I almost threw up a few weeks ago.
I wasn’t sick with the fall flu. I hadn’t eaten too much. It wasn’t even a morning when I was faced with the prospect of cleaning up cat vomit on my way to the shower.
I simply cleaned out my pantries.
A long overdue job (that I usually hate), I began to pull out boxes and cans of food that had been shoved to the back of my cupboards. I realized that most of it had spoiled.
BEST BY 29 AUG 07
BEST BY 10 OCT 06
2006? Was that really the last time I’d done this?
Here is the truth:
- I buy too much.
- I am disorganized.
- I don’t use what I have.
So my food spoils. And I am forced to put it in the garbage. I do it with produce too. But much more often than every two years. The squash looks so good at the market. I buy it. On the way home I remember why I usually throw it out. It takes so much effort to practically force feed my children vegetables that I usually don’t bother. I get lazy. It sits in the crisper and spoils. And, I can’t really eat 2lbs. of zucchini by myself.
In the midst of my pantry organizing I dragged several bags of post-dated cans of soup, tuna, and pasta sauce out to my garbage cans. I heaved them up and over and then I almost became sick.
I realized how many people could have been fed by my spoiled food. I decided that I was never going to do this again.
That was about 8 weeks ago. Since then, I’ve thrown away less fresh food. I’m cooking at home more and making my girls eat the squash. My shelves are still organized and I’m trying very hard to use what I have. I am buying less at the store too.
I know that this by itself does NOTHING to actually fight world hunger or combat poverty. But I want to be a person who CONSUMES LESS in order that I may GIVE MORE.
Every night I tuck my daughters into bed with clean sheets, washed hair and full tummies. This is a luxury I take for granted. When I cook dinner, we usually have leftovers for lunch tomorrow. This is also a luxury. We had been wasting so much because of my laziness and disorganization.
We have heat. We have clean water in our faucets. We have doors that lock and a safe neighborhood.
How many mothers don’t know what their little boys will eat tomorrow for breakfast, or if their babies will have milk? How many mothers cannot afford to seek medical care for a sick child?
I am beyond rich compared to most of the world. In fact, I am abundantly wealthy.
I know I need to do more. I want to do more.
What do you do? What will you do?
for my part, i turn to sites like freerice, kiva, and goodsearch, as ways to help alleviate poverty online.
saw this post via the front page of blog action day. it’s great that you’re participating.
I’m like you. We are abundently blessed. A couple of years ago I made the commitment to only buy things we will ACTUALLY use. I’m not perfect at it. But we are definitely better than we used to be. Great post.
This post moved me… what do I do… I certainly need to do more. I travel overseas a lot. I typically pack a ton of clothes and a TON of toys to give away (if I am going to a poor nation). I know it’s not food, but to see the look on the faces of the kids to get a toy is a wonderful feeling. When I went to Morocco last summer we went into a very poor area with bags of clothes and toys and started handing stuff out. Poor kids came out of the woodwork and we were so grateful. When I go to the Philippines I do the same thing, but I also hire some of the people around me to do stuff so they can earn some money… they love it! It’s so little to us, but so much to them. I have cousins who make $2 a day, working 12 hour days, and they feel blessed to have a job. Anyway… I’ve been doing mostly lurking lately but I thought I would comment on this one.
Amazing post, Sarah! Thank you again for being real and making me THINK.
Even during the times past when our money has been tight, we’ve always had groceries, heat, lights. I so am thankful to our Creator for the blessings we have!
We, too, have taken the things in our fridge and pantry for granted. What gets me most?…pouring out a half gallon of milk because we didn’t drink it. As I take the time to dump it down the drain, my heart hurts for those who don’t have the opportunity to have the milk in the first place.
this is now marked as one of my sarahmarkey favorites!!!
WOW…Thank you for telling it like it is. I think that we forget about how blessed we are.
Definately a favorite. I have been waiting for it. I remember in Alece’s comments you stating that something had just happened that you were going to wait and blog about. It was worth the wait.
Beautiful, let me think about what I can do. I know that we can do so much. Every little thing counts.
The realization of how blessed I truly am has been in the forefront of my mind lately. I am blessed by having a home, food, clothing, healthy kids, the list goes on and on.. We are better off than many many people.
Since we are now on a strict budget, the food thing has become a huge eye opener for me. I would say I was sort of a “hoarder” when it came to food. I wanted to have supplies for most things I make so I wouldn’t have to run to the store for just that one thing. Now that I am meal planning consistently I have seen the abundance in my pantry dissipate. I am buying what we need and then having a few supplies on hand in a case i need to bring a last minute dessert to a party, shower, or get together.
Great post, definitely has me thinking what more I can do.
hey sarah! i know what you mean! when we first got married and moved in we stocked up on canned goods…the things our mom’s always had in the pantry. only to find ourselves a)running out of space and b)not eating it. so our challenge this year was to buy each week only what we eat. yes, it requires me to be more organized and meal plan a week ahead, but it also challenges us to eat in and eat the food we decided to purchase. meals at home always equal more time together with meaningful conversation. oh and btw, i hide squash, carrots and zucchini in my food all the time and daniel does not know better! =)