Good News, Bad News
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.
Actually, let's have the bad first.
I wasted some avocados that were funky inside when I cut them open. And I also wasted some blueberries. These are the last ones from my 40 pounds and I'd set them aside, meaning to bake with them. But, um, I obviously didn't get around to that. Boo.
I did save a mushy pear and a not-so-great mango by putting them into a smoothie, though (It turned out to be a really great smoothie!)
Plus, I saved the very last of the huge bunch of cilantro by making a bit of salsa to go with our tacos.
And the kids and I had a meal yesterday that used up a lot of odds and ends in the fridge which means it's uncharacteristically empty in there right now. That's a lovely feeling when you're fighting food waste!
So, I had some failures, but I wasn't a complete disaster.
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Today's 365 post: Remember the, "I have a stick." picture?
Joshua's 365 post: Lookin' Down
My Friday is complete! A photo of The Frugal Girl's Fridge! - I love a bit of Friday Fridage!!! (Not the greatest week for me leading to the question what doo sausage, grapes and a half consumed bottle Diet Pepsi - have in common?)
Indigestion?
Coincidentally I've had indigestion since yesterday!
Answer: My food waste this week! Although the Pepsi makes a good loo-cleaner!
Jo, I was just on your site telling you I was doing the same thing with my half can of cola waste. Don't know if a half can will do the job or not, but better than down the sink drain (Although that could probably use a little cleaning too). How long did you leave the Pepsi to sit in the toilet?
And did it work?
How funny Lili - I have just flushed (about 7pm in the UK). I poured the half bottle down (about 250ml - is that about 1/2 a pint?) before we left for dance class at 5pm. Dan popped to the loo and shouted "Mommy look what's happened to the toilet!" - I had all sorts of things going through my head... when I remembered! Relief!
It always works very well, which makes me wonder why? Hang on...looks like it's the phosphoric acid in it that does the job...from my quick google. It does recommend overnight however http://www.wikihow.com/Clean-a-Toilet-With-Coke
I knew you'd like the fridge photo!
It was a treat!
I thought of you and your cilantro using up ways when I saw a hint on Pinterest about saving herbs by freezing them in olive oil or broth or vinegar! I got a BUNCH of basil when I was tending our school's garden and I froze a lot in olive oil and some in vinegar. So far the olive oil method gets a thumbs up in salad dressing for sure, and we'll learn from my husband when he eats his lunch salad how the vinegar turned out!
Heh, I've been eating blueberries obsessively lately, so I doubt those would ever to to waste in this house. I'm planning on putting in a few bushes in the fall to feed the habit. 😉
do you just clean out your fridge on thursdays, or just take a picture when you come across something that is not that great?
It depends...if I find waste mid-week, I usually photograph it then, but most often I poke around in my fridge looking for waste on Thursdays.
Our fridge is pretty empty this week; just the usual citrus fruit and cabbage issues that I've been having lately!
40 pounds of blueberries... I remember I used to buy them like that, and then throw them in the freezer. Nothing like warm blueberry muffins, with real blueberries, in January!
Your fridge looks great! Love the bottles of homemade yogurt. I definitely need to try that recipe sometime. Maybe if I made the yogurt, I wouldn't be struggling with rescuing the store-bought kind!
I highly reccomend Frugal Girl's yogurt. I've been making yogurt for years in a commercial yogurt maker and it was always thin with lots of whey on top. Since I tried her method my yogurt is thick & creamy every time.
My daughter's half can of soda is about it for waste for us. She got sick this week, didn't finish her soda, and no one else is touching it!
avacado & blue berries are hard ones to loose. But nicely done on preventing even more waste. I'm rejoicing that I've gone three weeks in a row w/o any waste.
Such a clean fridge!
The urge to purge. I don't know what happened to me. I never throw food away. But this past week I threw ALOT of food away. I think it may have to do with the extreme summer heat (100+ and counting) but I just haven't wanted to eat these past two weeks and the food just rotted away. I threw away celery, carrot juice, fruit cocktail, yogurt, one tomato, bread and all leftovers. I just didn't want to eat nor did I want to look at food. Hope God forgives me because really, throwing food away is a sin.
Did good this week!
Can you do a post on how to keep fruits and veggies the freshest, the longest? Certain foods seem to go bad in just a few days. And I hate having a crisper drawer full of produce bags, but I noticed them seem to keep things fresher, longer.
And has anyone tried the reuseable produce bags? Recommendations??
Two methods, both similar for keeping produce fresher, longer in the fridge is to wrap it in paper towels, then put it in a plastic bag, or keep in unbleached muslin produce bags ( something I sewed myself very easily), also inside of a plastic bag. I do this with leafy greens, carrots, yams, and zucchini with success.
Although I have not personally used the special produce bags, many people who have say they are not worth the expense, when you can so cheaply wrap in paper towels or muslin.
The below is copied from a comment I made at Ready Set Simplify:
The plastic produce bags from the store are usually the worst thing to store produce in. Ironic, isn't it? The bags don't breathe at all and hold a lot of moisture – the two things that cause produce to rot the fastest. Consider buying some specialized "˜produce bags,' they really work.
Most handheld fruits (apples, peaches) and most root veggies (most common exceptions are carrots, parsnips, radishes) are best in no bags at all. Leave them loose in the cool & dry produce drawer.
Mushrooms, I have found to my regret, go bad in the boxes they're sold in: the plastic doesn't breathe well enough in the cold fridge and they're too crowded in the box. Either put them in a large, uncovered box or at least rip the plastic covering.
Leafy greens & cruciferous veg last longest if they're dry, then wrapped in damp paper towel, then put in an open specialized produce bag. Celery and the exceptional root veg last longest when kept dry and in specialized produce bags.
All produce lasts longer if you don't wash it. If you do wash it, dry it *thoroughly* before putting it away.
I like my specialized produce bags. A box of 10(?) lasts me a couple years - making them less expensive than the paper towel I'd use instead. Lili's muslin sounds promising ... but I'd lose stuff if I didn't see it. So clear specialized bags for me.
I use those specialized plastic bags as well, despite my inherent distrust of anything plastic or "as seen on TV". 😉 But they really work and you can reuse them several times. Being able to see the bag's contents is a HUGE plus for me, too. It makes using up the food easier and I'm just lazy enough to appreciate eliminating the extra step of opening the bag to see inside.
Today, I created a "taco salad" that used up a somewhat mushy avocado, a couple of crumbled taco shells, the last bit of shredded cheddar and about a half cup of taco "meat" (soy crumbles---I'm a vegetarian). The only fresh and newly opened thing I needed to add was some salsa. It was quite delicious and I was so proud of myself, as evidenced by the fact that I am bragging about it here on your blog. 🙂
You're going to think I'm really too far gone in the recycling/reusing department, but I don't count the cost of the paper towels, as I reuse them. When the produce wrapped in paper toweling is used up, I drape the paper towels over canisters on the counter. When they're dry, I fold them up and keep in a cupboard near the stove. If the paper towel still looks to be in good condition, I'll reuse them on future produce. If it's not good, then these are the paper towels that I use to drain bacon and sausage, then I wipe out the pan, and use these fat covered paper towels as fire starters in the bbq or fireplace. I use so few paper towels, I've still got the same roll that I bought 2 years ago (for 59 cents at the salvage store), for a very messy project.
Another great container that most folks already have, for storing produce in, is their salad spinner. When I pick lots of lettuce, I wash and dry it in the spinner, then store it in the spinner. The basket liner keeps it from touching the plastic bowl, allows air to circulate, but still retains just a tad bit of moisture on the bottom of the bowl, keeping lettuce nice and crisp.
Whoa! That's some serious frugality there, girl!
I do that sometimes also, if the fruit hasn't gone squishy or something else equally unpleasant, figuring that basically, the towel got wet. Never had a roll last 2 years, though.
I like how your refrigerator looks. Very nice and neat. I need a new one so that mine can be nice and neat. Oh well, I will keep that one my prayer list. Have a great weekend!
I'm so glad you posted a photo of your fridge! I love seeing all the groceries from overseas (I'm from NZ). We did a 7 week trip to NY, the UK and Europe about 8 years ago and one of my favourite things to do was to go to the supermarket in each city we visited and look at all the different packets and signs. A bit weird, but oddly satisfying! I've always had trouble with avocados. It's so hard to tell (unless they are so bad they are completely squashy...) whether they are still alright or not!
This is such a great idea! I think weekly confessions will help me clean up my food waste act. Thanks for writing about this!
This is really embarassing but exactly HOW do you make a smoothie? Just throw some ice in with the fruit and turn on the blender? Do you also add milk?
You can definitely do it that way, but I usually add yogurt to mine. I combine yogurt, frozen berries, and bananas most often, but really anything goes! It all depends on what you like.
Just don't use stringy fruits like oranges.
My smoothies are usually fruit only. I use whatever is soft, overripe, or otherwise unpleasant without actually being bad. I never use ice, only use dairy if it needs to be finished off.
I like mine thick so assume some banana. Then add berries because I tend to overbuy. Then just about anything else. Frequently not-quite-bad fruit goes into the freezer to be added to future smoothies.
My method: put frozen fruit in blender to defrost. When it's unfrozen add the rest of the fruit. Puree. If it's too thick to pour add some dairy, juice, or water. IOW: defrost, dump, blend, eat.
I make whey protein smoothies to drink after running. My very favourite is a scoop of strawberry whey protein, a handful of raspberries, or blueberries, or strawberries or a mixture of all 3. About half a pint of milk (I've been using Soya - as it gives a nice tart taste to the summer-fruits I'm using) and blend. Fruit when frozen is ideal!
If using chocolate whey protein, banana works well...
This is a really great idea! Posting about your food waste is a great way to stay accountable. I just threw out a pear that I had cut up for my son, stuck in a container and completely forgot about. Ooops!
I enjoy these posts a lot.
We've owned chickens for several years now (this is obviously not possible for all neighborhoods) and they devour much of our leftovers/foods that are no longer edible. We also feed them chicken food as well. The rest of it goes into compost for our garden.
Don't think I threw out much this week. I did give some bread to the birds, as it was dry and falling apart. I usually buy day old bread at the bread store and freeze it, but lately it gets flakey almost as soon as it is thawed out. Probably going to have to stop buying bread and freezing it. WE just haven't been using as much store bought, as I am having a blast making homemade bread of some sort about twice a week. What do you all do with old bread? I don't tend to use croutons in my salad, and my son doesn't like bread crumbs on a casserole much. How do you use it to make your own breading for baked chicken? Other ideas?