Show us your fridge!

JAS_OH1 said:
Oh, I remember stories about your mother's refrigerator, like finding a mostly rotten pepper and wanting to throw it out, only to have her retrieve it and cut the 20% part out that wasn't rotten to use it for something...was that you or someone else?
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I recently cooked a meal and brought it over to my folks. I made pulled pork and slaw and a cake.

I brought everything, including buns and pickles, etc, and my mom looked at me strangely and commented that it was odd that I bothered to pack up condiments and bring them over, because she had all that stuff.

"I just wasn't sure what you had, so I thought I better just bring everything."

Later, my brother (who also ate with us) pulled me aside and said, "Bro, I'm so glad you brought everything - I thought I was going to have to eat a moldy bun and pickles from 1983!"

"Why'd you think I brought everything? I grew up here, too, you know..."

:laugh:
 
TastyReuben said:
I recently cooked a meal and brought it over to my folks. I made pulled pork and slaw and a cake.

I brought everything, including buns and pickles, etc, and my mom looked at me strangely and commented that it was odd that I bothered to pack up condiments and bring them over, because she had all that stuff.

"I just wasn't sure what you had, so I thought I better just bring everything."

Later, my brother (who also ate with us) pulled me aside and said, "Bro, I'm so glad you brought everything - I thought I was going to have to eat a moldy bun and pickles from 1983!"

"Why'd you think I brought everything? I grew up here, too, you know..."

:laugh:
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I honestly can relate. When my mother was still alive and I used to go visit her, I would routinely clean out her refrigerator first thing before tackling the kitchen and had to throw most of the stuff away, as it was expired, with her calling out from the back of the house, "Don't you throw anything away!" I remember one time going there and making myself a sandwich and asking her how old the mayonnaise was, and her telling me that she had just bought it the other day. So, I looked at the expiration date, and it had been expired for over two years. Now I suppose there is a chance that she bought expired mayonnaise from the grocery store, since I have found expired products on the shelves more than once (ever watch some stock personnel stocking the shelves by shoving the new product in from the front without rotating the stuff from the back?), but since it was my mother, that's doubtful. Also, it's more likely if you buy something expired from the store it's by a few days/weeks/months, not a few years.

Also, you ever hear your mom say, "Well smell it, if it still smells good it's okay." I've had stuff that still smelled okay taste terrible or give me a stomach ache, so I learned that's not a very good rule of thumb.

I like the adage "When it doubt, throw it out" much better.
 
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JAS_OH1 said:
I honestly can relate. When my mother was still alive and I used to go visit her, I would routinely clean out her refrigerator first thing before tackling the kitchen and had to throw most of the stuff away, as it was expired, with her calling out from the back of the house, "Don't you throw anything away!"
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I had that same experience with my mom. She's a borderline hoarder, especially with food, and once it got so out of control, she begged me to come over and clean her fridge out.

At first I begged off, because I knew exactly how it would go, but she convinced me she was serious and needed help, so I came over to do the deed.

I was pitching things left and right, and at first it was ok, but then she started in:

"But I just bought that!"

"Mom, it says the expiration date is two years ago. You did not just buy that!"

"Well, I just opened it!"

By the end of it, I gave up, because she was going around behind me and picking things out of the trash and saving them for later to put back.
 
TastyReuben said:
I had that same experience with my mom. She's a borderline hoarder, especially with food, and once it got so out of control, she begged me to come over and clean her fridge out.

At first I begged off, because I knew exactly how it would go, but she convinced me she was serious and needed help, so I came over to do the deed.

I was pitching things left and right, and at first it was ok, but then she started in:

"But I just bought that!"

"Mom, it says the expiration date is two years ago. You did not just buy that!"

"Well, I just opened it!"

By the end of it, I gave up, because she was going around behind me and picking things out of the trash and saving them for later to put back.
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Yes, I understand perfectly. And I think I know partially where my mom's hoarding tendencies came from (it went beyond food but thankfully not to animals), as she grew up poor during the great depression, and then at times (mostly before I was born) when money was tight she stocked up when things were on sale because she had six children to feed. But then after we grew up and went away, she still bought too much. My mom never asked me for help and was rather resentful when I cleaned and organized it, but when I went to her house and threw stuff away, she did not pick the food out of the trash to put back, thank goodness. UGH.

I do understand her rationale, I raised my four stepchildren and I would stock up when things went on sale because they were active kids and ate a lot of food, and it was hard to learn new shopping habits after the kids grew up and moved out. Here I am 8 years after the last one left the nest and I have finally mastered how to shop and cook for two.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
she grew up poor during the great depression, and then at times (mostly before I was born) when money was tight she stocked up when things were on sale because she had six children to feed. But then after we grew up and went away, she still bought too much.
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That's exactly my mom's situation.
 
JAS_OH1 said:
To each their own. I like the lettuce crisp, but cold tomatoes are an abomination, IMO. After I pick them from the garden or even after buying them in winter, they NEVER go in the refrigerator, they sit looking pretty in an ornate dish on my kitchen counter.
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I meant "cold" in a relative term in regards to tomatoes. I store tomatoes at room temperature, too -- until I cut into one. Then, I either eat the whole thing, or put the leftover part in the fridge. A cut tomato grows fur pretty quickly if left out.

CD
 
TastyReuben said:
When we lived in San Antonio, we used to get bugs and ants in everything.

When we first moved there, we got an intro briefing about the area (standard military practice) and one of the things we were told was, "Get containers for all your dry goods and unbox and repack them as soon as you get home from the store."

Me: Seriously? That must be for people with poor cleaning habits. I'm not doing that!

Also me, 10 days later, at the container store: Yeah, I need four cereal containers, two flour containers, a sugar container...

:laugh:
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My parent's pool in San Antonio was a popular suicide spot for scorpions. I can't think of any other reason so many critters that can't swim would jump into a pool. Their automatic pool sweep would suck them up, and the pre-filter basket would be full of them.

BTW, my dad was stationed at Fort Sam in the 50s, and ended up back in SA as an oil company executive in the 80s. Full circle.

CD
 
JAS_OH1 said:
And baking soda. And calamine lotion.

When I was about 4 years old, they were doing construction in the lot next door. There was a plywood board lying flat. My friend and I were playing in the lot and I picked up the board. There was a mound of fire ants underneath. I was covered in ants and I ran home screaming. My mother filled up the bathtub and poured a box of baking soda in it. I remember the ants floating in the tub. After she dried me off, she slathered calamine lotion all over me and I had welts for several days. If I would have had an allergic reaction to bites I would gone into anaphylactic shock and I wouldn't be here most likely.

It was worse than having chicken pox, which I endured as a teenager.
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You did have an allergic reaction, just not a life threatening type of reaction. The bites activate histamines in the body. But, for most people, it just results in annoying consequences.

CD
 
Here's my wonderful fridge
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caseydog said:
I meant "cold" in a relative term in regards to tomatoes. I store tomatoes at room temperature, too -- until I cut into one. Then, I either eat the whole thing, or put the leftover part in the fridge. A cut tomato grows fur pretty quickly if left out.

CD
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Just reading this. I don't store cut tomatoes, I eat the whole thing. If I make salsa, I refrigerate it. Otherwise no cold tomatoes.
 
Yorky said:
I keep fresh tomatoes in the fridge. Should they be there longer than 3 days unused I'll drop them in boiling water for a minute, then peel and freeze them. Defrosted and liquidised they are ideal for chilli and curries.

Frozen tomatoes s.jpg

Frozen tomatoes s.jpg

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I will freeze them. We have such an abundance of tomatoes in the summer it's ridiculous, way more than we can eat even after we have given a bunch away. Our soil is prime for growing them. But I don't like the way they taste after being in the frig.
 
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