eguillot Asked September 2013
What is it with women in their 80's & 90's who will keep food in the refrigerator till it's unrecognizable?
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The funniest thing I ran across was a sweet potato pie from 1990. I told my mother I was tossing it. She said no, no, it's still good. Well, personally I don't eat sweet potato pie. Nor did my father. So I asked my mother if she was going to eat it. No. I asked her if Dad was going to eat it. No. I said I wasn't, either. And into the trash it went.
I don't think it is a depression era thing. I really think it is an "out of sight, out of mind" and "too lazy to clean the freezer and refrigerator" thing. There was so much old food in the refrigerator, freezer, and cabinets, there wasn't enough room for good food.
I tend to try to eat our leftovers within 3 days. If we haven't eaten it by then, we're probably sick of it. I have been known, however, with a large roast, to freeze part of the leftovers for later.
I don't like decomposing meat Captain. I like mine nice and red. When it starts turning brown or gets that little bit of a smell to it, it's just nasty to me. One step above maggots. Sorry. I won't eat fuzzy food, either, unless it's peaches. My MIL insists both are fine, along with sour milk. Blech!
No ambulance was needed for the cinammon rolls. But both of them took really long naps LOL.
Spoony, yup, I'm the same way... Captain, oh yeah, I don't slap a steak on the grill unless it's room temperature and has been sitting out awhile... Assandache, that post made me lol...and I bet that works, too...
I used to work as a server at Golden Corral. Omg, the waste... You would not, can not, believe waste on that kind of scale. After awhile I became kind of numb to it, but still... it never failed to boggle my mind... People that piled their plates to overflowing with food...then pushed the plate aside, barely even touched, only to go get another... I mean...what? And these were grown adults! I was trashing whole chicken legs and breasts, piles of vegetables and salads, mounds of mac and cheese, rolls with a single bite out of it... And most of the leftover stuff at the end of the night went into the garbage. I asked my manager if we couldn't box up the food in clean containers, bag it up in several layers of bags, and leave it close to the dumpsters at night, for anyone homeless that might appreciate that untouched food not going in the garbage...he said no, it was against the law... Lawd! What a world... If it's not bad, we eat it around here, period.
I've got one that tops it all: a jar of oregano from 1961. Granted, herbs & spices do have a longer shelf life, but not that long!!!
i have a female friend who wastes more food than i could ever eat. she always profoundly states that " joey wont eat leftovers " . bullshit. joey would eat backhand if he were my spawn..
I tell her it might give her "the runs", so she'll throw it out!!
But then again she's still alive at 91.....
It irritates me quite a bit watching my older brother throwing away good food for the reason of not having enough room in the fridge. God knows there's plenty of room, but he does just that, and then he goes on complaining of the high prices. I keep my mouth shut as this is his house. But this isn't happening at my place, oh no.
Everything to his own, I guess.
My mom also "saves" her good nightgown for the time she might go to the hospital. I keep saying, "Mom, you're almost 94. You've been to the hospital many times. When did you ever use that gown? Start wearing it at home!!" She also saves her good address labels and uses the free ones they send her in the mail. I tell her when she goes, I'll have 5,000 very nice address labels of hers I can't use. You just have to laugh about it.
But you also have to remember that older people in that age bracket lived during the depression and didn't throw anything away and used it two or three times if they could. My 92 year old Mother, if she uses a paper towel to wipe up water, will let it dry to re-use it, sometimes more than once. When she had cookouts or something, it drove me nuts that she'd wash the plastic utensils to use another time. They are much more frugal than we are today. While it hurts me a bit, I know it is best, but lately I've been throwing away tons of food at Mother's because she just isn't eating. Oh, if she had her right mind, she'd be mortified at the amount of food she has been wasting. I go over and will find 4 or 5 dirty paper towels folded that she's intending to use again. I just toss them.
If our economy got much worse than it is, that older generation would survive much better than today's younger generation. They've been through it before.
I think it's partly a personality trait. I'm kind of a hoarder, and I hate to waste things. I have to get my daughter to throw stuff out, because it sort of hurts.
These women did grow up in the early days of refrigeration. They remember when lots of foods were stored in the cupboard, not the fridge. Mustard, peanut butter, bread. They were probably raised in homes where any food that came into the house disappeared pretty quickly down someone's throat, because they had less food available. They are less likely to be germ-phobic.
Then there's this method of deciding if a left-over has spoiled. Leave it in the refrigerator for two weeks, and then you'll be able to tell if you should throw it out! Ya gotta laugh. Good luck.