Week 20: Clean out the Condiments

I don't know about you, but I used to pride myself on the wide selection of condiments that I had at any given time in my refrigerator.  Any time we had guests, I would tell them that if they didn't see it out, chances were that it was in the fridge.  I had everything from ketchup to cocktail sauce to any number of salad dressings.  Over the past 19 weeks, as we've used up different condiments, I haven't replaced them.  Or, if a challenge called for ditching certain things (salad dressings or mayo), then I got rid of those.  But there are a few things that have been hanging on.  This morning, I decided to get rid of them.

It's sort of silly, but I held an attachment to them (not like I cried or anything that dramatic), but it made me want the foods that I always ate with that particular condiment.  Tartar sauce at one time was almost a pantry staple item, particularly during Lent.  All those fish sticks-the emotion is a cross of ah and ugh.  Then there's the cocktail sauce eaten with popcorn shrimp and loved by many a daycare child.  Are popcorn shrimp really shrimp?  If they are, they are probably farm-raised on some sort of liquor distillery by-products.  There was the spicy mustard for knock-off Subway sandwiches filled with sodium nitrite preserved deli meat.  Yum!  Or is that yuck?  The generic version of 57 Steak Sauce.  My favorite memory of that is dipping my green beans in it as a kid, so I've got to keep that around right?  Not so much.  Finally the tobassco sauce (that was so unimportant, it didn't even make the picture).  I'm not even sure why I have it.  We typically don't eat food that spicy.  I probably bought it specifically for a recipe and never used it again.  It might be ok to keep, but since I don't even know how old it is and the label is long gone, it can go too.

Currently the door of my refrigerator is pretty empty.  It's actually making me a little uncomfortable.  I just need to keep in mind that I can make most anything I need and it will taste better and be better for me.  For the record, there's lime juice, lemon juice, 2 homemade dressings, an all natural ranch dressing, home canned pickle relish, salsa, and just to keep my marriage together, a half bottle of KC Masterpiece BBQ sauce.  Oh, and the top shelf has rice milk, tomato juice and whole milk.

I'm not sure what this week will bring.  I made a great Spanish rice with beef casserole today for lunch.  Did I take a picture?  Of course not.  I'm still reading Nourishing Traditions and I'm almost ready to take the leap and buy raw milk.  I found a farm that is about 40 miles from me.  Who knows?  That might be next week's baby step.