Forgetting foods in the fridge??

[Arsinoe]

This may sound ridiculous but I've ALWAYS had it and was wondering if this is a symptom that might come up frequently or just a 'me' thing.
I legit can't have lots of food stored because I will end up forgetting to cook and eat most of them and they end up rotting and/or molding. Aside from 2-3 foods that I eat pretty much daily like some sort of routine, most other foods will very likely be forgotten. Do you have that? Or are you generally forgetful like that with things in your daily life?

 

[tree]

To ensure that not happening, at times I have written notes
telling me which items need to be used next.

Probably seems like that list would go on the door of the
refrigerator, but that would mean I'd have to look there.

Instead I put the note on the wall in the kitchen, attached to the
thing that holds the scissors, robogrips, screwdriver, can opener.
And notes for plan of what I want to do the next day.

 

[Mary Terry]

I try to keep a list of all food in the freezers so I can use things up within a few months of freezing them. I'm pretty good about using refrigerated foods because lunch usually consists of my scouting the 'fridge for ingredients and making a soup, sandwich, burritos, tacos or something like that.

Despite trying to be diligent, I still waste food but a lot less than I used to.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

This may sound ridiculous but I've ALWAYS had it and was wondering if this is a symptom that might come up frequently or just a 'me' thing.
I legit can't have lots of food stored because I will end up forgetting to cook and eat most of them and they end up rotting and/or molding. Aside from 2-3 foods that I eat pretty much daily like some sort of routine, most other foods will very likely be forgotten. Do you have that? Or are you generally forgetful like that with things in your daily life?

Yep. Yep. Yep. That's me, 100%. When I still lived alone, there would always be some forgotten food at the back of the fridge, rotting, or some eternally opened jar of sauce that I tried once and found disgustig and kept forgetting to throw out. I also usually ate the same stuff and forgot about things in my fridge that weren't among my usual food sources.
Now, with my partner, it got easier because he pays more attention to this. But one problem still is that we always end up throwing out opened glasses of pasta sauce because either I forget they are there and find them after months, or I want to use it and don't remember when we put it there, so I don't want to risk us getting food poisoning and just open a new one.
We try to overcome this by writing on the lids when we opened sauces and such, but that doesn't work so well either because I (we) forget to write the date on when we open it.

An addition to this problem, especially when I lived alone, is that there aren't many household things I hate more than cleaning the fridge. It involves so many steps, like, taking out everything, taking out parts of the fridges, rinse them, put the food back in, and it's just plain disgusting. But well, got to do it sometimes.

But yeah, I'm generally forgetful in my daily life.

 

[Judge]

Guilty as charged. One case where all my executive thought processes seem to go to hell. Or more specifically, spoil in the fridge.

Guess I need one of those "Aunt problems" to monitor the expiration date of so many condiments. Where I use my palette to determine when to throw something out rather than rely on their spoilage dates. My bad.

 

[tree]

Guess I need one of those "Aunt problems" to monitor the expiration date of so many condiments. Where I use my palette to determine when to throw something out rather than rely on their spoilage dates. My bad.

"Aunt problems"
???

 

[Judge]

"Aunt problems"
???

Expired! Expired! Expired!.....

 

[kriss72]

This may sound ridiculous but I've ALWAYS had it and was wondering if this is a symptom that might come up frequently or just a 'me' thing.
I legit can't have lots of food stored because I will end up forgetting to cook and eat most of them and they end up rotting and/or molding. Aside from 2-3 foods that I eat pretty much daily like some sort of routine, most other foods will very likely be forgotten. Do you have that? Or are you generally forgetful like that with things in your daily life?

Yep, happens all the time here, if it isn't in the front row, in front of my eyes when I open the fridge it simply doesn't exists Also I cycle through the same few dishes almost all the time.

And, yeah, it isn't just in the fridge I forget about stuff, it's happening with other things too - an adhd thingy for me. - It's not like I forget-forget, the information is in there, it's the retrieval part that is the issue.

 

[AndyFBlues]

I used to do that a lot. I've gotten better, but there is still room for improvement. It helps to regularly check expiration dates.

 

[AuroraBorealis]

It's not like I forget-forget, the information is in there, it's the retrieval part that is the issue.

Same here. It's not like the information's gone, it's more that I remember it at the worst moments, never when I actually could use it (for example right before going to sleep at night).

 

[Judge]

For me it's sometimes just a case of my frugality going "a bridge too far". Made worse by having condiments that eat seldomly at best. Nice to have around until they go south. Oh well....

 

[kriss72]

Same here. It's not like the information's gone, it's more that I remember it at the worst moments, never when I actually could use it (for example right before going to sleep at night).

Exactly, like next morning you see the airfryer and think.. hmm.. didn't I make some garlic bread for my salad yesterday? And of course it is in there, uneaten

 

[AuroraBorealis]

Exactly, like next morning you see the airfryer and think.. hmm.. didn't I make some garlic bread for my salad yesterday? And of course it is in there, uneaten

Yep as I child, whenever I'd remember something crucial right before falling asleep, I'd throw a pillow through my room, hoping that when I saw the pillow the next morning, I'd remember that thing before leaving for school. It worked sometimes, although often I'd see the pillow and go nuts trying to remember what I forgot. I then proceeded to sending myself a text message but not open it so it would pop up on my phone first thing in the morning.

 

[Aspychata]

The bigger the fridge, the more l forget what's in it. Also, the thinner the fridge, l don't like moving stuff around to get to the one item. Now l have a top ,(fridge), bottom fridge, (freezer). That really helps, and l know where things are now. I actually am more frugal in my shopping habits, and have a set diet of just protein based meals. The other plus is that my plant based meats, like vegetarian hot dogs can last quite awhile. Where as my protein powder sits in a giant tub on my counter. Now if l stumble and buy candy or cookies, l never forget that location, so l stopped buying those. However, l am making a apple pie for my guest this month, as Mary Terry gave me some great ideas to jizz up my pie confection.

 

[AprilR]

Yes that's the reason i buy non freezable food in small amounts and go shopping often. I also try to plan what i cook in advance

 

[Arsinoe]

My issue is not with foods that go in the freezer, those stay longer and I usually freeze things that I eat regularly like vegetables. My issue is with foods that need to be consumed quickly, for example if I get fresh veggies, there's a high chance I will accidentally let them spoil because I might forget to eat them when I should. That's actually why I generally prefer freezer-kept foods. Over the years I have tried several methods to deal with it but it all comes back to point 0. I guess it's an executive dysfunction thing along with just my awful short term memory? Right now my best solution is to buy mostly freezer foods. They seem to work just fine and I seem to be wasting far less food than before.

 

[Arsinoe]

Yep as I child, whenever I'd remember something crucial right before falling asleep, I'd throw a pillow through my room, hoping that when I saw the pillow the next morning, I'd remember that thing before leaving for school. It worked sometimes, although often I'd see the pillow and go nuts trying to remember what I forgot. I then proceeded to sending myself a text message but not open it so it would pop up on my phone first thing in the morning.

I love your username. Seeing the aurora lights from up close is one of my top life dreams! Aurora Borealis and the total eclipse are probably my 2 favorite phenomena

 

[SPEED RACER]

I just eat it right away til its gone like 3 days in a row

 

[AuAL]

Yes that's the reason i buy non freezable food in small amounts and go shopping often. I also try to plan what i cook in advance

A friend/colleague of mine moved cities to come and work for me. He moved into the apartment I had arranged for him, but never bought a ‘fridge. He would stop at a nearby supermarket on his way home each evening to do a daily shop.

 

[AuAL]

To ensure that not happening, at times I have written notes
telling me which items need to be used next.

Probably seems like that list would go on the door of the
refrigerator, but that would mean I'd have to look there.

Instead I put the note on the wall in the kitchen, attached to the
thing that holds the scissors, robogrips, screwdriver, can opener.
And notes for plan of what I want to do the next day.

My wife notes the date fresh meat needs to be used on a calendar on the door of the fridge in the kitchen (not freezer.) The meat is actually kept in the fridge (not freezer) in the garage, but the system works. @Judge, my homemade plum sauce (no use-by or best-before dates) is still going strong after quite a while (maybe a year?) in the fridge. I just made a new batch, went to put it in the fridge and found a litre jar of the old batch unopened. Used it in dinner last night.