Not too well right now, Halloween was a killer. I bought 9 lbs of candy. First time, in a new town on a main street, I had no idea how much to get. I got 4 trick or treat groups. That's it. Which means I have a lot a candy still around. Temptation has been given in. I have some everyday. On the positive, if this had happened last year. It would have been eaten in one night, by me and and my husband. So yay! No pigging out! But still want my candy.
 |
| Sweet, Sweet, sweet, temptation |
This is not what this post is about. This post is about how big is too big.
This was brought home to me this weekend. The apartment which we rent has a fridge that is almost as old as I am. Worked good up to a week ago, then stopped defrosting. It's going to take a bit between the repair people and my landlord to decide to keep it or toss it. Meanwhile, we need a place to store our food.
With four people in the house, that fridge had a lot of wasted space. Now it is just my husband and me, the space is even more wasted. The fridge we have is a glorious 14 cu. ft. Which is actually on the small size for the average American refrigerator, at least according to the Atlantic. According to Gawker its 22 cu. ft. As I looked at the labels on the fridge to figure out the make and model. It actually breaks down to roughly 11 cu. ft refrigerator; 3 cu. ft freezer.
The way we buy food; it should be the other way around. But I will get back to that.
As I looked around for a back up fridge, I had to look at compacts, due to money. During the search, I went to work and realized something. We have a larger compact fridge in the break room. The entire thing could fit into the one sitting in my kitchen (which is on the small size for the norm in America). Yet, that fridge is fine for a place that can have up to a 100 people working during a shift. Granted it gets a little cramped. But I have never not found room for my lunch.
So we settled on getting a 3.3 cu ft refrigerator. I took out all the food and cleaned out our larger fridge. The actual food that we had to eat, (after throwing out the stuff that should have thrown out and stuff we can't eat any more) could fit into a plastic dishpan. Size of the dishpan; 15 qts or 1.6 cu. ft.
My husband and I make smaller trips to the grocery store during the week. Easier to do so when you have to take the bus or ride a bike to get the groceries. We no longer have to buy a gallon of milk when a quart will do. So why do we need such a large fridge? And why did we need it with more people in the house? Even with four people there was a lot of wasted space.
Granted, we are not buying food like the average American which buys it once a week or month, so the storage is needed. But if we did, the freezer is more what I would need. I would have that filled with cuts of meat, frozen vegetables, and the makings of my veggie broth. I have a 4 cu ft. freezer on my list of things to buy, eventually.
This really got me thinking. Do we need 30 cu. ft. refrigerators? I know large families that had no problem keeping their food for 7 or more people in a fridge the size we have in the apartment. Yet, smaller sized families in America want larger fridges.
 |
| But I still need a place to put my take out... |
This isn't just a gluttony issue: How much food do we throw out that we never use in the first place? If you are not a big food buyer, how much energy are you wasting by having a large fridge? How big is too big?
With our big refrigerators and huge dishes (another post coming up), isn't any wonder why people that eat a western diet, tend to have issues with portion control.
My compact fridge should be here today. If it is exactly what we need, I won't be pressing my landlord for a new larger one.
No comments:
Post a Comment