The creepy bad smell from the fridge

For the last two weeks or so, there has been a very bad smell in the back of my fridge. I haven't found it yet. Which is kind of shocking because I have had to throw out not a small amount of food which has long outstayed its welcome in the icebox.

If you think about it... it's gross. It makes eating food out of the fridge that much harder, knowing that the food has been in a place that smelled like... that. But now for two weeks I've been throwing out cold, hardened baklava, rice and kabobs, orange jello, old grapes, a half-eaten candy apple... in an effort to find the smelly culprit. I haven't found it yet--none of what I've pulled out has smelled remotely like the noxious odor that nearly knocks me out as I open the door... and of course it still smells... perhaps even worse than before. (Not a good sign!) Now there were a lot of leftovers that are being eaten and so space is clearing out, but it's still too full apparently for me to find the problem.

Now maybe I have a habit of throwing things out of the fridge. I really hate to see things in there which I have no intention of eating. It should only be allowed to stay if I do intend to eat it! That's my rule. For my readers who have read way back from last May... you might recall when I threw out all expired and "questionable" foods belonging to my roommates when I moved in with them.

But I have heard that there is something bad with throwing food away. Perhaps this is why some people I know just keep filling up the fridge and freezer until the space is exhausted and things begin to smell? Islamically--I am asking--is there something wrong with throwing food away? Should I be more diligent about eating the browning lettuce and moldy bread? I don't really understand why there is a problem with throwing things away--I'm not talking here about cooking a meal, eating a portion, and throwing the rest out. Saving it and eating as much as I can I don't mind. But eventually it goes bad, before I can finish it... can't keep it. I don't really feel like I'm being "wasteful," and I don't think it's any better to store food in the fridge until it goes bad to have an excuse for not eating it again.

You see, someone told me that people's food will run after them on the Day of Judgment... and to me, that makes no sense at all. Is that something parents just say to their kids to make them eat? Or what?

Not sure why it is that I so hate having old food around, but it's very difficult to cook for just one or two. The fact that it builds up in the fridge and begins to smell, and there is an accompanying guilt trip to throwing it away just makes it worse. If it were up to me, I would throw everything away that wasn't going to get eaten, or eaten in the near future. Throw it away or throw it "out" (breads and such for birds and so on.) I wouldn't let it sit in the fridge (like that candy apple--not mine!--that had been in there for a month, or the baklava since Ramadan.)

I just don't understand. If you don't want it... why keep it? Just my thoughts. Interested in what other people think or do about this.

Oh, and when I was a kid I learned this little song that was supposed to encourage us to eat what was put in front of us:

I love broccoli, it's such a tasty sight!
And liver makes me quiver, with sheer delight!
I always clean my plate, morning, noon, and night,
I'm thankful for each bite!