The Fridge Complication

13 year old Jaye had a favourite game. This game was played late at night when sleep was elusive, and the horrors of attending an all girls school would soon rear their ugly head. This game involved planning the exact contents of my future fridge, the fridge that I would have as soon as I moved out. The fridge that I would lovingly stock each week with what I thought were the perfect foods for my perfect life. The fridge would ideally be a Smeg, because in this fantasy money was no object.

Perfect fridge looked a little something like this;

• A bottle of champagne and a carton of peach juice, so I can drink peach bellinis whenever the mood strikes me.
• Strawberries. Because every fridge needs strawberries. 
• Expensive mature cheddar, because there is little in this world better than a good mature cheddar. 
• Bottled water. Because dream Jaye could afford that.
• And bottles of Gatorade. Because 13 year old Jaye watched too much MTV Cribbs.
• All the ingredients required for a perfect Caesar salad (extra parmesan, hold the anchovies).
• Three bars of Galaxy chocolate. One normal, one caramel and one cookie crumble. Even though I don't like cold chocolate.
• Steak. Because steak is the best.
• An abundance of fresh exotic fruit, preferably mangoes, watermelon, passion fruit and pomegranate.

The reality is that ain't nobody got time to lovingly curate the contents of the fridge, and ain't nobody got the funds either. Current fridge looks more like this.

• Half a bottle of Jacobs Creek white wine that happened to be on offer in Tesco. 
• Half a bag of spinach.
• Lots of minced beef. Because the only meals I can cook well involve minced beef.
• Some tomato puree that's leeking all over the tray inside the front door.
• A Brita water filter because the water in London tastes terrible and I drink too much to be able to afford bottled water. 
• Three limes of indiscriminate freshness. 
• Half a pack of honey roast ham.
• A cucumber. 
• Some left over stir fry from three nights ago.

I can just imagine the bollocking 13 year old Jaye would give me if she could see me now. Probably something along the lines of 'why do you have a hundred lipsticks and no champagne you stupid cow'.

I'm kind of inclined to agree with her. I've gotten into the habit of viewing food shopping as a necessary evil, rather than selecting the fuel to nourish my body. 

So for March I'm setting myself the goal of creating a fridge that 13 year old me would be proud of. I think I can sacrifice a few lipsticks for a better fridge contents.

Image from Pinterest.