What's going to go off?

Tomorrow we are off on our luxury escape to Port Douglas, and I am wondering what I need to throw out from my fridge. Alas I am fasting today - last chance before a week of wining and dining every night - so I can't really cook a dinner comprised of things that are going to go off. David, hopefully, will polish off the chicken dish I made the other night with some rice, but this will still leave a few items that may well turn whilst we are away.

So do I throw them away now or wait until we get back to see what has really gone?

The potential disasters are some green beans - they really don't last long do they? I suppose I could quickly blanch them and freeze them. But then will I remember that I have them? I also see that I can freeze parsley - either double bagged as it is, or whizzed in a food processor with water or oil and then frozen in ice cube trays. So I might have a go at that too.

And yes I have some strawberries. I have eaten half the punnet, so maybe I'll have the other half for dinner with my yoghurt tonight.

I think the rest will still be alright - if past its best - when we get back. I mean it's only a week. Carrots, onions, garlic, some kale, pumpkin, mushrooms and some eggs. I think they will all be OK - though I should check the eggs with that floating thing when I get back. Put them in a bowl of water and if they float they've gone. Pretty easy to check. If they just stand up they're still OK. And maybe the kale will be past it, but I think I'll wait and see on that. If it's halfway OK it can always be shredded and put in a soup or a stir-fry.

Cream - maybe it will be OK, maybe it will not. So I don't think I shall throw it out now. It seems to last quite a long time these days. And oh how I wish you could buy a small container of milk - half a litre. It's hard to find small quantities and so we always finish up throwing milk away because we don't use it much. We did this yesterday. Mind you it still smelt alright even though it was a month past its use by date, which makes you wonder a bit what they have put into it. I'm sure milk went off a whole lot quicker than that when I was young. Tomatoes too - I'm pretty sure the packet of cherry tomatoes I bought the other day will still be fine. I also suspect that those strawberries might be alright too. Though I don't think I shall risk it.Now those never used to last more than a day or so.

The half bottle of white wine can end up in a stew or a braise, or a risotto. We can drink the bit of orange juice before we go, and the yoghurt will last for some time yet.

And the apples and oranges that are currently sitting in a fruit bowl, can go back into the fridge.

I hate wasting food. 'Waste not want not' was one of the mantras of my youth that has stuck with me over the years. Which is why I love books like Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Love your Leftovers. My general problem is twofold. I buy too much in the first place, either because it's a bargain or because it just looks so lovely, and secondly because I am only cooking for two people and sometimes - it will be two days a week when we get back - because I am fasting, I am not cooking for anyone. My lovely husband either concocts a salad or eats up leftovers.

Oh well if anything has gone I can always just put it in the compost. I vow to do over my vegetable patch when I get back. Weed and replant and think of a way to protect it from the wildlife. And I shall be checking out Love Your Leftovers too.