Thinking, thinking...
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.
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I know I tossed a few things this week, but I didn't take pictures.
Let's see...I composted a few stalks of veddy old asparagus (but yesterday I cooked a nice fresh package and used them all up, so, you know, maybe that atones for the composted spears?)
I also threw out the very last bit of some taco meat because it just tasted stale.
I think that's it.
On the topic of food waste, you should check out the work of Oxfam, an international organization that's working to help people in poverty. They're launching a new program to encourage people to assist in this effort by changing the way they eat and prepare food.
Here's a little slideshow about it (just click the arrows to see the next slide.)
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How did you do this week? If you blogged about your food waste, link us up by entering your info into the widget below. You'll save money, reduce your trash output, and get a little publicity for your blog! And if you don't blog, you can still share about your food waste by leaving a comment.
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Today's 365 post: She's a good pal if she plays Twister with your kids.
Joshua's 365 post: Birdie (which is not a bird at all)
Half a packet of green beans and half a tin of pate this week. Not good.
I had to throw out an entire unopened bottle of ranch dressing this week...because it expired and we didn't even begin to use it. Next time I'll think twice about buying huge quantities of condiments at Costco!
Not disagreeing with you about buying large containers of food you don't eat much of ... but chances are good that the salad dressing wasn't actually bad. Processed or canned food doesn't really expire (unless the packaging is damaged or the can is bulging), although it might taste off.
Frex, I've had an open bottle of Kraft Ranch Dressing in the fridge for 18 months and it still tastes like a new bottle. (Which probably doesn't say anything good about the product but it gets me to eat more veggies and salads).
No waste this week. It's near the end of the month and we're using it all up. Trying to put off grocery shopping till August.
I'm doing pretty well at using things up, though the garden isn't cooperating. Quite a few of my peppers are going bad on the plants. I grabbed 3 yesterday and used them for last night's dinner.
Barb,
I was thinking about this. Could it be a fungus? Or it may be that a nutrient is lacking in your soil. If there are a few leaves that look "off", you could pinch off a few and take them with a pepper that's not looking healthy, to a nearby garden center. I've had good luck getting advice this way. At the very least, for a couple of years, don't plant anything from this group: pepper/tomato/potato/ eggplant (these are all nightshade veggies, same plant family) in that exact same spot. You could have a fungus (or other disease) living in the soil there, and it may need a couple of years to die off.
Had a bit of food waste, but not too much.
No waste to report this week, but I'm STILL working through the backlog in my pantry. I think, perhaps, I have a little stocking up "issue." Anybody else get out of control with the non-perishables?
I never call it out of control, as they are non-perishable, and my family of 5 hungry folks plows through everything. But I do admit, I have a month or two in the year, when I just get sick of looking at all the stuff in the pantry, and I want to clear things out. So we have a bit of an "eat-down" of everything in stock. Takes a month or two, but then my pantry looks clean and ready to restock.
A few cloves of mushy garlic, a packet of hot chocolate mix (more than 2 years old), and a few grapes. Whenever I buy grapes there's always a few that need to get tossed. I guess there's no getting around it. Oh well!
If there are bad grapes in the package, yep, there's nothing you can do. But if you have some that are just starting to get soft, try freezing them! Frozen grapes are very yummy.
Very, very yummy. You don't even have to take them off the stem if you don't have time. Wash, lay on a cookie sheet, freeze, package up.
Had a bad food waste week for me this week, which hopefully will set me up for a good one this week.
Threw out an old rice black bean dish that had mold in it. Threw out some moldy cherries that I bought for my son and he ate quite a bit and then seemed to stop. I had just found a recipe to use to make, if I was willing to pit them all, and looked at them and most were moldy. Wasn't willing to pull out the non-moldy ones, when I wasn't feeling perfect either. (Had my second appointment for my first ever root canal.)
Hopefully I will be well set for this week. Made a pot of chili, but now that I know I can just freeze one cup at a time servings in ziploc bags, getting tired of chili will not be a problem! Froze some strawberry slices for the first time. I love Aldi's pricing on produce, so paid $1.19 for two packs of strawberries, when I already had a half pack, and froze a little over a pound. IE online said to freeze the best textured fruit. The rest will be used in my yogurt at breakfast. Now if I could get more strawberries in good shape at a good price, I will freeze some more for when I can't find it at a price I want to pay, which is coming soon.
I wasted a lot this week because we're moving Tuesday. I'm going to give some pantry food to a friend, but I tossed alot of miscellaneous things in the freezer (like a small bag of leftover gravy and bread crumbs, etc..)
Late to FWF today as ironically I am typing this on my smart-phone near Cheddar Gorge in a tent! Why ironically? Well, a block of Cheddar cheese is my waste this week. Making a rather dirty dishwater photo on my No Waste Tastes Great post. Oops! Really could not bring myself to salvage it. As reception isn't great in my tent will need to check slideshow out Monday!
That's great about Oxfam. Thanks for sharing! Not too much food waste here this week: one bun, about a tablespoon of hummus and a small bag of mandarins, but it's more than I would like...
I thought I'd got it sussed this week, but it was not to be!
Lately your posts seem very skimpy and generic. I think you must be on a trip.
So sorry you've think they've been skimpy, but nope, I've been home all week. 😉
Just two pieces of bread that were stale. I did put them in the freezer to feed some ducks the next time we're at the duck pond (if that counts for anything).
What a great idea!! I waste so much food weekly and it's really starting to bother me. But what a great to see what your wasting to help reduce! This week I wasted some basil, salad and a few carrots. I got to cook most of the carrots today so they didnt all go to waste! Thanks again.