Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. I started doing this in March of 2008 to help motivate myself to use up my food instead of wasting it and it’s been very effective. Since it helped me so much, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
This week’s waste is comprised of a lone potato. This was leftover from me making Deep Dish Pizza almost two weeks ago (yes, I am ashamed. That is a long time to have a potato in your fridge!). I should have frozen it right away, but I kept thinking I was going to make potato rolls or include it in some scrambled eggs. Obviously, though, I didn’t, and now that the potato is two weeks old, I am very uninspired about eating it, even if it might still be safe.
On a more cheerful note, I used the jalapeno peppers to make a rub for some chicken, and I did not waste the cilantro I bought last week. And, my fridge is delightfully devoid of leftovers at the moment, which is always a lovely feeling for me.
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Nothing! Partly because I haven’t formally given up on the romaine yet.
Romaine notwithstanding, my nothing is quite an achievement. I’d shopped for a couple dishes I wanted to make, then realized I had to try my new pressure cooker this week or I wouldn’t be able to return it if it didn’t work, then my family visited and we got Chinese. So I had a couple meals of raw chix, and made beans then brown rice, and no one was as hungry as usual so I had at least 6 meal’s worth of leftovers. I even used the restaurant’s white rice!
I forgot the canteloupe that went bad because I let it sit out. Bad me, I love canteloupe.
Oh the shame, I have 7 items! But no cilantro!
I was thinking about your blog the other day when I was at Lowe’s and saw an indoor herb garden. I’m surprised you don’t grow cilantro in an herb garden so you don’t waste it so much. Or even have other herbs as well. Just a suggestion from someone who doesn’t grow things either but it made me think of you.
I have a ton of leftovers that I haven’t wasted…Yet. What I want to know is, why do I keep cooking new stuff??
Lots of waste this week. I have little to say, feeling mostly disgusted.
I have NEVER been able to use up an entire bunch of cilantro. It makes me absolutely crazy. How did you do it? In my experience, it goes slimy faster than any other herb. We have a love-hate relationship, cilantro and I.
I learned how to keep cilantro fresh for 3 weeks, several years ago. As soon as you bring it home from the store, wash it thoroughly. Spread it out on clean towels to dry at room temperature, but try to keep stem ends always in the same direction. This will probably take at least an hour.(for it to dry) Then bundle it up into a loose bunch again; which is easier if you have kept stem ends parallel. Wrap this loose bundle in paper towel and put the bundle in a celery keeper or other mostly air tight container. Some slight dampness is O.K. but not wetness. pull strands out as you need them from the top. The first time this failed for me was last week. I was trying to do this in an overly busy kitchen, so I put the drying cilantro out of sight on a shelf, and forgot about it for too many hours. It wilted, and never recovered. I almost always have fresh cilantro on hand, and only buy it once or twice a month, using this technique. It was shown to me for keeping parsley fresh, but I discovered it works just as well for cilantro.
Unless something went bad while I was at work last night, I have a no waste week!! However, I have a fridge full of leftovers that are calling my name. Hopefully they will all be gone by next week!
I don’t see Mr.Linky anywhere… so here’s my link for the week:
http://halfdozendaily.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/food-waste-friday-messy-computer-desk-purge/
Arrgh! I don’t know WHAT happened to the linky. It was working this morning and I didn’t change a thing.
I think I’m over Mr. Linky…I’m going to switch to some of those other services.
Here is my link too – only a little cream cheese waste!
http://thriftylivingde.blogspot.com/2010/02/food-waste-friday.html
Nothing wasted here! I am quite happy that I brought my produce home and immediately washed, chopped, and froze what we would not use this week!
No food waste this week. I came up with a dinner that used up some odds and ends in the refrigerator before they went bad. I’m pretty stoked about that. I used the jalapeno slices that came from some subs and the rest of the cheddar cheese chunk to make corn, chili, and cheese bread. I used the last of the celery, orange juice, and some dried pinto beans in the pantry to make Cuban beans and rice. I altered the recipe a bit based on what I had on hand (like I didn’t have black beans so I used pinto.) I have a bunch of it left over and will be portioning it out and freezing it for a quick heat and eat meal when I need it.
My dogs have joined in my crusade against Food Waste.
http://strivingforasimplelife.wordpress.com/2010/02/05/food-waste-friday-7/
Stephanie
No waste here, except for the hot dogs I tossed but that was as a precaution. My kids got a nasty tummy bug right after consuming the dogs, and after cleaning up the regurgitated dogs I tossed the rest just in case. Don’t think I will be buying any more hot dogs for a while.
I just had a major use-it-up soup cooking spree which should help me avoid waste next week.
1. Split pea soup. No ham so I used stock made from tea-smoked chicken carcass and some two week old celery. Cheap as all get out: peas, onion, carrot, celery, potato, garlic, and stock made from “trash” made a meal for four. If the whole thing cost $3 I’d be shocked.
2. Creamless Baby Broccoli soup. A couple of months ago some baby broccoli was about to go bad so I steamed it and put it in the freezer for soup later. Pureed with the liquid left over from French-Braised Chicken (more “trash”) it was quite tasty.
3. Williamburg-style Cream of Turkey Soup. Onion, carrot, the rest of the two week old celery, butter, flour, turkey stock from Xmas’ carcass, 2 c. turkey from the freezer (holiday leftovers), rice. That’s three or four lunches right there.
I had an interesting time with some lentils this week – I haven’t written it up yet, so will be back to report! Well done on using up the cilantro and peppers
Sorry to hear about Mr Llinky – here’s my post! See what I did with some spilled lentils:
http://myzerowaste.com/2010/02/lentils-in-the-landfill/
The widget thingie isn’t working right now, but I did FWF on my blog again.