"Rock and Refrigerolla"

I'm saved!

Within the dark recesses of a forgotten cupboard
I found three boxes of Annie Chun's instant soup!
Wow! Three mealtime conundrums resolved.

You see, to make my solitary existence interesting
and in an attempt to begin living a more sustainable
lifestyle, I've created what I call the "Rock and Refrigerolla"
Challenge.


Here's how it all started. You know how you go up to the refrigerator, open the door and look
in there, and there's all this stuff jammed inside, jars of mustard and mayonnaise and peanut
butter and nuts and raisins and celery and carrots and moldy cheese and you start wondering
if maybe some sneaky squirrel hasn't been secretly hoarding its winter food supply in there,
and finally with a sigh of resignation you close the door and say, "Geez! There's nothin' to eat!"

Well, that's what I was doing soon after The Man departed. I was too lazy to take those
random ingredients and prepare something... and this made me feel guilty. I mean, how
can I stare at my stocked refrigerator and say I have nothing to eat. Others should be
so lucky. I read a recent statistic indicating that about one half of the people on this planet
live on less than $2 a day. Then I got to thinking about sustainability and I made up my
Challenge.

I decided that I would not do any grocery shopping before leaving to rejoin The Man.
I will eat up what I have in the house. There are plenty of canned goods, the freezer is
full of unknown mysteries (including a lot of nuts, oddly - I'm thinking squirrel again),
and there's certainly no shortages in the refrigerator, so I should be able to creatively
prepare meals using existing ingredients.

I have purchased fat free milk and a jug of apple cider, but other than those two perishable
items and ordering Chinese take out one night that lasted for three meals, I've stuck to the
rules of The Challenge.

It was necessary to make some adjustments. For example, I ran out of olive oil about two
weeks ago. So, I'm using some fake spray butter I found in with the squirrel food. I'm also
out of fresh greens, like salad. But, I don't mind. I found a frozen bag of edamame beans
and got a big vitamin B and protein rush. Whoa!

Oh, and that jar of applesauce I discovered the other night was a godsend. I hadn't had
any fresh fruit for days and was afraid I was going to develop scurvy or something.
Although, now that I think about it, maybe I need citrus to avoid scurvy...or breadfruit,
whatever it was Captain Bligh and those mutineers aboard the Bounty were after initially.

My Thanksgiving feast consisted of stuffing with celery and carrots, onion and old
mushrooms made using an old bag of bread cubes I had in the cupboard; whole berry
cranberry sauce right out of the can; some potatoes; and some more of those edamame
beans. I enjoyed it immensely and it was all so simple with hardly any clean up.

I'm happy as a clam, full as a tick and emptying my cupboards all at the same time.
Who would've thought doing without could be so much fun. That less truly is more.
I guess it all depends on how you look at something.