I'm cleaning out a pantry and some closets and I don't understand

[Ginevra]

I don't understand how people in this household can want some item of food SO BADLY, asking me to please buy it, writing it on my list, and then, I buy it and they eat some, but once it has gotten down to about a third of the can/box/bag remaining, it becomes suddenly inedible. Why the hell is this? Why are honey roasted nuts, which were so very delicious at first, suddenly not delicious when the can is 2/3 empty? Why are cereals, so awesome when opened, rejected once the bag is 2/3 gone? Chips? Pretzels? Sunflower seeds? Dried apricots? Why are these things all yummy until, suddenly, they are not?

 

Rant over.

 

My pantry looks awesome now. But my trash can is full.

[Bluegoat]

I have wondered if they may actually start to taste stale, or less fresh.

 

Or if people feel inhibited about finishing things off.

[meena]

I am so guilty of this. I get food "fatigue" where if I have too much of something it seems gross to me. I find this happens with foods that only I eat and have to try to eat my way through the entire quantity.

[Arcadia]

My kids can tell how long a pack/can of nuts or cereal has been opened. Cereals start to taste stale even if kept in airtight containers. Dried apricots doesn't taste stale that fast but if we forget about them, it doesn't taste as nice. Even my husband can taste the difference but he will eat. My kids won't but they aren't the ones requesting such quantities. My kids ask for small packs, my husband goes for volume discount and so he ends up finishing the "stale" food.

 

We have food fatigue with chips and pretzels unless we have lots of guacamole to eat those with.

[Crimson Wife]

I have a teen that likes Fiber One Honey Clusters cereal but only the flakes and not the granola clusters :glare: At the bottom of the box, it's mostly clusters that she has picked out and put back into the box. So she will open the NEW box and not finish off the old one :cursing:  Her brother will finish off the old box before it goes stale but her opening the new box before the old one is used up annoys the heck out of me!

[Guest]

I do think "food fatigue" is one reason it happens, but there's a First World Problem aspect to that that I find especially irritating. Which is not to say *I* am never guilty of FWPs with respect to food.

[prairiewindmomma]

I repackage it into snack sized bags. It seems to renew the excitement.

[Guest]

I repackage it into snack sized bags. It seems to renew the excitement.

I'm totally doing that.

[Tap]

Lol...my mom always made "Tuesday special" cookies. They were a basic cookie dough with added left overs. That handfull of nuts, or granola, m&ms, dried fruits etc. They were usually good, but with a house full of kids, even if they weren't great, they still got eaten.

[Annie G]

My people have this issue with ice cream. And they buy their own so it's hard for me to get all ranty. Except it takes up space in my freezer. And drives me crazy.  Yesterday I threw out five containers of ice cream that were less than a third full. 

 

Why do they do this??? Why do they buy ice cream when they HAVE ice cream??? I buy a pint of Ben and Jerry's about once a month and buddy I am not going to waste a single spoonful. 

[Petrichor]

Oh, also, one more reason........it gets shoved to the back and people forget it's there. 

 

My pantry looks like that. We use the front row and whatever is directly behind it. The stuff behind the second row is >2 yr old. 

 

I don't know who thought a pantry that is as deep as a stove was a good idea. Seriously need to get around to putting organizing baskets in there or something.

[goldberry]

I recently cleaned out the pantry and threw away EIGHT 1/3 full bags of chips.  This is the doing of my husband.  He's sees we are low on chips.  He buys another bag.  Opens the new bag rather than finishing the previous one first.  Does anyone ever throw away the old bags?  No. Because everyone else is apparently blind to the fact there are eight partially full bags of chips in the pantry. :glare: It is only noticed when we run out of chip clips.  *sigh*

 

Disclaimer:  I don't eat chips. 

[SparklyUnicorn]

story of my life

 

Except I am also guilty of this myself sometimes.  LOL

 

 

[Guest]

Lol...my mom always made "Tuesday special" cookies. They were a basic cookie dough with added left overs. That handfull of nuts, or granola, m&ms, dried fruits etc. They were usually good, but with a house full of kids, even if they weren't great, they still got eaten.

My mom used to make "Cereal Sticks," on a similar theory. They were essentially sugar cookies rolled into a pretzel stick shape, rolled in whatever cereal nobody would eat. :D

[Guest]

I recently cleaned out the pantry and threw away EIGHT 1/3 full bags of chips. This is the doing of my husband. He's sees we are low on chips. He buys another bag. Opens the new bag rather than finishing the previous one first. Does anyone ever throw away the old bags? No. Because everyone else is apparently blind to the fact there are eight partially full bags of chips in the pantry. :glare: It is only noticed when we run out of chip clips. *sigh*

 

Disclaimer: I don't eat chips.

Exactly. Right down to the fact that we run out of clips. And the only chips I eat is Dill Pickle Chips, and just like the PP with her B&Js ice cream, I'm eating those Dill Pickle Chips right down to their salty last crumbs. Yum.

[goldberry]

Exactly. Right down to the fact that we run out of clips. .

 

Whenever someone says, "We need more chip clips!" you know it's time to clean the pantry! ;)

[SparklyUnicorn]

My mom used to make "Cereal Sticks," on a similar theory. They were essentially sugar cookies rolled into a pretzel stick shape, rolled in whatever cereal nobody would eat. :D

 

That's brilliant!

[kiwik]

My pantry looks like that. We use the front row and whatever is directly behind it. The stuff behind the second row is >2 yr old.

 

I don't know who thought a pantry that is as deep as a stove was a good idea. Seriously need to get around to putting organizing baskets in there or something.

Mine is 300 mm deep and it works much better.

[BusyMom5]

When mine gets like this, I ban them from opening anything until the rest is gone ;)  They finished off 2 bags of cereal this morning, and are happy to be able to open another kind tomorrow.  I'll even put it out on the counter, so they know it needs eaten before anything new is opened.  We have a lot of kids, though, and go through a lot of food!  The only things that don't get eaten are things that are just yucky from the beginning.  

[Tap]

When mine gets like this, I ban them from opening anything until the rest is gone ;)  They finished off 2 bags of cereal this morning, and are happy to be able to open another kind tomorrow.  I'll even put it out on the counter, so they know it needs eaten before anything new is opened.  We have a lot of kids, though, and go through a lot of food!  The only things that don't get eaten are things that are just yucky from the beginning.  

I find that I buy the same 5 cereals over and over.  I bought those plastic cereal boxes and now I just dump in new cereal as it needs refilled.  No more half boxes.  (I rotate the old to the top so it doesn't get stale).  I have 4 containers so I refill a container a few times, dump out the little bits/crumbs and put in a fresh kind.  Those containers are a wonderful invention and hold way more cereal than a box does, in about the same space.  I can usually put 2 smaller boxes into one container. 

[Seasider]

Same monster lives here. It's like the packages have cloaking devices that kick in when 25% remains.

[Seeking Squirrels]

So much this. I cleaned out and organized the pantry a couple of days ago and found TEN boxes of cereal, most of them down to the last quarter. I also pulled out several bags of chips/pretzels/veggie straws that were down to the last quarter or so. I think in part those go unnoticed because the bag gets rolled up and then it's small and gets "lost" on the shelves. Maybe the cereal gets stale? Or they get tired of it? 

[Elizabeth86]

Ok my kids usually finish stuff like that pretty well. Heres what drives me nuts. Dh buys weird oddball packages of meat and my freezer is stuffed full of weird stuff I dont know how to cook or no one likes. Chicken gizzards, fish that no one likes except him, pork skins and pork bellies pork tails. I mean what do you do with that stuff? He never gets around to fixing it. And he buys ribs which we all hate except him.

[happi duck]

Around here often the last little bit isn't eaten because "I thought someone else might want it". It's sort of hard to be unhappy with thinking of others but I do remind everyone that it's better if stuff doesn't go to waste.

 

What does bug me is that DH will often be the one who wants a leftover saved and yet never eats it. He works from home so he has ample opportunity.

 

I'd rather get rid of something right away then let it die in the fridge first!

[Murphy101]

And then here is me who just about loses my damn mind because my pantry will look like it's full bc apparently it makes total sense to some people in my household to put empty or might as well be empty containers back instead of doing the sane thing and marking it "to buy" on the list clipped right next to the door with an attached pen and then throwing the empty thing away.

 

5 pound bag of pancake mix? Total makes sense to just seal the top and put it back in the pantry with a quarter cup of mix left while giving the appearance of a full bag.

 

Cocoa power can? Sure there's only an 1/8 of a teaspoon left, we'll just put it right back on the shelf.

 

Gallon of milk had one swig left, better make sure it stays cold in the frig.

 

Only a sliver of real butter left in the wrap? Let's just wrap that back up and put it back in the box intended to hold 4 blocks. For sure mom will be thrilled with our thrifty ways when she thinks she has a whole box of butter and actually has basicly none.

 

*pulls hair out every time I try to make a meal*

 

My latest strategy is to refuse to grocery shop for the week until I have gone through the frig and pantry to clear them out. It doesn't rid the problem but it does reduce it.

[Guest]

Around here often the last little bit isn't eaten because "I thought someone else might want it". It's sort of hard to be unhappy with thinking of others but I do remind everyone that it's better if stuff doesn't go to waste.

 

What does bug me is that DH will often be the one who wants a leftover saved and yet never eats it. He works from home so he has ample opportunity.

 

I'd rather get rid of something right away then let it die in the fridge first!

Yes, that happens here, too and it drives me bananas. I'm happy with *certain* leftovers because, yes, I will eat them for lunch or whatever. (Chili, Soup, Fajitas). But DH wants everything saved from a meal and will tell the kids to save, like, a half-cup of green beans. Well, love, NOBODY is going to go to the fridge and say, "I'm really hankering for some re-heated green beas!" No. That is not going to happen. So they will be in the fridge, and then get stuffed in the back and then one day, I will have to throw away furry green beans, along with five other little bits of leftovers I would have just disposed of at clean up. No, I don't *like* throwing food away, but I am realistic about what things make sense to keep and, like you, I see no point in just postponing throwing it away, which makes another job for me to do a few weeks from now!