Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. Why do I do this? Because in March of 2008, I finally got fed up with the amount of food I was wasting, and I thought that showing my waste to other people would motivate me to use up my food instead of wasting it. Because this often embarrassing practice was so helpful for me, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born. If you’re not a blogger but still want some food waste accountability, feel free to participate by leaving a comment.
For the second week in a row, I have nothing to photograph. Yay!
I do have a couple of things in my fridge that need some prompt attention, though. I made a batch of Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins this morning to use up some dark bananas and some sour yogurt (they’re in the oven as I type this), but I still have some of that yogurt left. I think it’s too sour tasting to use in a smoothie, but I can probably think of something else to bake with it.
I also have some leftover fruit salad that probably needs to go into a smoothie this morning for breakfast. And I have about a half bag of spinach that is starting to get wilty looking, so I may have some spinach scrambled eggs for breakfast and a spinach salad with my lunch and dinner. Ooh, and maybe I will throw some into the yogurt smoothie I make at breakfast as well.
P.S.-I’ll be back this afternoon with a short-ish second post. 
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I used apples that were getting soft for Apple Cinnamon Oatmeal Cookies and the rest for applesauce! Yummo!
Oh I definitely didn’t do as well as you did this week….
Sour yogurt. I ran into this last night making smoothies, my yogurt was too sour. I threw it away. Can you still use it? How sour is too sour?
I often use sour yogurt to make Irish Soda Bread in place of the buttermilk. Just a thought…
Naan works well to use up yogurt that’s a little too sour.
Yogurt gets used in many ways at our house. It makes pancakes, cakes, ice cream, and since Wednesday a new dip! A friend mixed yogurt with peanut butter and maple syrup! Boy howdy, it was great and fluffy! (like peanut butter mixed with marshmello fluff!) I have noticed that you seem to be squemish about foods and their tastes and textures. The tang of yogurt is its tradmark. Try not to think of it as bad,until you see a different color-spoilage. It gives a sourdough like taste and texture to baked goods that our grandparents would have used. If you strain off the whey in cheese cloth, the whey is what makes it tangy, and mix in some herbs or seasonings (savory or sweet), it makes a lovely spread for toast or sandwhiches, or a dip for vegies or fruit, called yogurt cheese. We eat this often in so many ways! and it adds something to our light and simple toast mornings, similar to cream cheese.
That’s interesting that you see me as squeamish. lol I eat all sorts of foods that are past the point where other people would eat them. =P
I don’t mind yogurt having tang to it…this is just way more tangy than I like it to be. It’s a jar that we took down to the pier with us and it sat outdoors for a little while as my kids played. So, it’s not quite normal tang. I used it in the muffins I made this morning, though, and I’m pretty sure I’ll manage to use it up with other means as well. I just don’t want to eat it plain.
Your logic has a flaw: it could also be that your friends are highly squeamish, making you appear to be less so in comparison.
William
eater of all manner of street food in all manner of countries
I dunno…there’s almost nothing I’ve tried before that I won’t eat (I don’t like Kumla and I don’t like potato pancakes, but I’ve eaten them multiple times before). I’m definitely not a picky eater, and I do things like cutting off the moldy outside of a cheese block before I eat the middle part (which I know is safe with harder cheeses), trimming off moldy parts of vegetables, and so on.
I asked my husband and he said that he would definitely not categorize me as squeamish. I don’t think my mom would either, and she knows me well! lol
Oh, I’m not saying you are actually squeamish. I’m just pulling your let a bit.
Since Mr. Linky is down (is it for everyone or is it just my technology curse?), I’ll share here that I have tons of leftovers that may potentially be thrown away in the next 48 hours. I’m trying to not stress about it and just go with the flow…
Oh, fooey. I’ll go get a different Linky widget loaded up.
Thanks! I was able to use the new widget!
Yay! and now you got to be the first. lol
Good job!
Another good week at Casa WilliamB – nothing major wasted. My friends and I didn’t like the spinach & cheese empanadas I bought from a vendor (the chicken, beef, and jamacian beef ones were all excellent): the whole one became the pool lifeguard’s snack, the half-eaten one squirrel-food. Some dribs and drabs of plate waste.
On the plus side:
- this week’s dozen corn cobs will become stock for kick-ass corn chowda in the winter when fresh corn is but a distant memory.
- liquid drained from salsa fresca will be part of the cooking liquid for tonight’s frijoles negros; this dish will also use the last 1/4 cup of jarred green salsa that’s hanging out in the fridge.
- The pork stir-fry I made to use up the end bits of many different veggies was not only tasty, it was pretty: red bell pepper, snow peas, carrots, celery, pork.
Yogurt can be used in place of milk, sour cream, or buttermilk. It works particularly well in baked goods and chicken marinades, not so easily in sauces where you have to make changes for the differing fat amounts.
Ok, you guys did see that I plan to use my sour yogurt in baking, right? It’s just making me giggle that a bunch of you are suggesting that I do so. lol
I use all manner of dairy products when I bake…it’s a great way to use up milk, sour cream, cream, half and half, yogurt, or buttermilk, especially if they’ve gone a little south.
I had no waste this week as well! Yay! However….we have some leftovers that need to be used up in the next couple of days…..so hopefully we can keep the “no waste” up!
Thanks for being such an inspiration to us all!
So…..I have made myself in charge of cleaning the fridge at work out every Friday. It gets really bad sometimes so I thought if I did it more frequently it would help drastically–which it has, but I threw out sooo much food yesterday! It really upsets me that these people waste so much food. I threw out a HUGE bowl of fruit salad–I mean the biggest bowl I’ve ever seen–and it was 3/4 full of fruit. Also, about 25 hamburger patties went into the trash as well as a tub of cheese dip and other various leftovers from peoples lunches. Also, the hamburger & hot dog buns had mold growing already so they went out as well. I work in a doctor’s office and we have drug rep’s come a couple times a week usually and bring us lunch. This coupled with the pot luck we had on Monday for July 4th made a TON of waste!
This doesn’t count against me does it?!
Oh yeah–I didn’t throw out anything that was less than a week old (unless like the fruit and hamburger patties they had things growing on them)
Do you include uneaten leftovers in your food waste? I try hard to use everything…but the huge bag of beansprouts never seems to be used again before they go bad…
I include uneaten leftovers in my food waste. It’s actually one of the biggest sources of my family’s food waste. There are just three of us, and most recipes feed 4-6 people, so we usually end up with leftovers. We try to eat them during the week for lunch and on our leftover night, but sometimes we fail and have to throw food away.
Absolutely and also if part of a food goes bad, such as my above listed melon. And it was only after much thought that I decided not to include small bits of plate waste when I have littles visiting.
I haven’t settled the question whether it counts as my waste if someone else brought the food into the house – the rice from a houseguest’s takeout, food my friends give me when they leave town.
Absolutely. Leftovers were my most enormous food waste problem before I started all of this. I’m much better about it now, but I do still sometimes waste leftovers.
I find with our small family, my husband who works rotating evenings/weekends we always have leftovers in the fridge and I am usually the only one that eats them:)
I try to freeze all the leftovers for dinner on another occasion..and try not to cook as much for a meal, and encourage to eat what we have not run out to the store for something we “feel” like eating that night..
I can’t believe how much food goes in the garbage at restaurants and wedding receptions. Working in those two places are disturbing, and I felt guilt ridden throwing all the food out when scraping plates.
Hmmm…well, it’s the second week in a row that I’m not sure what food waste is in my fridge, lol. I did have two food waste victories this week, though – I used up the entire bag of 5 avocados I bought on sale, and I made my first ever batch of watermelon rind relish, transforming the watermelon rind from compost to edible food
(If anyone wants the recipe, I have a link to it in my FWF post).
A second week with no waste here either. It’s been too hot to cook the last few days (no AC), so we have been cleaning out the fridge, eating lots of fruits and vegetables, and so forth. Having no food waste has been about the only positive for our mini heat wave. We have gone from less than 70 degrees and overcast on Monday to over 100 degrees by Thursday!
Three organic strawberries and a couple of tablespoons of sour cream. I hate it when stuff gets shoved to the back of the fridge and I don’t notice until it’s tool ate!
Will be looking in my fridge tomorrow, had a very long drive to pick a daughter up (gotta love 8 hours in a car) then am heading to netball and will be a long day as they both filling in for seniors as well. (should be fast asleep as it’s 4am but have a real wind storm blowing and the noise has woken me up and been wide awake for an hour now – which is annoying me as have 130km to drive to get to the netball – and have to be there at 9am as Natasha is umpiring the little kids – ok whine over with now) So far all have thrown out has been some ham, and that I will be having words with the supermarket about as it should have been fine (am actually going to challenge them as to how long it was out in the deli counter for) and I know I will have some leftover coleslaw to ditch from the 2 times we had baked spuds (just made a bit too much, or got a bit enthusiastic when was cutting up the cabbage)
I threw out a few condiments this week- do you guys use yours past their expiration? How far past? I buy the smallest containers I can find, and still we can’t get through them before they expire.
No food waste here either! I used some cabbage to make chicken noodle soup, and the leftover cabbage I plan on slightly steaming and serving as a snack for tomorrow! feels good
Tomato on the vine, I failed you!!
Small package of baby bella mushrooms, I now realize why you were priced so low. Lesson learned.
No food waste here this week. Yay!!!
Great job, Kristen!
I wasted chocolate!! No, I am not kidding…
Another great week for you! We did not have any waste this week, but I didn’t have time to blog about it. I was out overseeing our garage sale.
Kristin, you’re right that you have commented that you do eat alot of things past date. I think I was referring back to when I first found your blog and you were not into leftovers at all. Or so my memory thinks that? Any way I stand corrected. I love your writing style and how you inspire so many to at least try to live within their means better. We can be poor or we can be frugal. I choose frugal.
If you have not tried it yet, you really should give the yogurt cheese a try. It makes great dips and spreads. Blessings to you all.
Oh yeah..I’m not really a big fan of leftovers. Given my druthers, I’d eat freshly cooked food for every meal. lol But, I don’t think I necessarily have to LOVE something in order to do it, you know? I just need to think it’s important.