Wastefulness: The by-product of compulsive buying

There is a small container beside the sink. It is used for food scraps that is given to the dog.

Sometimes, when I open it there will be rice, pieces of bread, unfinished scrambled egg, and other morsels of food.

When I see those, I know the culprit - my mother. I do not understand why she cannot finish those tiny pieces of food when it would take just another bite or two.

While it will benefit the canine, to my mind, it is wastefulness.

Unless food has gone bad, is stale, or turned into a science experiment due to its extended stay in the fridge, I clean up whatever I put on my plate.

Produce gone bad

But no, I, too am guilty of wasting food... produce mostly. There'll be greens in the fridge - pechay, mustasa, green beans, eggplant, and they'd be forgotten until they've rotted and are no good to consume.

I do try to salvage as much as I can when I catch those produce. Sometimes, I'm successful, other times not. And I feel guilty when it's the latter.

I've become better at controlling what is bought every week. This way, there will be less to waste. It can be a challenge though when I don't do the marketing myself.

I understand the attraction when you see mounds of fresh-looking produce in the market and you're tempted to buy more than is necessary. When this happens to me, I always remember storage or lack thereof so buying more is not a good idea.

Wastefulness American style

My dear friend, who has been living in America for more than 20 years now, surprised me when she told me about cutting down on her food purchases. Wow! That's something to cheer about.

Let me explain...

My friend is married, but has no kids. She works three jobs as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). That means she's barely home, and is mostly tired after her shifts.

One time during a video call, she showed me the contents of her chest freezer and it was full to the brim. I remember seeing slabs of steak, several packages of other meat products and seafood and so many other food.

But wait, there's more! Her freezer in her two-door refrigerator was just as packed with I don't know what else. And the pantry held three or four of every canned good! How can two people consume all that food?

Of course, they never really eat all that, or even get to cooking everything.

While cooking is therapeutic for my friend, she only has a day-off every two weeks. When she feels up to it, she will cook up a storm. Having grown up with four siblings and with money tight, her mindset is always to cook plenty now that she has the means.

So although none of her family is with her in Nevada, she still cooks like there is an entire village to feed, which is what her family has grown to now. When she feels like it, the feast she whips up will find its way to work where it will be shared by grateful co-workers.

Unfortunately, her husband - a true-blue son of Uncle Sam and army veteran - hardly touches the mostly Filipino dishes she prepares. So on those occasions when she cooks at home, the food will likely end up in the garbage disposal after a couple of days.

Think of all the people going hungry, I tell her. Why not give it away? No can do, she says. People are wary about strangers giving them food because it might cause food poisoning.

So, instead of some hungry stomach getting filled by food no one wants, it will find its way in the dumpster.

Compulsive buyer

It's not just food that my friend is wasting. Ever since I've known her, she's been a compulsive buyer. I guess it's having to grow up with so little and now having the ability to buy stuff that made her this way.

So, she will have three slow cookers, five blenders, and all sorts of kitchen equipment, which she will hardly ever use except for the first time. And they are all stored in the garage where her husband, a hoarder himself, will have just as many things stashed there. (He has three kinds of barbecue grill!)

A few months ago, she told me that she was trying to clean out their house of so many stuff. That meant filling up the recycling bin and garbage bin four times over! Can you imagine how much stuff that is?

And many of her previous purchases she's already sent to her siblings or given away!

During another video call, she showed me a 120-liter bin full of chocolates!!! It excites her each time they go to Costco and there's a sale for all kinds of chocolates so she hoards them and ships them to her nieces and nephews. I could get diabetes eating just a bag of that.

It doesn't help that her husband is a compulsive spender, too. So, there'll be times when he surprises my friend with some purchase - three or four of a kind - because it was on sale.

Therapy?

She isn't the only person I know who hoards stuff and finds pleasure in it, never mind the waste of money or food.

My sister says it seems to be therapeutic for Filipinos in North America. A number of their purchases end up being sent to their family. But many still end up in their garage, empty room, attic, or whatever available space they have at home.

But we shouldn't judge them, my sister adds. We don't know their life there... the hardships and trials they go through. So if shopping or compulsive buying helps them de-stress, then let's respect that.

Accumulating things that we end up not using or even needing in the first place makes me guilty. It is a waste of money. If you end up buying lots of food to feed the hungry, then I'm all for it. Or if you specifically buy something to give someone who needs it, then by all means.

But to stock up on canned goods, meat products, baked goods, kitchen appliances, etc. just because they're on sale, or just because you can, it's very disturbing.

For a while during the early phase of the lockdowns, I also found comfort in seeing the cupboards full of supplies. But eventually, I realized that I could still go out and buy what was necessary as we needed it. So why buy so many at one time and hoard?

Now, I like seeing the cupboards and fridge near empty. It only shows that we've consumed what we were provided with, and we can go spend wisely and prudently without wasting so many resources that others can only dream of having.

Images: Unsplash