Today's lunch

[mrs_sweetpeach]

One of my goals for the year has been to consume all of the various foodstuffs filling our pantry shelves to overflowing. The shelves are still far too full, but I have made progress. Last week I pulled out the bag of seitan that's alternated between taunting and frightening me for the past year. I recall buying it during one of my many failed attempts at improving my diet, but as usual I was too lazy and/or too chicken to actually cook the stuff. (Five a day? Yeah right. Five a week -- if I'm being particularly conscientious.)

Anyway, I pulled the bag of seitan down and, just as I remembered, there was a recipe for Faux BBQ on the back. Which jebra kindly cooked up for me. (Not that I couldn't have done it -- soak the seitan in water for five minutes, drain off the excess, add a bottle and a half of your favorite BBQ sauce and let cook in a slow cooker for about 4 hours). The resulting mixture was edible. I wouldn't call it good, but being as cheap as I am, I couldn't bring myself to throw it out or even to add it to the compost bin. I've been dutifully consuming the stuff, and brought the last serving to work this morning.

Happily, the BBQ improves (somewhat) with age. On the other hand, while I was in the midst of my meal, the UPS delivery arrived, and, being me, I couldn't resist opening the packages to see what was in them. One of the packages contained a UPS (which we will be delivering to my mother's house tonight) and a lot of static-laden packing materials. A part of a piece of "popcorn" was stuck to the side of my hand when I sat down to finish my lunch and I wondered what would happen if it fell off and into my bowl. Would I notice? Would it taste better? I decided not to find out and shook the piece off and into the trash. But I still wonder.

Comments

[maddiec24.livejournal.com]

LOL! Hi! I"ve been cooking all day, now I have to do some last minute cleaning. J's cleaning the carpet for me.

[rmeidaking.livejournal.com]

The quickest way to empty a pantry is to Not Buy Any New Food. You can't visit the grocery store again until the last ramen brick is gone. You can't go out to dinner while there is still a can of baked beans in there somewhere.

My solution to this is to periodically give everything that's been there for a year or so to a food pantry. Someone there might not appreciate it, but they'll eat it.

[mbumby.livejournal.com]

My lessons, learned even though I'm quite cheap:

- When the can explodes, do not eat the contents, even those that haven't escaped.
- When the hot dogs turn green, they are no longer food.
- When the mustard goes bad, despite being in an unopened container, I've had it way too long.

I've done the food gatherers thing too, although figuring out what's been there how long is sometimes a challenge. For a while I took to writing in sharpie on everything the date I bought it, but gave up after a while. And with a date on it I was too embarrassed to give it to charities.

And honestly? I'm a little sorry I missed the seitan. I'm always curious about new foods. Is it something that you've learned from and will never buy again, or will you consider it if you find a recipe you're willing to try?

I once tried a "natural" cereal, and the 3 of us eating it all decided that the cardboard box it came it was likely more edible, and certainly more tasty than the contents. I sent a complaint to the company, and they sent me a gift certificate to buy more.

[bwittig.livejournal.com]

Rubbing Alcohol removes sharpie ink.

Just sayin...