Fat Kid to Vegetarian: Moving with Food

As a youth my parents moved a lot (I would pick up the habit later), so I established some moving pet peeves pretty early on that I swore I would never do when I grew up. For example, I would never put everything to the last minute. I would never hire movers, I could do all the work myself for cheap. I would never move (or even purchase) junk that I didn't need.

Like most parts of swearing I would never be like my parents, it turned out I am doing the ever-so-predictable metamorphosis into becoming them. I have lots of junk, I've hired movers and gotten super stressed over moving.

There is ONE habit I have not picked up on. I will not move food. I always hated having to pack the food. Usually the cooler and plastic bags filled with groceries would be wedged with me in the back seat with me making me wonder why we brought all this with us. My parents did a fine job moving, here is a post explaining how you can safely move food. Despite know how, I still refuse.

Not moving with food doesn't mean I throw away stuff. It just means as soon as I know I'm going to move, I'll make one more grocery store run to best utilize all my condiment and extra ingredients. Usually I have sesame oil, soy sauce and rice vinegar laying around, so I get stir-fry ingredients. In addition I always have cans of tomato sauce, so I make many cans of pasta. The idea for the last grocery run is to try to use up every extra thing you have, so that you do not have to move it.

This usually works out great at first with plenty of full flavored meals, but by the end when the pantry is getting pretty scarce and my belt buckle is a little more tight I find myself craving food I don't already have. This is the temptation you must resist! Do not give into the temptation of buying more groceries or you will never consume that unwanted can of chick peas, black beans, etc. By the end, I'm usually on a vegetarian diet which is not something I aspire to, and can't wait till my first big meaty meal at the new place.

If I have any food left I usually try to give it to neighbors or friends, because I just do not want to move it. The only food good I have moved consistently and regularly are my spices which all fit in a couple of small boxes.

Do you guys move your food? I'd like to know!