DixieMedley, who got rid of the above items from her kitchen, says "I rounded up everything with MSG or high fructose corn syrup and realized that I don't actually use ANY of this stuff, anyway. When was the last time I used pasta sauce from a jar? Don't know, but it had been so long that I tossed the nearly-full jar from my fridge last week. Of this, I'll miss the maple syrup the most."
Hey Cure-takers, how is Week Two going? Things got heated when I asked you to pitch your processed foods, and then wrote a post about what, exactly, are processed foods.
The reason I wanted you to pitch (or compost or donate) the worst of your processed foods is out of an ardent belief that it will help you get a few steps closer back to the source of your food, rather than continuing to divorce yourself from it. So the line isn't drawn in concrete: of course not all canned foods are evil, for example. I have canned and frozen foods in my kitchen. However, for me, the line does get more stringent when it comes to artificial ingredients.
Thats Swell says "I have WAY too many sprinkles, etc. for making cupcakes (my favorite). And at first I was reluctant to get rid of them, because I didn't want to just throw them out. Then I realized I could Freecycle them! These are all items waiting to be Freecycled."
There was also an issue brought up about the economy and the cost of food. I'll use the grape jelly example. Say you love grape jelly and you eat it every day, but when you looked at the label of your grape jelly, you noticed that it had high fructose corn syrup in it. High Fructose Corn Syrup is a highly processed sweetener with all kinds of health issues associated with it. So the point of this exercise was to understand what you have in your fridge and make a move toward change. That could mean everything from finishing that jar (after wiping it clean!) and buying a different brand next time made with sugar to pitching it (or donating it, or Freecycling it) right away and starting fresh with something more wholesome.
The point was to open your fridge and cupboards and read ingredients. Get to know your foods and think about where you'd like to make some changes.
This is rsun78's giveaway box. That isn't the only George Foreman Grill we've seen in Kitchn Cure outboxes!
You're also cleaning out junk drawers and wiping everything down. You might even be culling through your appliances and other supplies and paring down to what you really need.
You are, all 300 of you, doing an amazing job. Congratulations! If you haven't finished the assignments for this week, please give it your best shot. You need a clean slate because starting on Thursday when the Week Three assignment is posted, we'll start cooking. You're ready!
A few reminders:
• Upload your before and after photos to our Kitchn Cure Flickr page, making sure to label them with what they feature and whether it is "before," "during," or "after." There are over 500 photos and growing every day!
• Each week's assignment is given on Thursday, with related posts throughout the week (look for Kitchn Cure in the post title). We do a check-in on Tuesdays.
• Leave comments, questions and tips in the comment section. If you have a private question, email us.
Oh! Oh! I feel so famous... that first picture is mine!
(And I still need to run all that stuff down to my aunt, who I live behind!)
view Carla Jean's profile
DixieMedley, if you can get some real maple syrup, you won't miss what you got rid of.
view Joan A.'s profile
I still haven't gotten up the courage to post any photos. But my son did comment yesterday on how nice the kitchen was getting.
view ah-ha's profile
Joan, I'm with you! I've gotten so snooty about my maple syrup that I had a serious discussion with my mother about stashing syrup in my purse before we go out for breakfast! Everything they make is wonderful but they serve Mrs. Butterworth syrup. Bleh.
view Tiamat_the_Red's profile
Haha, well, I get the feeling I'll be paying more attention to MSG and high fructose corn syrup after this exercise.
view Carla Jean's profile
This is a lot of work and thank goodness we have 8 weeks. I am also getting rid of anything with hydrogenated oils, artificial preservatives, and high-fructose cornsyrup. I have also been getting my food put in neat containers instead of just thrown all over. Making our own pudding, cake and brownie mixes as well. I need to move into high gear as I am throwing a baby shower this Saturday.
view Robin Sue's profile
My husband has a reaction (not properly an "allergy") to processed corn, like high fructose corn syrup. It's amazing how much of that stuff is in, well, everything! The most recent hunt: I can't find a single brand of mint jelly (mint/apple jelly) in our local grocery stores that isn't full of the stuff. All the recipes I find make huge batches--not practical for something that we go through just a couple of jars a year. Even if I wanted to start canning (which I don't--no new projects right now!) I'm hoping when the farmers' markets and farm stands start back up (May for us) one of the jelly/jam makers will be willing to make some.
There are other condiments which we have started making. Supposedly, much of the peanut crop in this country alternates with cotton--which is the most heavily pesticided (is that a word?) crop in the world. So we now make our own peanut sauce from organic peanut butter. No additives, fresh herbs, spiced exactly how we want it. Great!
view RebeccaCT's profile
I didn't start with much that was processed (unless you want to get into the whole "flour is a processed food" thing, and I don't), so I've used my head start on week 2 to catch up on week 1, really. I have a very small kitchen, and very few appliances, but no matter how little you've got, it can get junked up. Also, my dear husband who is otherwise intelligent and methodical to a fault cannot seem to function in a kitchen at all. Never mind that the salt, for instance, is always, Always in the same place. If he uses it, it will go back...somewhere. I really need to be able to SEE everything so that when I'm trying to whip through dinner prep I can find that which is AWOL. I've tried for 8 years to bring him up to speed in the kitchen. I concede utter defeat and choose instead to bring the kitchen into a state that can't be so easily messed with.
view cmcinnyc's profile
I would have taken part in this challenge but it's something I already did about 8 months ago and can't really offer up any sort of "before" and "after" that is meaningful though I do applaud the efforts of those taking part in this!
One bit of advice I have though now that folks have cleaned out their pantries is that, when shopping, never buy exotic ingredients unless you plan on making the dish that requires them the very same day you buy them. One of the most wasteful things people do (and I used to do) is buy something that is outside of their usual list of foods to try some recipe they stumbled on and then put the ingredient in the cupboard where it sits for months as they never get around to cooking that unusual dish. Obviously, you should also always buy the smallest quantity of such atypical food items.
Also, know your time limits before going down the road of doing it all yourself. Making homemade ice cream, pasta, bread, tortillas, etc. for yourself sounds great but it's really hard to find the time to do such things so buying equipment for these endeavors is something you have to do only if you analyze your life and conclude you have the time and energy to do it all yourself. If you don't overestimate your ability to do homemade, you won't waste space and money on equipment.
view Orchid64's profile
I'm surprised to see the Ahhh!Laska hot cocoa in there, as I was under the impression that it was a pretty decent hot cocoa mix- essentially the same as pre-mixing it yourself in a jar.
We're working through the few "bad" foods in our house. Amusingly, we re-packaged the ramen noodles we had putting the noodles (we use them in salads) into another container and tossing the wrappings and seasoning packets.
Past that- we're more the "eat what we have and get better in the future" boat, and have been for a while. After spending a period of time on food charity, we ended up with food that we wouldn't normally purchase but were glad to have. We're not going to toss them, but have been of the mindset to get better after we use them up anyhow.
view Ether Maiden's profile
I am a week behind, but slowly making progress. I never realized how much processed food my husband and I eat. The cupboard and fridge clean-out really shocked me. A lot of our fresh food was going to waste while we seemed to be subsisting on convenience food and 100-calorie snack packs.
So this week I am emptying our coffers and vowed not to buy any more snack packs, opting for fresh fruit instead. This is a good thing for my budget and my post-baby weight loss efforts. I still need to finish the fridge and attack our drawers and appliances, but I am proud of my small bit of progress. We have a crappy little, galley kitchen, but I am inspired by your pictures and am determined to make the most of it.
view ShaniLO's profile
Any advice on how long to keep dried chilis?
view ah-ha's profile