Kitchen Stewardship

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This will be the most backward Gratituesday and Try it Tuesday ever!  I’m thankful today for the blessing (?) of throwing away food that I tried for the first time. Augh!  I hate throwing away food!  (How much do Americans throw away?  See this post for more.)  I conserve food so stringently that one friend will start telling a story in which food is tossed, and hesitantly say, “I know how you are about this stuff…”

In doing the research for the last Food for Thought on flax, which I thought I knew plenty about, I learned a bit more about the longevity (or lack thereof) of both flaxseed and flax oil.  I had to check my stash of both in the fridge.

I tasted the ground flax meal from its clear plastic bag, then checked with hubby: nutty or bitter? Augh!  Bitter!  I should have known better than to buy it in clear plastic, but it was from the health food store, and a great deal compared to what I usually see (of course), and I let my foolish brain be talked into the fact that the health food store should know what they’re doing.  Shucks.  I had to throw out my flaxseed meal (like tearing flesh out of my body!).

Now for the real tear-jerker.  I bought some flax oil for the first time during Lent, when I was learning to make my own salad dressings.  I kept seeing flax oil as such a healthy add-in, and I have been trying to include more flax in our diets for a few years because of high triglycerides in the family.  I thought I knew what I was doing:  buy only refrigerated, opaque bottles, cold-pressed, etc etc.  The health food store was within those guidelines, and – what a pleasant surprise! – had a sale running on flax oil when I dropped in.  It was for the big 20 oz bottle, but I knew we could eventually use it all.  I’m still stuck in the bigger-is-better buy-it-on-sale mentality that works with processed foods.

As I researched, I found all sorts of crazy risks and side effects of flax oil, and how unstable it really was.  It began to dawn on me that my flax oil (only about one third gone, maybe less) was probably rancid already.  It’s been open for a few months, and my research tells me that the stuff probably goes rancid 6 weeks after pressing.  Uh-oh.  Checking the fridge this Sunday:  “Pressed on 10/16/2008, Best before 4/21/2009″  What a deal.  Can you hear the sarcasm dripping through cyberspace?  I still haven’t thrown it away yet, but I know I need to. I just want to rail at God a bit more:  “Why does this happen to me?  I don’t like wasting money!  I’m just trying to feed my family healthy foods, and here I am feeding them poison!”  He loves me and knows I’m just blowing off steam.

Here’s His reply, in an ever-so-gentle tone:

“Aren’t you glad you found out about this before feeding them the rest of the bottle? Don’t you pray to be taught about humility?  You can’t know everything, all the time.”

Me:  “But I want to!!”

The Lord:  “Look forward to Heaven, then, my child.”

Me (humbly):  “Ok.  Do I have to throw it out right now, or can I leave it in the fridge to remind me of my stupidity and be self-deprecating a bit more?”

Shucks.

So I’m grateful today that I have to throw out a bottle of oil that cost in the double digits.  I tried it…and I don’t think I’ll try it again.  Too risky, bodily and financially.  I’m grateful that I have to throw out flaxseed meal that was a “good deal”.  I’m grateful that I’m being taught humility. I’m grateful I’m not going to feed this stuff to my family anymore and that I know what to look for in the future.  I am praying that God protected my kids from any rancid flax I’ve fed them in the past few months.  I just have to trust Him.

Would anyone out there like to join me in my pity party?  Tears to shed over my loss of flax?  Thanks for listening!

Find more to be grateful for at Heavenly Homemakers’ Gratituesday and some inspiration to try new things (hopefully more positive than mine!) at Try It Tuesday at Naturally Knocked Up, as well as Talk About Tuesday at The Lazy Organizer. What are other people trying in their kitchens? Find out at Fearless Fridays at Home-Ec 101.

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If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here.

Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments.

More to talk about:

• What’s in My Freezer?
• How Much Does my Dishwasher Cost?
• Praying in the Kitchen
• Two Paradigms of Healthy Eating
• Hand Sanitizers in the Home
• How to Buy Reduced Produce
• Honey, We’re Having a Crudite Platter Tonight!
• I’m a Garlic Virgin
• Why I love Glass Containers
• Natural Dishwasher Detergent Experiments

Hungry for more? Related posts:

1. How to Use and Store Flax Seeds and Flax Oil
2. Food for Thought: Power-Packed Omega-3 Fats in Salmon and Flax
3. Recipe Connection: Banana Flax Muffins
4. Gratituesday: Best Friends Who Know You so Well