Disasters come big and
small.
This disaster is
absolutely on the small side. Okay, so no one has marched into my village,
spray painted a symbol for my Mormon faith on the side of my house, and slated
my family for slavery and crucifixion . . . but . . .
Our fridge died—a first
world problem—true. Still . . . these small moments of first world frustration
can help us appreciate and even wonder about what the world is dealing with on
a much, much larger and more horrifying scale.
How do they do it in a
refugee camp of 100,000 people? Keep food from spoiling, that’s what. Feed
100,000 people every single day for years?
Our fridge died last
Sunday. The new one won’t be here for a week. I’ve been tossing rotten food out
for days. Actually, I’ve been feeding it to our small flock of chickens because
I hate the idea of wasting so much food.
I made a huge family
meal on Sunday, planning on eating leftovers all week. Not so fast. Monday
morning the temperature inside the refrigerator read fifty degrees. It was a
goner.
Food: It used to be an
everyday activity. No leftovers tucked neatly into the electric icebox. No fast
food. No doggie bags. Open a can of something. Eat a can of something.
I looked it up. How
long before the food I cooked yesterday or today would be in the “danger zone”
without refrigeration?
Potentially
hazardous food that stays in the temperature "danger zone", 40-140 °F
(4-60 °C), for more than 2 hours should
be discarded. Potentially hazardous foods are those foods that spoil most
easily, such as unshelled eggs, raw meats, fish, shellfish, dairy products,
almost all cooked foods.
I have a new
appreciation for preservatives, and for Mindy's suggestion about an emergency box of food, for . . . you know . . . emergencies.
Linda (Modern
Conveniences) Zern
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