The fridge holds the bad secrets inside to spoil at me
August 17, 2021 8:55 AM Subscribe
I feel this so hard. This is the second year we have gone into a CSA basket (every two weeks, thank christ) and even as a vegan, I cannot keep up with the prep of all these veg. Currently a small fennel bulb sits unloved in my crisper (I do not like fennel) as well as a bag of string beans (I used half! What the eff am I supposed to do with the rest!). I ended up chucking three huge cucumbers because I couldn't figure out a use that wasn't pickle-related. I do not like pickles.
Next year, I'll just say no.
posted by Kitteh at 9:21 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Next year, I'll just say no.
posted by Kitteh at 9:21 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
As we used to say a million internet years ago: It me.
The road to hell is paved with uneaten vegetables.
posted by gwint at 9:30 AM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
The road to hell is paved with uneaten vegetables.
posted by gwint at 9:30 AM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
it's squash for me. I only know like 3 ways to cook it, I don't want it everyday, and we get so much. it even lasts long enough so we just get more and more every week. It sits in crisper saying 'I am food, eat me' and I'm like 'no you are not' as I push it out of the way and think 'need to go grocery shopping again'.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:47 AM on August 17, 2021 [10 favorites]
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:47 AM on August 17, 2021 [10 favorites]
Incidentally, "The Bad Hard Meals of the Future" is the title of my new indie-rock album.
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:52 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by Greg_Ace at 9:52 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
This is the struggle.
Kitteh - cucumber lime mint agua fresca. So good, needs lots of cucumber.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:53 AM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
Kitteh - cucumber lime mint agua fresca. So good, needs lots of cucumber.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:53 AM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
I hate the fridge. He is full of work for me and bad rubbish. He is a big cold mouth full of brown spots and his everything is no good.
Trump voter, clearly.
Oh wait, this is not that quiz.
posted by chavenet at 9:53 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Trump voter, clearly.
Oh wait, this is not that quiz.
posted by chavenet at 9:53 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also - this recipe for harvest muffins from the NYT has saved me so much guilt over old veggies. It has suggested ingredients but honestly the basic recipe works with any fruit and veg I've tried. We call them garbage muffins and throw in any old veggies or fruits that are in the freezer. Old bananas, carrots, squash, apples, blueberries, pears, you name it it works.
posted by Wretch729 at 9:56 AM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by Wretch729 at 9:56 AM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]
I ended up chucking three huge cucumbers because I couldn't figure out a use that wasn't pickle-related.
Oh man, I am so sad about that. I love cucumbers. We make a lot of greek salad with tomatoes and feta (and onions, olives and peppers if you are into those things) or tzatziki. Also, we slice them up moderately thinly and use them instead of crackers for eating dip and cheese and stuff. Also, I just eat them.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:57 AM on August 17, 2021
Oh man, I am so sad about that. I love cucumbers. We make a lot of greek salad with tomatoes and feta (and onions, olives and peppers if you are into those things) or tzatziki. Also, we slice them up moderately thinly and use them instead of crackers for eating dip and cheese and stuff. Also, I just eat them.
posted by jacquilynne at 9:57 AM on August 17, 2021
Step 1: Throw out old disgusting celery from crisper.
Step 2: Wash out crisper.
Step 3: Place new celery in crisper to become old and disgusting.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:10 AM on August 17, 2021 [37 favorites]
Step 2: Wash out crisper.
Step 3: Place new celery in crisper to become old and disgusting.
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 10:10 AM on August 17, 2021 [37 favorites]
I ended up chucking three huge cucumbers because I couldn't figure out a use that wasn't pickle-related. I do not like pickles.
Pickles is how cucumbers get to heaven.
posted by mochapickle at 10:24 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Pickles is how cucumbers get to heaven.
posted by mochapickle at 10:24 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
I eureka'd on cauliflower earlier this year when I realized I could slice it like bread and didn't need to mess around with florets. Cauliflower consumption, way up. Still I'm bad at pretty much any other vegetables and even fruit, which I love. Frozen fruits and veg help but sometimes even then... *gestures executive dysfunctionally* And the guilt, of course. Love the guilt. The fridge is full of lopsided children looking mommleward to you and the choices of your head. Everything in the fridge is sour and there’s so much of it. For fuck's sake. Indeed.
All of this is to say, of course, that Danny Lavery doesn't so much as strike the nail on the head, but pull the nail out from behind my ear and then sink it in one hit into a tree I didn't realize I was leaning up against.
posted by snerson at 10:29 AM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
All of this is to say, of course, that Danny Lavery doesn't so much as strike the nail on the head, but pull the nail out from behind my ear and then sink it in one hit into a tree I didn't realize I was leaning up against.
posted by snerson at 10:29 AM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
I credit my partner with teaching me this trick, but a lot of veg that has gotten a bit old but not gross-old yet can be frozen and placed in a big stock pot to create veg broth when you get around to it. If you allow for meat in your diet, this can double-duty for any bones you wish to save up, do one big broth then freeze in individual containers for when you're making soups/sauces.
Also if you compost year-round, you can at least feed that into your garden (the stuff that is just un-useable otherwise).
I realize this is getting a bit off the track of the humour part, but honestly my partner is amazing and this is a great technique to reduce the shitty feeling when you waste produce.
posted by elkevelvet at 10:29 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Also if you compost year-round, you can at least feed that into your garden (the stuff that is just un-useable otherwise).
I realize this is getting a bit off the track of the humour part, but honestly my partner is amazing and this is a great technique to reduce the shitty feeling when you waste produce.
posted by elkevelvet at 10:29 AM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I do enjoy cooking. But after having lived alone for a fair chunk of my adult life, in recent years it's gotten harder for me to get up the gumption to "do a bunch of work" (as TFA says) to cook for just myself.
When the ennui was first setting in I still bought all sorts of produce with the best of intentions, but more and more they sat around until they spoiled. Then during 2020 I rationalized that (since I already WFH and didn't lose my job) I was helping the less-fortunate by spending the stimulus-check money on delivery food.
I did eventually learn to stop doing both of those things...for the most part. Then I "discovered" frozen veggies - they're frozen fresh with most of their nutrients intact, they don't spoil within a week while sitting in the freezer waiting for me to muster the energy to cook, and they're already cut up and ready to use, no prep involved. Of course they don't have the same texture as fresh veggies, but they're still fine steamed or dumped into a soup or roasted on a tray.
Yet even then it's hard to be disciplined about cooking "proper" meals. Some days it's all I can do to just cook some pasta and douse it in olive oil and cheese (plus maybe some olives and roasted red bell peppers from a jar, to make it "healthy").
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:40 AM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]
When the ennui was first setting in I still bought all sorts of produce with the best of intentions, but more and more they sat around until they spoiled. Then during 2020 I rationalized that (since I already WFH and didn't lose my job) I was helping the less-fortunate by spending the stimulus-check money on delivery food.
I did eventually learn to stop doing both of those things...for the most part. Then I "discovered" frozen veggies - they're frozen fresh with most of their nutrients intact, they don't spoil within a week while sitting in the freezer waiting for me to muster the energy to cook, and they're already cut up and ready to use, no prep involved. Of course they don't have the same texture as fresh veggies, but they're still fine steamed or dumped into a soup or roasted on a tray.
Yet even then it's hard to be disciplined about cooking "proper" meals. Some days it's all I can do to just cook some pasta and douse it in olive oil and cheese (plus maybe some olives and roasted red bell peppers from a jar, to make it "healthy").
posted by Greg_Ace at 10:40 AM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]
Immediately reminded me of Dirk Gently's battle with his cleaning lady over the refrigerator.
“It meant that the silently waged conflict between himself and his cleaning lady had escalated to a new and more frightening level. It was now, Dirk reckoned, fully three months since this fridge door had been opened, and each of them was grimly determined not to be the one to open it first.”posted by deadaluspark at 10:53 AM on August 17, 2021 [6 favorites]
-Douglas Adams
This summer brought not only the usual "I'm trying to stay on top of CSA food" challenge, it also brought the "I am moving and need to do something about all this fooooooooooood" challenge. I tried my best to eat through as much as I could before I moved, but still on moving day I had a whole lot of vegetables and 3 dozen eggs I had to haul over to the new place.
That first week in the new place became Quiche Week - I picked up a package of refrigerated pie crust, the kind you unroll, and fished a half-empty bag of shredded cheese out of the fridge. That, plus 3-4 eggs and some milk and 2 cups of whatever vegetable you want, and you have quiche. The first one was a zucchini/leek/corn quiche with Swiss cheese and fed me and my roommate for 2 days of lunch/dinner/lunch, and the second was a zucchini/cherry tomato/bell pepper quiche with shredded mozzarella and chopped basil and fed me and a friend who'd come to help me unpack and then gave me more bag lunches for work. More corn and bell peppers went into a salad with a can of black beans. I used the rest of the cherry tomatoes and corn and some more zucchini in a free-form pasta, and had cleared the fridge and backlog out enough to be better able to cope with the next CSA pickup; this week will be yet another egg-oriented pie thing (this uses a whopping 6 hard-boiled eggs and 2 egg yolks), and some random salads.
Also seconding the vegetable broth, I just cleared out whatever looked like it was two days away from going bad and threw it in a pot and added water.
I also made something that has become one of my go-to "I need to eat something but have no brain power" fallbacks; chiard, a traditional Acadian dish I was introduced to via a cookbook I got as a gift one Christmas (my grandmother was from Acadian New Brunswick and an aunt and uncle gave that to me in her memory). The recipe I have is even easier than the one linked to there - the chef/author said that sometimes hot dogs could be swapped out for the meat. So if I have a small onion, a couple new potatoes, a carrot and two hot dogs in the house, I have the makings of a quick dinner. And I indeed had all that lingering as the scant tail-ends of a CSA box (and as a bonus, the fact that it was a red onion, a red-skinned potato and a purple carrot made everything a really interesting color).
As a bonus, yesterday was the first day I went grocery shopping in about 10 days and I only spent 20 bucks, and most of that was on toilet paper.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:04 AM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
That first week in the new place became Quiche Week - I picked up a package of refrigerated pie crust, the kind you unroll, and fished a half-empty bag of shredded cheese out of the fridge. That, plus 3-4 eggs and some milk and 2 cups of whatever vegetable you want, and you have quiche. The first one was a zucchini/leek/corn quiche with Swiss cheese and fed me and my roommate for 2 days of lunch/dinner/lunch, and the second was a zucchini/cherry tomato/bell pepper quiche with shredded mozzarella and chopped basil and fed me and a friend who'd come to help me unpack and then gave me more bag lunches for work. More corn and bell peppers went into a salad with a can of black beans. I used the rest of the cherry tomatoes and corn and some more zucchini in a free-form pasta, and had cleared the fridge and backlog out enough to be better able to cope with the next CSA pickup; this week will be yet another egg-oriented pie thing (this uses a whopping 6 hard-boiled eggs and 2 egg yolks), and some random salads.
Also seconding the vegetable broth, I just cleared out whatever looked like it was two days away from going bad and threw it in a pot and added water.
I also made something that has become one of my go-to "I need to eat something but have no brain power" fallbacks; chiard, a traditional Acadian dish I was introduced to via a cookbook I got as a gift one Christmas (my grandmother was from Acadian New Brunswick and an aunt and uncle gave that to me in her memory). The recipe I have is even easier than the one linked to there - the chef/author said that sometimes hot dogs could be swapped out for the meat. So if I have a small onion, a couple new potatoes, a carrot and two hot dogs in the house, I have the makings of a quick dinner. And I indeed had all that lingering as the scant tail-ends of a CSA box (and as a bonus, the fact that it was a red onion, a red-skinned potato and a purple carrot made everything a really interesting color).
As a bonus, yesterday was the first day I went grocery shopping in about 10 days and I only spent 20 bucks, and most of that was on toilet paper.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 11:04 AM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
My neighbors run a CSA and sometimes give me huge quantities of produce to process. It is the best, and it is also SO MUCH pressure. I finally sliced all the tomatoes that were on the counter to be roasted (they were there a week) and it took my spouse half a day to notice they were gone. That's how I realized he does not feel the vegetable pressure. They whispered spooky stories to me every time I walked in the kitchen and he was just casually using the sink in their presence with no problem?? incredible
posted by Emmy Rae at 11:25 AM on August 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
posted by Emmy Rae at 11:25 AM on August 17, 2021 [15 favorites]
Oh no it's me. I want to be healthy, and eat vegetables, and at the shops I am full of hope and good intentions. But then at home I am so tired and instead I eat slices of bread straight from the bag and call it dinner.
posted by stillnocturnal at 11:30 AM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]
posted by stillnocturnal at 11:30 AM on August 17, 2021 [9 favorites]
It’s posts like this that keep me coming back to the big blue.
Thanks for finding and sharing
posted by subaruwrx at 12:07 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
Thanks for finding and sharing
posted by subaruwrx at 12:07 PM on August 17, 2021 [3 favorites]
Even acclaimed poet Marge Pierce feels the vegetable pressure:
Attack of the Squash Peopleposted by hurdy gurdy girl at 12:26 PM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
…Look for newcomers: befriend
them in the post office, unload
on them and run. Stop tourists
in the street. Take truckloads
to Boston. Give to your Red Cross.
Beg on the highway: please
take my zucchini, I have a crippled
mother at home with heartburn.
Sneak out before dawn to drop
them in other people's gardens,
in baby buggies at churchdoors.
Shot, smuggling zucchini into
mailboxes, a federal offense….
I have a solution to vegetables lingering in the fridge:
Don't use the crisper. Put the sauces and less perishable things in the crisper. You will be more likely to eat vegetables that you can see every day in the fridge. You will eventually go looking for the mayo, you will not go looking for squash. Squash has to be easy and obvious. And as far as I can tell, crispers don't do anything in regards to keeping vegetables fresh.
When I had a CSA, I would wash, chop, and freeze a bunch of it and then on tired days I just add a brick of frozen vegetables to the pasta water for noodles and butter but make it healthy.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:04 PM on August 17, 2021 [8 favorites]
Don't use the crisper. Put the sauces and less perishable things in the crisper. You will be more likely to eat vegetables that you can see every day in the fridge. You will eventually go looking for the mayo, you will not go looking for squash. Squash has to be easy and obvious. And as far as I can tell, crispers don't do anything in regards to keeping vegetables fresh.
When I had a CSA, I would wash, chop, and freeze a bunch of it and then on tired days I just add a brick of frozen vegetables to the pasta water for noodles and butter but make it healthy.
posted by blnkfrnk at 1:04 PM on August 17, 2021 [8 favorites]
Tzatziki so easy! At least for me it is: my wife and/or 90 year old Greek neighbor make it all the time. But I could do it if that lane wasn't already full.
posted by hypnogogue at 1:08 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by hypnogogue at 1:08 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
snerson, when you use the cauliflower as slices do you cook it or eat it raw? And what else do you consume with it? I'm having trouble envisioning this and welcome any easier way to eat the cruciferous beast.
posted by rogerroger at 1:10 PM on August 17, 2021
posted by rogerroger at 1:10 PM on August 17, 2021
Not snerson, but I think it's nice to grill the slices of cauliflower. I also like to boil then blend cauliflower for "mashed potatoes" without all the carbohydrates.
posted by deadaluspark at 1:11 PM on August 17, 2021
posted by deadaluspark at 1:11 PM on August 17, 2021
Also not snerson, but I think this is what recipes mean by "cauliflower steak". Personally I'd season it, roast it, and then eat it with whatever sounds good on top (maybe a creamy sauce/dressing with some fruit* and/or veg and/or nuts? or even just other leftovers?)
*I realize this may be an unusual choice; I personally love fruit in my "savory" food
posted by mosst at 1:29 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
*I realize this may be an unusual choice; I personally love fruit in my "savory" food
posted by mosst at 1:29 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Cauliflower with Pumpkin Seeds, Brown Butter, and Lime is pretty delicious.
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:43 PM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
posted by mandolin conspiracy at 1:43 PM on August 17, 2021 [4 favorites]
Yeah, cauliflower steak has been increasingly popular (as a vegetarian option and in straight-up vegetarian restaurants) the last couple of years. Cut top to bottom in thick slices and fry, grill or bake. Marinate it if you can (maple syrup - of which I am normally not a huge fan - works well). Or make cauliflower rice by blitzing it - works in salads, as is, or fried in a little butter.
I have to agree with Greg_Ace, above: although I love cooking, living by myself radically decreases my willingness to spend an hour or whatever making Something Special only to eat it alone, in silence. As restrictions lift, I've had a couple of dinner guests and enjoyed cooking again.
posted by deeker at 1:49 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I have to agree with Greg_Ace, above: although I love cooking, living by myself radically decreases my willingness to spend an hour or whatever making Something Special only to eat it alone, in silence. As restrictions lift, I've had a couple of dinner guests and enjoyed cooking again.
posted by deeker at 1:49 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
snerson, when you use the cauliflower as slices do you cook it or eat it raw? And what else do you consume with it? I'm having trouble envisioning this and welcome any easier way to eat the cruciferous beast.
I just eat it raw, holding it horizontal like a slice of toast. Path of least resistance sort of thing. I tried eating raw cauliflower florets, because visually that was the only shape I knew cauliflower to be in, but cutting up a cauliflower to maximize the pretty shapes that then require a bowl to eat out of was frustrating.
There's a Lebanese chain in the midwest US, Aladdin's, that has an appetizer dish of deep fried cauliflower topped with a creamy tahini dressing and a little hot sauce. (Deep fried cauliflower is a suspicious combination of words, I know.) It's excellent. If I had the wherewithal to manage a fryer, I might try to duplicate it or, even better, turn it into a cauliflower soup with hot sauce as the garnish. Stir in some hummus and serve with a toasted pita and a green salad. Yum.
That's pretty close to my suggestion for eating cauliflower by default anyway, rogerroger. My official recommendation is to roast it and some other vegetables in olive oil and whatever mediterranean-ish spices you find agreeable, and then serve with pita, hummus, and toum. (Aladdin's sells it, if you are local, under the more generic name "garlic sauce" and you can get a whole pint of it to yourself. It is life- and breath-altering.)
agree with blnkfrnk about what gets stored where in the fridge. Anything I know I can eat without being visually prompted (yogurt) goes in the crisper for me. I recently got some baking sheets so I could pull out the tray and more easily access what was in the back of the fridge (also helpful for making use of the weeny shelf). I mentioned this to a friend who lives with their SO, and they adapted this approach, using trays to indicate which foods were up for snacks and which were reserved for cooking or eating later.
posted by snerson at 2:18 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
I just eat it raw, holding it horizontal like a slice of toast. Path of least resistance sort of thing. I tried eating raw cauliflower florets, because visually that was the only shape I knew cauliflower to be in, but cutting up a cauliflower to maximize the pretty shapes that then require a bowl to eat out of was frustrating.
There's a Lebanese chain in the midwest US, Aladdin's, that has an appetizer dish of deep fried cauliflower topped with a creamy tahini dressing and a little hot sauce. (Deep fried cauliflower is a suspicious combination of words, I know.) It's excellent. If I had the wherewithal to manage a fryer, I might try to duplicate it or, even better, turn it into a cauliflower soup with hot sauce as the garnish. Stir in some hummus and serve with a toasted pita and a green salad. Yum.
That's pretty close to my suggestion for eating cauliflower by default anyway, rogerroger. My official recommendation is to roast it and some other vegetables in olive oil and whatever mediterranean-ish spices you find agreeable, and then serve with pita, hummus, and toum. (Aladdin's sells it, if you are local, under the more generic name "garlic sauce" and you can get a whole pint of it to yourself. It is life- and breath-altering.)
agree with blnkfrnk about what gets stored where in the fridge. Anything I know I can eat without being visually prompted (yogurt) goes in the crisper for me. I recently got some baking sheets so I could pull out the tray and more easily access what was in the back of the fridge (also helpful for making use of the weeny shelf). I mentioned this to a friend who lives with their SO, and they adapted this approach, using trays to indicate which foods were up for snacks and which were reserved for cooking or eating later.
posted by snerson at 2:18 PM on August 17, 2021 [5 favorites]
What happens with me is I say yes to the yummy store food and then do a bunch of vegetable prep at a slower pace since I am not hustling toward mealtime. Then at a future meal I have the veg prepped and am more likely to eat them.
posted by Emmy Rae at 3:10 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Emmy Rae at 3:10 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
snerson, I like your tray idea! genius!
posted by Emmy Rae at 3:10 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Emmy Rae at 3:10 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
I will have you all know that I tried kitteh's cucumber lime mint agua fresca and it is worth trying yourselves.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:14 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:14 PM on August 17, 2021 [1 favorite]
Oh, also -
Then I "discovered" frozen veggies - they're frozen fresh with most of their nutrients intact, they don't spoil within a week while sitting in the freezer waiting for me to muster the energy to cook, and they're already cut up and ready to use, no prep involved.
If you want to have it both ways, you can freeze your own vegetables. It takes a little prep work, but it's another way I've stayed on top of the CSA haul.
Most of the time, the key is to blanch the veggies first. This sort of par-cooks them a bit, sets the color and the texture, and gets them ready to be frozen. You don't need to, but it turns out a little better if you do. All you do is get out your biggest pot, fill it with water, and then start heating that up while you're prepping the veggies in question: slicing or chopping your carrot, cutting the kernels off your corn, shelling your peas, chopping your kale, etc. Then, when the water is good and boiling, get out a bowl, fill it with cold water and add a few ice cubes. Then you dump the veggies in question into the boiling pot, let them boil for about a minute or so, and then fish them out and stuff them into the bowl of ice water. When they've cooled down a little, scoop them out, and stuff them into a freezer container and then freeze.
That's the full-on way to do it. I've also half-assed it with kale and other greens by just dumping them into the boiling water for about 30 seconds (that's all that needs), pouring the entire pot of boiling water and kale into a collander, running it under cold running water for a minute or so, then squeezing the kale in my hands to get all the water out and stuffing it into a ziploc baggie.
If you're concerned about having enormous bricks of frozen veggies, the trick I learned is to invest in some of those snack size ziploc bags, and divvy the veggies up between a bunch of those - but since the snack bags are themselves not freezer-safe, I stuff the smaller bags inside a larger freezer-safe bag and freeze that. Each "snack size" bag is the perfect size for about a cup's worth of frozen whatever, and that makes it super-convenient to pull out just the amount you need - or to have a big gallon-size freezer bag on the go that you gradually add more frozen kale to or whatever. I have a bigger gallon-size freezer bag in my freezer right now that is half-full of the smaller bags, waiting for me to get around to blanching the bunch of kale I got last weekend and add to it. And over the winter I will be gradually emptying that gallon-size bag again, as I use the frozen bunches of kale in soups and stews and colcannon and such.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:28 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Then I "discovered" frozen veggies - they're frozen fresh with most of their nutrients intact, they don't spoil within a week while sitting in the freezer waiting for me to muster the energy to cook, and they're already cut up and ready to use, no prep involved.
If you want to have it both ways, you can freeze your own vegetables. It takes a little prep work, but it's another way I've stayed on top of the CSA haul.
Most of the time, the key is to blanch the veggies first. This sort of par-cooks them a bit, sets the color and the texture, and gets them ready to be frozen. You don't need to, but it turns out a little better if you do. All you do is get out your biggest pot, fill it with water, and then start heating that up while you're prepping the veggies in question: slicing or chopping your carrot, cutting the kernels off your corn, shelling your peas, chopping your kale, etc. Then, when the water is good and boiling, get out a bowl, fill it with cold water and add a few ice cubes. Then you dump the veggies in question into the boiling pot, let them boil for about a minute or so, and then fish them out and stuff them into the bowl of ice water. When they've cooled down a little, scoop them out, and stuff them into a freezer container and then freeze.
That's the full-on way to do it. I've also half-assed it with kale and other greens by just dumping them into the boiling water for about 30 seconds (that's all that needs), pouring the entire pot of boiling water and kale into a collander, running it under cold running water for a minute or so, then squeezing the kale in my hands to get all the water out and stuffing it into a ziploc baggie.
If you're concerned about having enormous bricks of frozen veggies, the trick I learned is to invest in some of those snack size ziploc bags, and divvy the veggies up between a bunch of those - but since the snack bags are themselves not freezer-safe, I stuff the smaller bags inside a larger freezer-safe bag and freeze that. Each "snack size" bag is the perfect size for about a cup's worth of frozen whatever, and that makes it super-convenient to pull out just the amount you need - or to have a big gallon-size freezer bag on the go that you gradually add more frozen kale to or whatever. I have a bigger gallon-size freezer bag in my freezer right now that is half-full of the smaller bags, waiting for me to get around to blanching the bunch of kale I got last weekend and add to it. And over the winter I will be gradually emptying that gallon-size bag again, as I use the frozen bunches of kale in soups and stews and colcannon and such.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:28 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
If you want to have it both ways, you can freeze your own vegetables.
Well but see the whole point of buying frozen vegetables is avoiding work in the first place! If I was willing to do that much prepping I'd simply buy fresh and use them. I don't care about "both ways", I want to follow the path of minimum effort.
9 times out of 10 I'm just adding veg as an after-thought to some hastily thrown together fat+carbs monstrosity so I can pretend I'm kinda sorta eating healthy. I sure as hell ain't eatin' 'em for the flavor - aside from onion, bell or other chili peppers, and massive amounts of garlic of course.
That said, I can see how the prep/blanch/freeze process would make sense for folks dealing with massive amounts of CSA veggies.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:42 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Well but see the whole point of buying frozen vegetables is avoiding work in the first place! If I was willing to do that much prepping I'd simply buy fresh and use them. I don't care about "both ways", I want to follow the path of minimum effort.
9 times out of 10 I'm just adding veg as an after-thought to some hastily thrown together fat+carbs monstrosity so I can pretend I'm kinda sorta eating healthy. I sure as hell ain't eatin' 'em for the flavor - aside from onion, bell or other chili peppers, and massive amounts of garlic of course.
That said, I can see how the prep/blanch/freeze process would make sense for folks dealing with massive amounts of CSA veggies.
posted by Greg_Ace at 7:42 PM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]
Not to gatekeep wastefulness and sloth but I feel if you came into this thread with a "what people with whom this resonated need are better recipes and ideas for the food they bought but do not want to put in the negligible effort to use!" take, maybe you did not read the linked piece. The point is not that I am just uninformed that I could use those vegetables to make a fine stock or quiche. I am aware that this is so and the internet has many resources for people who wish to do that. The point is that I do not want to do that, ever
posted by potrzebie at 12:03 AM on August 18, 2021 [14 favorites]
posted by potrzebie at 12:03 AM on August 18, 2021 [14 favorites]
Hey, leave it long enough and you get (potentially harmful, potentially just pro-biotic) fridge juice in your veg tray.
posted by MattWPBS at 5:13 AM on August 18, 2021
posted by MattWPBS at 5:13 AM on August 18, 2021
A friend took to referring to his crisper as “the rotter” years ago and I think that should become the common name for it.
posted by TedW at 5:25 AM on August 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
posted by TedW at 5:25 AM on August 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
Don't use the crisper. Put the sauces and less perishable things in the crisper.
!
!!!!!!!!!!!
omgtysomuchmylifeissaved
The best thing about this is, I've been secretly hoping for my fridge to die so I can get a fancy freezer-on-the-bottom fridge because I refuse to grovel thus everything in the crisper goes bad even if it's delicious. All this time the answer has been staring me in the face. I just need to rezone!
posted by Don Pepino at 6:45 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
!
!!!!!!!!!!!
omgtysomuchmylifeissaved
The best thing about this is, I've been secretly hoping for my fridge to die so I can get a fancy freezer-on-the-bottom fridge because I refuse to grovel thus everything in the crisper goes bad even if it's delicious. All this time the answer has been staring me in the face. I just need to rezone!
posted by Don Pepino at 6:45 AM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
fancy freezer-on-the-bottom fridge because I refuse to grovel thus everything in the crisper goes bad even if it's delicious.
Those 'freezer pull out drawer on the bottom' fridges allow you to recreate the 'crisper experience' for your frozen foods. All the stuff you refuse to eat sinks to the bottom and turns into ice blocks and the ice cream is haphazardly piled on top.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:44 AM on August 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
Those 'freezer pull out drawer on the bottom' fridges allow you to recreate the 'crisper experience' for your frozen foods. All the stuff you refuse to eat sinks to the bottom and turns into ice blocks and the ice cream is haphazardly piled on top.
posted by The_Vegetables at 7:44 AM on August 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
In college, my roommate/best friend and I referred to the crisper as the "rotter". Which is what it was.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 8:00 AM on August 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 8:00 AM on August 18, 2021 [5 favorites]
Not to gatekeep wastefulness and sloth but I feel if you came into this thread with a "what people with whom this resonated need are better recipes and ideas for the food they bought but do not want to put in the negligible effort to use!" take, maybe you did not read the linked piece.
I....I did? It was a comedic mock dialogue between two sides of Daniel Lavery's personality - the side that wants to actually get better about using the vegetables in the crisper, and the side that wants a much easier and lower-effort cooking experience without fussing too much in the kitchen, even if it means the vegetables in the crisper go to waste.
I think we're all just finding that different readers identify more with different halves of this conversation and are speaking from our respective places.
The point is not that I am just uninformed that I could use those vegetables to make a fine stock or quiche. I am aware that this is so and the internet has many resources for people who wish to do that. The point is that I do not want to do that, ever
Well and good. Others may want to but may be intimidated in a kitchen, and may need to hear an encouraging word. Some of the people saying "quiche! Stock! Or something like that!" may have been one of those thus intimidated people once upon a time.
Eat out all the time if you want, move your veg to the shelves and your mayo to the crisper if that will work for you, grow your own veggies from scratch and can them all if that works for you, that's great. Some people are just sharing "hey, here's something that worked for me, if that sounds like it could help you great and if not no big".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:51 AM on August 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
I....I did? It was a comedic mock dialogue between two sides of Daniel Lavery's personality - the side that wants to actually get better about using the vegetables in the crisper, and the side that wants a much easier and lower-effort cooking experience without fussing too much in the kitchen, even if it means the vegetables in the crisper go to waste.
I think we're all just finding that different readers identify more with different halves of this conversation and are speaking from our respective places.
The point is not that I am just uninformed that I could use those vegetables to make a fine stock or quiche. I am aware that this is so and the internet has many resources for people who wish to do that. The point is that I do not want to do that, ever
Well and good. Others may want to but may be intimidated in a kitchen, and may need to hear an encouraging word. Some of the people saying "quiche! Stock! Or something like that!" may have been one of those thus intimidated people once upon a time.
Eat out all the time if you want, move your veg to the shelves and your mayo to the crisper if that will work for you, grow your own veggies from scratch and can them all if that works for you, that's great. Some people are just sharing "hey, here's something that worked for me, if that sounds like it could help you great and if not no big".
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 8:51 AM on August 18, 2021 [6 favorites]
Not to gatekeep wastefulness and sloth but I feel if you came into this thread with a "what people with whom this resonated need are better recipes and ideas for the food they bought but do not want to put in the negligible effort to use!" take, maybe you did not read the linked piece. The point is not that I am just uninformed that I could use those vegetables to make a fine stock or quiche. I am aware that this is so and the internet has many resources for people who wish to do that. The point is that I do not want to do that, ever
It happens every food thread involving cooking, or people who don't want to do it for whatever reason or another. I would be shocked if there were a MeFi thread without people "well, actually" in regards to cooking.
I am an amazingly capable cook. I make a lot of my own stuff from scratch. I do not need to be told how to use up my CSA basket because I am a person with an internet connection and a ton of cookbooks. The point of this for me was "christ, I just cannot with this shit right now." But for others, it is "you clearly need my expertise with cooking and preserving because I don't think you know how", even if you said you know how.
TL;DR: MeFi gonna MeFi.
posted by Kitteh at 3:17 PM on August 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
It happens every food thread involving cooking, or people who don't want to do it for whatever reason or another. I would be shocked if there were a MeFi thread without people "well, actually" in regards to cooking.
I am an amazingly capable cook. I make a lot of my own stuff from scratch. I do not need to be told how to use up my CSA basket because I am a person with an internet connection and a ton of cookbooks. The point of this for me was "christ, I just cannot with this shit right now." But for others, it is "you clearly need my expertise with cooking and preserving because I don't think you know how", even if you said you know how.
TL;DR: MeFi gonna MeFi.
posted by Kitteh at 3:17 PM on August 18, 2021 [4 favorites]
I really love the idea of a CSA and I really love the idea of me being a person who is part of a CSA and therefore I signed up and became a person who is part of a CSA and I am also a person with 10000 softening beets in their home right now and no particular liking for beets.
Repeat on and off for THREE YEARS. Hell is a kholrabi.
posted by euphoria066 at 6:05 PM on August 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
Repeat on and off for THREE YEARS. Hell is a kholrabi.
posted by euphoria066 at 6:05 PM on August 18, 2021 [7 favorites]
10000 softening beets
My new sockpuppet name. Although "hell is a kohlrabi" is a close second.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:42 PM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
My new sockpuppet name. Although "hell is a kohlrabi" is a close second.
posted by Greg_Ace at 6:42 PM on August 18, 2021 [2 favorites]
Man kohlrabi. How can such a cool looking thing -as grown, like an alien rover - turn into such a feet-smelling second-rate jicama?
posted by janell at 6:47 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by janell at 6:47 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
Contrast and compare this from May 2020.
posted by Ideefixe at 7:54 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by Ideefixe at 7:54 PM on August 18, 2021 [1 favorite]
I want this thread to be a friendly chatty place where people can cheerfully commiserate over the inevitable wastage of the veggies we bought with such bright hopes AND a fun spontaneous recipe swap, but I guess there is only one right way to do Metafilter and I will always be wrong. This energy is why I am less and less engaged here. Bleah.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:33 AM on August 19, 2021 [8 favorites]
posted by Wretch729 at 6:33 AM on August 19, 2021 [8 favorites]
Sorry, I'm cranky this morning and it's not y'alls fault. I'll go make my tea and chill out.
posted by Wretch729 at 6:58 AM on August 19, 2021
posted by Wretch729 at 6:58 AM on August 19, 2021
No, Wretch729, you said exactly what I was thinking!
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:59 AM on August 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 6:59 AM on August 19, 2021 [1 favorite]
Wretch729 - ditto!
Ideefixe - love the Julian K Jarboe essay, thanks for linking!
posted by snerson at 7:58 AM on August 19, 2021
Ideefixe - love the Julian K Jarboe essay, thanks for linking!
posted by snerson at 7:58 AM on August 19, 2021
I mean, yeah, I agree with Wretch. I can have a crisper full of rotting vegetables and really enjoy cucumbers in a variety of ways. I contain multitudes and so can this thread.
posted by jacquilynne at 8:44 AM on August 19, 2021
posted by jacquilynne at 8:44 AM on August 19, 2021
I declared CSA bankruptcy yday before going to get the new batch. There was a bunch of kale that straggled back from the Journey to the Green Bin but I needed the reset. And to run the Crisper drawer through the dishwasher for it to also have a reset.
posted by janell at 10:22 AM on August 19, 2021
posted by janell at 10:22 AM on August 19, 2021
I can have a crisper full of rotting vegetables and really enjoy cucumbers
Not rotting ones, I hope.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:54 AM on August 19, 2021
Not rotting ones, I hope.
posted by Greg_Ace at 11:54 AM on August 19, 2021
Wretch729, you articulated my thoughts exactly. I enjoyed that this thread was both bonding over our shameful betrayal of vegetables everywhere AND embracing the bright hope that THIS ONE WEIRD TRICK will be what reunites us with our dreams of sparkling produce.
And with that, I have some cucumber that I already chopped yesterday, and mint from my plant outside, and I'm going to make that cucumber lime mint agua fresca!
posted by rogerroger at 6:12 PM on August 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
And with that, I have some cucumber that I already chopped yesterday, and mint from my plant outside, and I'm going to make that cucumber lime mint agua fresca!
posted by rogerroger at 6:12 PM on August 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
Oh, yeah. I made the cucumber lime mint agua fresca really approximately the other day and it was still good. (Forgot the sugar, all my mint is cologne mint which is an unusual food taste, and didn’t feel like washing a fine strainer. Still delicious, though I should plant a more conventional mint.)
posted by clew at 6:27 PM on August 19, 2021
posted by clew at 6:27 PM on August 19, 2021
in my crisper drawer: I have a nearly indestructible Korean radish (it's been there.....7 months?) along with 12 cans of hard kombucha and an unopened package of dried anchovies. I loved the Lavery piece so much.
Point: I want to stay hereposted by spamandkimchi at 6:49 PM on August 19, 2021 [2 favorites]
Counterpoint: You cannot be here. There is the cold tower full of responsibility to think of
Point: Please, I hate it. I froze my wrongs
Also thank the heavens for vermicomposting. The sad wrongs that haunt my soul can become worm food that buoy my optimism.
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:51 PM on August 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
posted by spamandkimchi at 6:51 PM on August 19, 2021 [3 favorites]
Well said, spamandkimchi. For me, loading the compost pail feels bad but dumping and then washing it = a new hope.
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:47 AM on August 20, 2021
posted by Emmy Rae at 10:47 AM on August 20, 2021
Ok that cucumber lime mint agua fresca was FANTASTIC, and good the second day too! I put in maybe half the sugar called for and it was tart and delicious. Recipe comments suggest gin too...
posted by rogerroger at 11:03 AM on August 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
posted by rogerroger at 11:03 AM on August 20, 2021 [1 favorite]
We have a small museum and ten tortoises that live there. One side benefit is that any fruit or veg that is unwanted, got a little old, or whatever, can go to the tortoises and everyone can feel happy about it.
posted by snofoam at 4:10 PM on August 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
posted by snofoam at 4:10 PM on August 20, 2021 [2 favorites]
Oh no, not that, when the cucumbers do that, you know, that disgusting, gooey, soggy, white flecked, sweaty oily slime on green thing, especially when it's one of those supermarket cucumber-in-a-condom jobs and the soggy end just sort of flops out of the packet as you rip it open - I can almost hear it jeering at me.
But then one day out in the sticks in rural China, a boiling day, sun beating down, parched and dry, no water in sight other than a very dodgy looking village tap which, in fairness, was doing a good job of quenching the thirst of three scrawny dogs and two old pigs 'tho the surrounding 'mud' puddle shall we say was somewhat off putting, my pal shouted hang on, dashed off after an old lady trundling a two wheel, long handled wooden veg (and anything else) shifter, and came back with 3 cucumbers....... What the hell am I supposed to do with that? She whipped a bag of tissues out of her bag, deftly swiped and wiped with one, produced another as a holder, and off we tootled down the road, munching our cucumbers like an ice cream cone. Man, it was delicious, a drink on a stick. But why 3? "I knew you'd want another after you got over the micro strangeness of eat drinking a whole cucumber." I have never thought about cucumbers in the same way ever since.
Rezoning the fridge. Genius.
posted by dutchrick at 2:14 AM on August 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
But then one day out in the sticks in rural China, a boiling day, sun beating down, parched and dry, no water in sight other than a very dodgy looking village tap which, in fairness, was doing a good job of quenching the thirst of three scrawny dogs and two old pigs 'tho the surrounding 'mud' puddle shall we say was somewhat off putting, my pal shouted hang on, dashed off after an old lady trundling a two wheel, long handled wooden veg (and anything else) shifter, and came back with 3 cucumbers....... What the hell am I supposed to do with that? She whipped a bag of tissues out of her bag, deftly swiped and wiped with one, produced another as a holder, and off we tootled down the road, munching our cucumbers like an ice cream cone. Man, it was delicious, a drink on a stick. But why 3? "I knew you'd want another after you got over the micro strangeness of eat drinking a whole cucumber." I have never thought about cucumbers in the same way ever since.
Rezoning the fridge. Genius.
posted by dutchrick at 2:14 AM on August 21, 2021 [4 favorites]
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Love it.
posted by Horkus at 9:17 AM on August 17, 2021 [2 favorites]