stunning and I am in awe. Though I won’t put it past me to wait until a power outage before I give mine a thorough cleaning again, because the spouse is the one with OCD, not me.
Meghan says
Oh my gosh, that’s horrible. What a story; I’m glad you saved the cheese though.
You spouse is the OCD one huh…that must be rough on you. I always wonder what it might be like to live with one of us.
By the way, cookies with the butter is a great idea.
Eating 4 Balance says
Oh no! That’s terrible. I think I would cry if I had to toss all of my food… At least it gave you a good excuse to go shopping!
Do you like EarthFare? I’ve been meaning to go, but whenever I head up Columbus I usually get sucked into the usual Whole Foods and Trader Joe’s because that’s what I’m familiar with. I’ve heard that EarthFare has a good variety though.
Meghan says
Earth Fare does have a good variety and the store was clean and well laid out. They didn’t have anything local so that was disappointing, but they have an entire cheese department so bonus points there.
Allie says
Can you come clean and organize my fridge for me? Seriously, I cleaned it when I first moved in, but since then? I think I wiped a shelf once when I spilled something. Eggs are definitely the most-used item in my fridge. Or almond milk. Those are always there. Least used? Yeah, I’ve have five beers out of a six-pack sitting in there for months. I just wanted the one! I’ll get to the rest eventually…
Meghan says
Yeah no problem….cleaning and organizing is kind of my thing. I actually keep paper towels on the shelves of the fridge so I can just pitch them once they start to get gross. Makes for easy fridge maintenance.
Eggs are pretty much the bomb: so filling, so much protein, so many different ways to eat them and all so delicious.
Allie says
Okay, that paper towel idea is genius–plus I have enough paper towels for a small army thanks to Costco and my inability to NOT buy cheap things.
Heather @ Kiss My Broccoli says
And the cheese makes a COMEBACK!! Love it! A fridge without cheese is a sad fridge indeed. And just so you know…you can quote me on that! 😉 Good for you for turning a sad day into a productive one! I totally would’ve done the same thing…sparkly clean/organized spaces make me so incredibly happy!
Since I’m planning on taking a trip this weekend, there’s actually not a lot of stuff in my fridge right now. I’ve got 1/2 an onion, 1/4 of a bell pepper, and 2 lemons…that about does it in the produce department. Other than that I have my usual stock of dairy love: cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, and lots of CHEEEEEEESE (goat cheese, mozzarella, pepperjack, colby, and I think there’s some cream cheese in there somewhere too!), condiments out the ASS, and oh yeah, I have a lot of booze in mine too. BB left a little over a six pack of beer that I’ll probably never drink but I’ve also got my sugar free margarita mix, grenadine, and an Oktoberfest that I’m saving for a rainy day!
Things I use the most: cottage cheese and yogurt…yeah, I could NEVER be vegan 😉 and eggs an produce when I have them (I miss eggs…it’s been a WEEK since I’ve had one)
Things I use the least: the container of miso that I’ve had for over a year and a bottle of sriracha that I’ve had for no telling how long! Lol
Don’t be skeered of the butter…I’m sure it’s fine!
Meghan says
I thought about taking this opportunity to cut cheese from my diet…and then I decided against it and stocked back up. I love it too much, although I’ve never tried the substitutes so who knows. I couldn’t give up eggs either; they are such a staple in my house.
I hope you have a great trip and can’t wait to hear/see all about it.