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Practical Advice: Filling the Larder
- by Laura, October 14, 2008
Even though I haven’t lived in a city for ten years, I still sort of act like I do--buying in small quantities and shopping almost every
day--perhaps I’m still imagining I’m MFK Fisher in 1940s France. I don’t know. I cook enough for the meal at hand and just go the market the next day and begin again. I like things very fresh. I’ve got a small kitchen and small fridge.
Problem is that I work. I’m completely busy and overwhelmed with all i have to do in a day. There are not enough hours to work full time and attend to the kids, husband, house, dog, take care of the people in my life and the mountain of domestica. bla bla bla. I’m in the thick of it. My husband of twenty years says to me “We’re in the grind.” And he means those years of the midlife when we are caring for others and never have enough time. Bills fall late. We run out of clean clothes. We run out of milk.
And way too often, the cupboard is bare because I’m in a fantasy I think that I’m going to stroll to the market and inspect the fruit and vegetables one by one. Seems like it’s the way life should be. But it’s not. At least not here in suburbia land new jersey. At least not now.
I’m coming to think that those old gals had some good ideas about filling the larder. You know the kinds of women who had cellars filled with hundreds of jars
of peaches and string beans for the winter. Well, I’m not going to do all that. But instead, I recently got myself a basement chest freezer—manual defrost type. It’s a modern compromise. I thought about it for years. I got this one from Sears and love it. I’m trying to fill it with soups and things I find on sale and tomatoes and pesto in the garden. It’s cute and small and energy efficient. Why didn’t I do it sooner? Take a look.
Now if all this is sounding a bit housewifey like a home ec teacher giving you advice....let me put another more modern spin on it for the foodies out there. A manual defrost freezer is better for your food. The typical “no-frost” freezer fluctuates in temperature constantly to prevent ice from building up on the walls. It means your food is frequently thawing ad refreezing bit by bit. No good.
And hows about the green spin. With a freezer stocked in the basement, there’s always something to eat in the house. You have fewer trips to the grocery store. Lower carbon foot print. Less fossil fuel for dinner. Cool.
At least for a few years anyway, till the kids grow up and I can have the time again to walk to the grocery store each day and calmly choose the apples one by one.
To find out about Laura's search for a long lost family recipe, click [