I like different food items from different grocery stores. But, in an effort to not have food consume all of my free time, I’ve reined myself in and only go to two stores a week. As a result, I’m occasionally asked to compromise on price, quality or quantity. Last week, it was the last of these.
Bean sprouts were in order for the Cold Sesame Noodles I was making, but I knew I’d need just a handful. One store near me sells sprouts in bulk (or in my case, the opposite). Since I couldn’t bring myself to head to a third store, I bought an 8-ounce bag.
Knowing that I wouldn’t make anything else that used them that week, almost a half-pound of bean sprouts sat in my fridge, expiring (I’ve found that they don’t last that long). There had to be someone who’d use these things. My wife suggested I experiment by posting them in the “free” section on Craigslist, and I thought, ‘why not.’
Within two hours of listing the sprouts, I received two e-mails. One was a man suggesting I add the bean sprouts to a stir fry, sound advice if I hadn’t already planned the rest of the week’s meals.
The other e-mail was from a guy interested in taking them. He said he couldn’t pick up the sprouts for a few days and I never heard back from him.
Hmm. I’d guess the lack of follow-through and interest was probably because bean sprouts aren’t all that useful or tasty (just crunchy!), and they’re cheap ($1.50 for the bag).
Next time, I’d probably ask a friend if they could use the sprouts. Giving food to strangers sounds fine, but taking food from strangers less so.
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