The deepest, darkest corners of my tiny condo freezer are the place good intentions go to die. As a result of I’m often cooking for only one or two folks, I usually have a ton of leftovers, particularly little odds and ends, that I simply can’t bear to throw into the trash. As such, I’m without end sticking a container of uneaten beans or a single hen breast into the freezer, by no means to be seen once more.
These random leftovers pile up over time, particularly when mixed with the containers of additional soup, knobs of ginger, baggies stuffed with cooked rice, and remnants of pasta sauce or pesto, turning my freezer into a fairly terrifying place. It’s an icy museum of my failures — all of the meals I’ve allowed to turn into freezer burned in favor of brisker, extra compelling groceries.
Just a few months in the past, these random piles of Ziploc luggage and precarious stacks of pint containers grew to become untenable, and in a second of desperation, I merely threw all of them away.
Though, sure, I did really feel responsible within the second, tossing the contents of my freezer into the dumpster was an train in liberation. With my freezer empty of all of the random stuff I’d already refused to eat on numerous events, I used to be now free to inventory it with meals I truly would eat. Instantly there was room for Dealer Joe’s frozen snacks just like the edamame pods I like to steam, then douse with ponzu and chile crisp for a simple aspect dish. (You realize, objects which are designed particularly to carry up properly within the freezer.)
You would possibly need to metal your nerves for the method, as a result of cleansing out your freezer requires full and whole honesty with your self. You should be keen to confess that you just’re not going to show these ice-coated hen filets into dinner and that you just’re virtually actually not going to cook dinner with something that’s frozen into an unrecognizable mass. It’s seemingly that a lot of the meals in your freezer has been there longer than specialists advocate. Many frozen meals begin to degrade considerably after only some months, and whereas they’re fit for human consumption, they’re often mushy and gross.
You need to make peace with the truth that this meals has already been wasted, and holding on to it doesn’t do something to unravel the actual drawback of American meals waste. It’s a disgrace that it’s virtually unimaginable to purchase the small quantity of hen you want on the grocery retailer as a result of every little thing’s bought in monumental household packs. And it’s equally shameful that, on this place of abundance, many individuals are unable to afford to purchase sufficient meals. However the outdated hen breasts in your freezer aren’t the foundation of systemic starvation, and throwing out a single trash bag of discarded meals isn’t a local weather catastrophe. (Should you’re actually feeling bizarre in regards to the waste, take into account donating just a little money or a couple of hours of your time to a meals pantry, the place you may truly make a distinction as an alternative of stewing in your guilt.)
When you’ve received a clear slate, you may inventory your freezer in a approach that is smart on your life. Purchase a couple of bins to maintain your staples organized, or perhaps set up a shelf that may help you make the most of any unused vertical house. Then head to the grocery retailer with the intention of shopping for solely what you want for the week, and make a psychological word to peek inside your freezer as soon as a month or so and toss something that appears suspect.
It is likely to be just a little painful at first, however you’re not going to remorse trashing all of the scary stuff in your freezer. Repeat that mantra to your self as you pull all these sketchy containers from the cabinets, and energy by way of. And should you do end up feeling responsible, attempt to channel that power into constructing extra sustainable buying habits — ones that received’t flip your freezer right into a corridor of subzero horrors.
Emily Chu is a illustrator, muralist, and visible artist primarily based in Edmonton, Canada.
