The Condiment Challenge

What’s Really on the Side of Your Fridge Door?

Like you, I try to eat healthy. It’s something I work at. I buy organic vegetables and look around for the best fish, chicken, turkey, and beef I can find. I bake and make, despite a few misses here and there.

One day, while trying to fit something onto the side of the refrigerator door, I thought: Wow, these glass jars have been in here a while. I only replace them when they run out, but since I don’t use that much of each one at a time, they tend to hang around for a long time.

Since I don’t buy them often, I hadn’t run them through the Yuka app (Yuka is a free app that provides a nutritional breakdown by scanning the barcode). Food manufacturers are not always fans—it often reveals that products labeled as healthy may or may not score well on certain factors. The power of Yuka was described in a Wall Street Journal article, but even before I read it, I decided to “Yuke” the condiments in the fridge door.

I couldn’t believe it—nearly half of them scored “poor” or “bad.” It wasn’t “Yuke” going on. It was a potential “Nuke.” I didn’t want to discard everything, especially since my husband, Phil, likes some of them. So, I created a simple system: a red sticker on the poor ones (to be used sparingly), and two stickers on the bad ones (please avoid). I was surprised to see so many ranked as “poor” though. Most of those didn’t even get to two stickers. They just went right out without further thought.

Learning we now had a coding system on condiments, Phil didn’t say anything other than “sure.” He knew not to mess with the particulars of this exercise going on. In truth, he wanted no part of it. He was pleased to eat the condiments we had. But I wasn’t. He said nothing of the micromanagement going on here – wisely. But I tried to bend too and left more than I wanted to of the one and two-dotters.

But every time I opened the fridge, I thought, Why are we settling for this? Why do we need these?

Those one and two dotters didn’t last. Finally, that was it. While handing him lunch, I blurted out, “Do you mind if I toss this mayonnaise?”

“No, I’m okay with that.”

“If you ever want some, I’ll make it. Honestly, the tuna with olive oil and vegetables last time was pretty good as is, wasn’t it?”

“It was,” he agreed.

Out that went. Kerplunk, right in the trash.

“And the tartar sauce? Awful for you. I can’t in good conscience keep it,” I said, feeling a twinge of guilt thinking of how he liked to have it on fish.

Boldly, I said, “It’s gotta go. Use mustard. Plain yellow mustard is good.”

I didn’t know how common mustard on fish was but heck, he might as well try something new and adventurous on the plate. At least I didn’t suggest ketchup. That might have raised an eyebrow from him, even though he loves it. Growing up, he said the food needed a lift, so he’d slather it with ketchup.

We’d already had a considerable debate about ketchup a while back, so now we’re in the clear with three versions I like. I even made ketchup once—it was all vegetables and delicious—but without preservatives, it didn’t last long. It spoiled. So, we compromised: I buy ketchup, but only if it scores well on the Yuka app.

Now, nothing in our fridge door scores “poor.” There is one item with xanthan gum that slipped by me, as I’m no fan of emulsifiers (they can clog up our insides, as the WSJ recently reported); that one’s getting the heave-ho, too.

After this exercise, which lasted at least a week, we ended up with a vastly reduced Condiment selection. We had fewer, but better-quality options. I considered that a kitchen win. I am not sure what Phil ultimately thought. I can say he was happy that I was happy. He got good spouse points for that.

You might wonder how Phil survives in this evolving kitchen. He’s easygoing—and honestly, eating pretty well as a result.

I’d love for you to explore the side door of your fridge. What’s in there? How long has it been sitting? And is it good to eat?

Take the Condiment Challenge. Please scan your products—and let me know what you find!

And by the way, here’s how the side door of our refrigerator looks now. No red dots at all!