Food waste seems to be the newest buzz around the blogs and the rest of the media. It makes sense, since we're in a period of rising household expenses. It's time to examine the budget and look at how much food we actually throw away. 

I recently mentioned in a comment on How Much Do We Waste? two things:

1. In examining our own food consumption and waste over the last few weeks I've realized there is no try, only do. It's hard coming to terms with that. My road to hell is paved with plastic containers of moldy leftovers.

2. We're moving to Burundi, in East Africa, very soon. We're told that the housekeepers pick up any scrap of food from the garbage to take home. There's no such thing as food waste there; they can't afford it. Every bit of food gets eaten. The economy is tough here, but it's not that tough for that many people yet.

We're getting down to our last two weeks before we move and this is always a time of eating down the fridge. We move nearly every year, so this is a familiar routine by now. Especially this time, since it's not just a move across town--or even across the country--we can't take it with us.

Some of our pantry items we'll be able to mail to ourselves if the movers won't take them (they get picky about openned products sometimes). But those frozen cornish hens? We're planning a feast on Sunday in honor of taking our first malaria pills. The frozen pork tenderloin? It's gotta go too. And soon, because we always end up with leftovers and we'll need time to make and then eat all the sandwiches.

Before we can start this strategic, evacuating eating, the fridge needs to be cleaned out. Why is this such an emotional process, akin to cleaning out a clothes closet? Is it the guilt of all that uneaten food that will be tossed? It took me a week of thinking about it and gearing myself up before I actually did it. That's where all the aforementioned plastic containers of moldy leftovers came from. But we can't eat the good foods until we throw out the bad stuff and see what's actually there. It's a cleansing experience on more than one level.

So we're having a few weird meals based on what's already there. Last time we did this the result was peanut butter and jelly quesadillas. Nothing that weird yet, but we're only at the beginning. You have to get creative when you're limiting your options like that.

And we always vow that a new home will mean new habits in food consumption because we don't want to throw away so much food again next time. That never happens. Maybe moving to Burundi is just the kick in the butt we need. 

I blog regularly at Where in the World Am I?