Frigidity

Fridge matters are part of the learning that singles (widows) must learn. My large fridge after three years of apprenticeship is finally down to only what I use and not what I think I might use. When you go from being half a couple with friends to entertain or relatives who drop by or "the kids and their kids", you need to keep some emergency supplies on hand. When you are a single, it's only you and your lover or girlfriend(s)who  need to be fed on occasion. And they usually call ahead. When the kids and their kids come over, you plan bigger but  prepare and stock up on their favorites but only for the one meal.  For the most part, the Widow 101 fridge lesson is to buy small quantities and only enough for a short time. What else do you have to do but go shopping every week? Not a bad way to get out and about and to meet people in this solitary existence called the single life. If it is possible, given spoilage, family packaging that can be taken apart and repacked is one solution. Buying a stock of Lean frozen dinners isn't cheap but if you don't want to eat sandwiches on the granite every night, it does force one to take out plates and cutlery and a napkin and sit at the table like other civilized folk at dinner. After throwing out dried up cheese, soggy cucumbers, wilted lettuce and turning milk, you learn. Cudoes to the suppliers who make small quantities without the "senior" label and call them single sustenance or something similar. It would be nice to see such as milk in pints, packaged meats for one and half dozen cartons of  eggs. In the meantime, we singles haunt the loose vegetable bins, grab the small packets and jars and somehow get by without tossing out too many remainders.  My dream is to see empty air around everything in my fridge but being a cooking freak, I find I  must have the olives, the anchovy paste,  the exotic cheeses and the chutneys, the mustards and sauces. Fortunately pricing calls for them to come in small sizes. One handy innovation is tomato paste in a tube. Now that makes sense when all you need in some dishes is a hint of tomato. One wise single I know goes one step further and cooks a full meal, then makes up her own frozen meals on wheels sans wheels. My fear of boredom in eating the same thing for days at a time behoves that plan. My friend, the potato, is the most versatile of the veggy fraternity. Fry it, bake it, mash it, salad it, pancake it or shepherd pie it, it's king. And the greatest king of all is the Russet. And then there are frozen small sweet peas and the ever present carrot. These are royalty.  A ninety year old neighbour of mine, continues to do  her own cooking using skill and a skillet. In goes  a little water,  meat, the veggies and all is simmered in slow time sprinkled with her windowsill herbs and at the end, thickened with some cornstarch. The appetizing olio is poured into a pretty bowl and dinner is served.