On Eating Questionable Foods

Last week I wrote about how sometimes you just need a big ole’ sloppy burger, or bowl of chili, or burrito, or bucket of ramen, or entire pie, or whatever. That’s all fun and games. It’s delicious and makes you feel terrible afterward…but today, we’re talking about the other side of that coin: when you’re just trying your best to save money and eat well and all that’s left in the fridge is food that is who knows how old. So, what do you do when all there is, is questionable foods?

The biggest problem, in my opinion, with eating healthy is that none of these damn foods have preservatives in them! I know, preservatives are probably bad for us, heck, basically, everything these days is bad for us. Air’s full of pollution, sun’s constantly trying to give us cancer, fish are full of microplastics, and depending on where you live the water might just be straight-up toxic filth. But at least with preservatives, I know that loaf of bread (if you can even call it bread anymore) is going to last way longer than it should.

Sorry, back on topic, you do a good thing. You go to the grocery store and you only get maybe one little treat (because you deserve at least ONE little treat). Otherwise, it’s veggies, protein, fruits, and some healthy carbs. You make a nice meal, it tastes… fine. It fills you up but it doesn’t unleash those same brain chemicals that a metric ton of McDonald’s fries do. You eat it again the next day for lunch because even if it’s boring, at least it’s easy and free. Then life comes up, maybe you go out to dinner or you’re too tired to cook but whatever happens, those veggies and the rest of those leftovers are just sitting in that fridge…judging you…and slowly turning into sludge.

The next day you get a creeping feeling as lunchtime is approaching, “It’s been too long. Something is wrong… too much time has passed.” But you can’t quite put your finger on what your brain is trying to tell you. Oh, well. You finally finish those leftovers, and you’re proud of yourself because another day and they might have started to go bad…that’s when it hits you, those greens you bought all those days ago…you haven’t even touched them. You slowly pull out the bag and as you open it, that terrible, sickly sweet smell starts to emanate out. Man! You just bought that spinach, how is it bad already!? That’s when the bargaining stage comes out. Can you pick around the gross mushy parts? Maybe some of the stuff at the bottom is still good? Is there even enough to make a side salad? You try to put whatever looks reasonably healthy into a bowl and you toss the rest. Then you sit there and you stare at the bowl, the smell of the rotten stuff still wafting through the air.

So, do you eat it or do you admit complete defeat and toss every single leaf?