Hoarding Ingredients - suffering from Allgoneophobia?

[Kerry Beal]

Lemon Hart (but not the 151) is available at the LCBO in Ontario - but only in some of the stores.  Mostly in Southern Ontario rather than up north.  

 

Wray and Nephew is available just about everywhere.

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I thought of another!

 

I've been rationing my limited supply of white grapefruit.  Cutting into them only as absolutely necessary.  It is some months till white grapefruit will be available again.

 

The first white grapefruit I cut into tonight was bright orange and smelled like Wray & Nephew.  It was even a little fizzy.  I thought I might have invented something!  On reflection I pitched the experiment and cut into a second white grapefruit that wasn't orange.

[andiesenji]

Does pre-war Yugoslav slivovitz count?  Lots of I'm sure undrinkable wine.  Bottles of old, irreplaceable first growths.  I have some chocolate my son brought back from Paris in the 1990's.  I have some chocolate a friend brought back from Paris a couple of years ago.  I have some lovely limited edition Lindt I bought in 2005.  Many things in my refrigerator from the last century.  And then there is my freezer...

 

I have some spices from the 1970's -- but that's different as the spices probably are replaceable.  Though I've read cardamom keeps forever.

I've got some spices in bottles that I kept because of the bottles.  Will take photos later (Father Brown is coming on PBS).  Those spices are no longer available the company is gone.

[cakewalk]

I did this with the first packet of vanilla beans I ever bought. I thought they were so special, I couldn't use them for just anything, it had to be for something exceptional. Of course they turned into brittle cardboard. I have other stuff as well, but I periodically "purge." I look for specific recipes that use "x." I might be wistful for a little while over its disappearance, but the truth is that I always get over it. (And you will, too.) Never knew there was a name for it. Very nice to know this is a shared trait!

[JoNorvelleWalker]

I did this with the first packet of vanilla beans I ever bought. I thought they were so special, I couldn't use them for just anything, it had to be for something exceptional. Of course they turned into brittle cardboard.

 

Working on hording my Mexican vanilla bean stash too.  Having a chamber vacuum sealer helps.

[CatPoet]

My  former mother in law was like that, which meant when she used something it was most often our of date and taste horrible.  Me and her mother cleaned  out her  pantry and fridge when they where on a  long holiday.  6  bags of food that was old.   Spices that was 30 years out of date among other weird things.

 

So I use everything I buy.

 

Look at the date and wonder if it worth just to keep to never use?  Why buy things to not enjoy?

[Kerry Beal]

Hope you had permission for that!  You'd be shot, buried and pissed on (not necessarily in that order) if you did that in my home.

[BeeZee]

To the "hoarders"...did you do anything similar as a kid? I have some vanilla beans stashed away from a couple of years ago (double wrapped in saran, ziploc bag, in a glass jar) because they are "special". A jar with several whole nutmegs brought back by my parents from some island vacation several years ago, just cracked one to grate recently. Remembered that as a kid, I "saved" my favorite color Crayola crayon so it would last longer, wouldn't use it except sparingly...and it was my FAVORITE color!

[Arey]

In the back of my hall closet is a half empty bottle of Lairds Applejack that's probably 15 or 16 years old.  When I had a bad cold I would have Lairds Applajack and ginger ale as part of my cold cure.  Since I retired, my colds have never been as bad as they were when I was working so the bottle sits there half empty.  I'm saving it because some day I may have another bad cold.  I do replace the six pack of Canada Dry ginger ale every few years.  I also have a short light cupboard I keep a couple of heavy cans of canned tomatoes in at the bottom to keep it from tipping over.  I don't know how old those cans are but I did have to replace one last Winter.  It was bulging at both ends and the bottom was leaking.  GlorifiedRice is right. Floods, wildfires, earthquakes, tsunamis, teenage vandals having a wreck a house party, SuperStorms, hurricanes, you should enjoy sometning while it's good, at least you'll have the memory.  But, I'm still going to save that bottle of applejack for when I get a bad cold.

[GlorifiedRice]

To the "hoarders"...did you do anything similar as a kid? I have some vanilla beans stashed away from a couple of years ago (double wrapped in saran, ziploc bag, in a glass jar) because they are "special". A jar with several whole nutmegs brought back by my parents from some island vacation several years ago, just cracked one to grate recently. Remembered that as a kid, I "saved" my favorite color Crayola crayon so it would last longer, wouldn't use it except sparingly...and it was my FAVORITE color!

 

Speaking of Crayons...remember, if the stored grains smell like crayons they are rancid (w/the exception of basmati and jasmine, those you cannot tell)

[lindag]

I am a widow  and live alone but I still have two full-sized free-standing freezers that are crammed full.  Also a side-by-side in the kitchen and a second fridge in the garage.  It's ridiculous!  Half the time when I'm looking for something I can't find it because there's so much stuff to dig through.  Both freezers are in desperate need of being defrosted but I can't do it in this hot weather, so I'll wait and hope to get it done in a few months when it's cooler; it's been years since I did it last and I know there's lots of items that will have to be thrown away.  Then I will try to reform and stop hoarding!

[Anna N]

I am a widow  and live alone but I still have two full-sized free-standing freezers that are crammed full.  Also a side-by-side in the kitchen and a second fridge in the garage.  It's ridiculous!  Half the time when I'm looking for something I can't find it because there's so much stuff to dig through.  Both freezers are in desperate need of being defrosted but I can't do it in this hot weather, so I'll wait and hope to get it done in a few months when it's cooler; it's been years since I did it last and I know there's lots of items that will have to be thrown away.  Then I will try to reform and stop hoarding!

lindag,

I think we must be sisters in all but name! My granddaughter is coming over on Wed to help me defrost and sort my big upright but then there's still the freezer drawer on my fridge! Still I have found a tactic that is working for me to get the inventory down. I admit I stole it from the Nom Nom Paleo site. I stick a big bowl in the fridge and then dig out 3-5 protein packages from the freezer. I toss them into the bowl in the fridge and whichever one thaws first becomes that day's lunch or dinner. I check to make sure nothing is thawing too fast and cook it if that happens. Slowly, slowly I see light at the end of that tunnel. I vow to reform. But wait...I did that before ans see where it got me!

[andiesenji]

I am a widow  and live alone but I still have two full-sized free-standing freezers that are crammed full.  Also a side-by-side in the kitchen and a second fridge in the garage.  It's ridiculous!  Half the time when I'm looking for something I can't find it because there's so much stuff to dig through.  Both freezers are in desperate need of being defrosted but I can't do it in this hot weather, so I'll wait and hope to get it done in a few months when it's cooler; it's been years since I did it last and I know there's lots of items that will have to be thrown away.  Then I will try to reform and stop hoarding!

Sounds just like me. I have one big upright freezer but have two fridges - a big LG with two freezer drawers and a smaller fridge that I originally got just for keeping cheese (when I was making cheeses) and produce - set at a higher temp than the regular fridge.  Now the small one holds mostly dairy and drinks.

[Lindacakes]

Well, I have a little bottle of Carl Griffith's Oregon Trail sourdough starter.  How long does that keep?  I am assuming forever.  

 

I actually have items I have no intention of ever using, maybe, like the glass ampule of orange flavoring I bought in the grocery store in Naples.

 

I do think there's some cross-over to general food hoarding.  The thing about the pantry cupboard is, it feels good when it's full.  And I have had to, once or twice, live for two or three weeks due to weather or poverty and I came out fine.

 

In my mind, a little curl of smoke rises over the stone cottage in my mind when I see my cupboards full . . . 

 

I buy endless amounts of baking supplies for when the mood strikes me, and the mood does not strike for years, but I've cut down on that lately because I'm trying to lose weight.  The mood isn't supposed to strike me.

[Shelby]

I may have two vanilla pods tightly wrapped in saran and inside a jar that I've had for......more than several years.....      And don't get me started on the basement freezer *shudder*

[weinoo]

I'm really not too bad with this disease - I love throwing expired stuff out, if I find any - it's pretty much the only way to make room for more stuff. 

 

But...I do have a jar of black truffles that expired sometime back in the early aughts - it still reminds me of that particular trip.

[victoriaelmbladdean]

Yes--A paralyzing affliction indeed!

 

My challenge is using the lovely food items given me as gifts. The need to preserve the stores of such items seems multiplied when the gift are brought back from friends and family who have gone overseas, or, for that matter, anywhere that I do not expect to be travelling soon. I realize, also, that it would probably even be a bit insulting to the gift giver (assuming a reasonable care was taken in the choosing of the gift) to know that the giftee (me, in this case) was actually refusing to make use of a perfectly good and lovingly selected olive oil, or wine or condiment, because of some odd sense that it is better to hold on to said gift for as long as possible, even at the very real risk, nay likelihood, that the gift will spoil and never be consumed by ANYONE AT ALL,  nonetheless the giftee!!

 

Whew-- Upon reflection, this is in fact a greater affliction than I believed at first thought! So glad you brought it out into the light!

[Porthos]

I seem to have a heart of stone. I don't buy food things to bring back when traveling and I am rather pragmatic about our regular grocery shopping. As well as cooking together my DW and I shop together. She is for more likely to pick up something on impulse that then sits forever. She brought back rose water and something similar from our trip to Epcot that is still untouched. I'm more like weinoo - past date with a date that means something then it's out of here. But if those bottles of water stuff make my DW happy then they are worth keeping.

[Anna N]

I seem to have a heart of stone. I don't buy food things to bring back when traveling and I am rather pragmatic about our regular grocery shopping. As well as cooking together my DW and I shop together. She is for more likely to pick up something on impulse that then sits forever. She brought back rose water and something similar from our trip to Epcot that is still untouched. I'm more like weinoo - past date with a date that means something then it's out of here. But if those bottles of water stuff make my DW happy then they are worth keeping.

Great attitude! It's the intangible value that counts the most. If a bottle of rose water brings even a moment of happiness it is worth a king's ransom in this crazy world.

[weinoo]

Channeling Bogey?

[Anna N]

Channeling Bogey?

Not a movie buff so you'll need to help me out here. If it's me you mean.

[Tri2Cook]

I'm going to help pacify those who don't suffer from this affliction by breaking into one of my stashes this weekend. It's simple items that are simple to get for most people and not even that difficult for me to get if I'm willing to pay shipping almost equal to the product cost. Since I'm a bit on the cheap side when it comes to that, I try to limit that type of ordering and thus tend to hoard. But, in celebration of this years return of NCAA football, I'm going to break into my Cajun ingredient stash and do a shrimp boil (since crawfish are a non-option here) for Bama's opening game against West Virginia. Of course, in the interest of full disclosure, it's not going to deplete my supply. Just lessen it by about 1/3.

[andiesenji]

Great attitude! It's the intangible value that counts the most. If a bottle of rose water brings even a moment of happiness it is worth a king's ransom in this crazy world.

I can use up a bottle of rosewater in about 6 months, sometimes less during the holiday baking season.  Fortunately the middle eastern grocer carries the brand I prefer and I have it in a squirt bottle for spritzing on top of sweet pastries, on nuts going into cookies, on top of shortbread and cakes, etc.

Also orange flower water for alternate use.

[Porthos]

Also orange flower water for alternate use.

Yeah, that was the other one.

[janeer]

I am a widow  and live alone but I still have two full-sized free-standing freezers that are crammed full.  Also a side-by-side in the kitchen and a second fridge in the garage.!

Funny, I don't call this hoarding; I call it "inventory." I live alone and could feed a four-course dinner to a large party on short notice.

I do hoard my vintage port. But you're supposed to.