Redemption

Impulse buy...

Over a year ago, in a fit of good intentions, I bought a 5-lb bag of frozen mixed veggies from Costco. 5 pounds! I was thinking I'd use them in my turkey pot pie recipe that I make from the leftover turkey at Thanksgiving and Christmas. Only, I hadn't made that recipe in ages, because my 2 older kids (who liked it) left home years ago, and 3 of the 4 remaining children are vegetarians. Larry likes it, though, I thought. No reason for him to be consigned to a life of mac-n-cheese and refried beans just because 3 of his offspring refuse to be omnivores, right?

Wrong. That bag has been sitting in my freezer for, I don't know, a year and a half? Every time I opened the freezer, I would see it and feel guilty. Or I did, until this week. THIS week, I received an automated call from Costco that told me this particular purchase is included in the frozen-veggies recall that has been in the news lately. You know, that bag was so old, I hadn't even bothered to check.

So I gleefully brought that white elephant of a food purchase to the store this week and received my money back. I won't lie - it felt wrong, dishonest even. Like I had passed the statute of limitations on recalls, yet no one had figured it out. Or maybe that was just my guilt talking, telling me that I didn't deserve to be rewarded for failing to make turkey pot pie for my spouse. Still, I pocketed my refund and walked away, feeling lighter somehow, absolved of my wasteful housekeeping ways. Best yet, no longer do I have to be reminded of my homemaking inadequacies each time I want to put some ice cubes in my drink.

I'm not even sure what the point of this story is. It pays to never clean out one's freezer? Probably that. Yeah, that.



[Veggies image: Fifi's Fine Foods]