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Throwing Away Food Makes Me Cringe

October 22nd, 2008 at 10:17 pm

What is it about throwing away food that makes me feel so awful? Even when I'm doing it for a good cause it raises something in me that just makes it feel wrong. I suppose it's better that it feels wasteful than that it not, but every little piece of the money saver in me is protesting this turn of events.

My youngest child has just been diagnosed with mutiple food chemical sensitivities. I have to get these items out of the house. In some cases it is enough if he even touches the foods that they affect him. (Cheese powder covered snacks, for one). Oh, I know it's all less than good for you food anyway, but still...it's hard. Fortunately he is not here to see it all being thrown out.

He's agreed to go on the new diet, actually seems eager to do it if it will make him feel better and improve his mood swings (which are scaring even him lately). But that doesn't mean he'd react well to seeing the Captain Crunch, the Cocoa Puffs and the Lucky Charms go into the trash because of the food colorings or artificial preservatives.

I'm torn between saving unopened packages of food to give away or, knowing what I know now, just throwing them away, because really, no one should be eating these chemicals, especially the children most of the products are designed for.

It's a fight. Waste food, waste money, that's ingrained in me from childhood. I have to get past it. We've experimented in the past before with going organic, cooking completely from scratch, and I know I can do it. It's just...really hard with all the other changes going or right now.

Still, in the long run it's the best choice, the only choice I can make. Be wasteful in one area to improve all other areas of life. And make better choices with my food dollars from now on.

We're starting on the Feingold diet as a family. We've got enough information to start while we wait for our full packet to arrive. At least I've got enough healthy food in the house that I don't have to go shop for it at all. We can start tomorrow. And that's a good thing.

10 Responses to “Throwing Away Food Makes Me Cringe”

  1. whitestripe Says:
    1224712547

    if i were you i would probably throw out the opened packages but then donate or give away the opened packages. if i were a child that were starving - i probably would prefer to eat something with preservatives in it than not eat anything at all. just saying Smile

  2. LuckyRobin Says:
    1224713039

    Yeah, I likely will. I tried to put the unopened packages in the trash but I couldn't do it.

  3. swimgirl Says:
    1224713380

    I would bag up as many of those foods in individual baggies or containers and put in another area (shelf in the garage, even) for the other kids to take in lunches. A baggie of Lucky charms in a lunch once a week would be a treat, and as long as your diet (and the kids) is filled with lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, a little won't hurt.

    OR donate some of the foods to the school, if they might be appropriate for class parties and that kind of thing.

    And almost any food can be okay in moderation. Save those foods for when you need to grab something for a picnic or as a treat.

    We eat pretty darn healthy... but I still give in occasionally to "junk" food (although my junk, I'm sure, is someone else's health food.) I couldn't throw it away, although I might spread the consumption of those leftover foods over several months.

  4. LuckyRobin Says:
    1224715796

    My other child is hyperinsulinemic and can't eat these sorts of foods anyway. And we homeschool, so no school to give it to. Unfortunately in this case, my son can't have these items again, ever. They so violently affect his system. Moderation is okay for some people in some instances, but in this case, these foods will build up to lethal levels and kill him. He already has organ damage.

  5. baselle Says:
    1224730852

    Could your DH bring the food to work? Some of it is cereal, I know, but perhaps he's got a co worker who packs breakfast.

  6. LuckyRobin Says:
    1224739369

    Baselle--He works in the Alaskan oil fields and lives in the barracks when he's there. All meals are provided by the company. Not much call for cereal when you can have fresh eggs, bacon, pancakes, sausage, French toast, etc., every morning. But my neighbor said she'd take it all, even the open stuff. Problem solved, food not wasted, and they were really short on their paycheck this month because her husband had strep throat. So it works for everyone.

  7. whitestripe Says:
    1224756343

    glad to hear it helped someone! i hate wasting food too, even if it is 'junk'.

  8. Snoopycool Says:
    1224766340

    I cringe, too, to throw away food (even kernals of corn, believe it or not).

  9. Ima saver Says:
    1224774275

    We have a food pantry here where I live, to help out needy folks. They take anything!!

  10. dmontngrey Says:
    1224779681

    I'm glad you were able to give it to your neighbor and really helped them out. Good deed!

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