inside my fridge - rutabagas win

As part as NaBloPoMo, I joined several groups - mostly as a way to get ideas about what to write about every day! One group is Fridge Friday, where everyone agrees to post a picture of their fridge.

So here's my fridge for this week...

I actually have two pictures - one before I cleaned it, and after I made room for the last batch of CSA shares.
Before I cleaned it, it's pretty stuffed full - although until I actually started taking things out, I don't think I realized how disorganized it had gotten.

The door never really changes. All the small shelves have dressings, sauces, butter, and sometimes beer. The bottom drawer has milk * (usually oakhurst but I stopped at morning glory today and somewhat splurged on glass bottles from smiling hill farm), half-and-half, and a bottle of white wine.



As for the rest of the frig, well, it's probably better to talk about what it looks like now. Local items are marked with an asterisk.


Top shelf - green chile peppers*, 2 bags of argula*, tomatillos*, maple syrup*, bananas (clearly time to make banana bread), avacado, leftover olives, scallion/ginger sauce for rice, 2 jars of applesauce, miso, green olive paste, TJ's red pepper paste

Middle shelf - leftover filling for greens pie*, leftover scallion/ginger rice, cottage cheese, sour cream, yogurt, ricotta cheese, rutabaga* (yes, it's the HUGE one in the middle), 3 (count them THREE) heads of cabbage* (time to make kim-chee), cranberries, 3 packs of tofu, cheese, cheese, cheese, 3 1/2 lemons

Bottom shelf - several bags of greens, including lettuce*, bok choi*, as well as turnips*, rutabagas* (of a normal size), eggs, and TJ's peanut butter

Drawers - carrots*, beets*, cabbage* (yep, another one), maybe more rutabagas*, apples*, green peppers*, radishes*, scallions, and a lone lime.


And wait, I'm not done yet - in addition to all that I added, I also did some much-needed cleaMostly what is really interesting is what I took out, all of which had gone bad, including (warning that if you don't like to read about rotten food, you may want to skip the next paragraph):

cottage cheese; a rotten cantalope; 1/2 eaten apple; 1/2 finished cup of Sawyer's milk; 3 bags of rotten greens; 2 small tupperware of salad fixings; pinto beans in the can; 3 snack bags of 3 carrots each, all of which were now dried up; a very soft avocado; one tupperware of old spaghetti; a container of sliced ginger for long-gone sushi; and (this one makes me sad) a moldy quart of homemade salsa. Back in August, when you could get a 1/2 bushel of tomatoes at the farmers' market, I made a LOT of salsa. But clearly we aren't eating it fast enough.

And when I cleaned it, I discovered:

3 1/2 lemons; 2 open applesauce jars, 2 extra tofus (each on a separate shelf). Why is it so hard to keep the fridge organized in a way that reduces compost?

And which food will be still be here next Friday?

oh, and the brussel sprouts? sitting on the kitchen table, waiting for steve to pluck them from the stalk so they can be added to the frig.