Always, always use a Condiment… March 18, 2008

I ventured to the back of my refrigerator today. With my son complaining that there was “nothing good to eat in the house”, I decided to survey the situation for myself and was shocked, ashamed and really surprised at what I found. 

First of all, let me just say that he was right.  There really wasn’t anything to eat in the refrigerator.  What my refrigerator did hold, however, was every condiment known to man.  I counted 37 different jars of condiments.  Granted, there were 4 opened jars of salsa, and 4 opened jars of cocktail sauce but I did not count the 9 bottles of salad dressing (is that a condiment?).   I did have Morton’s Steak Sauce, A-1, wasabi mayonnaise, Major Grey’s chutney, 4 different kinds of mustard, 3 different hot sauces, relish and of course, kethcup.  I had soy sauce, tamarind sauce (what is that?) and olive spread.  Most bottles had only a teaspoon removed from the top, some were not even opened….purchased, I’m sure in anticipation of a dinner party dish I intended to but never ended up making.  And since I haven’t had a dinner party in a really long time, some of these bottles were pretty old.  Looking at the cost and calculating the waste left a bad taste in my mouth (similar to the kalamata olive spread). 

Why hasn’t anyone come up with the idea of a “condiment counter” at the grocery store?  Like a deli, you would be able to order whatever amount of said condiment you required.  I’ll grow old before I ever use an entire tube of wasabi paste.  I’ll still buy ketchup and mustard, but I refuse to buy another whole bottle of watermelon barbeque sauce.