Hey, people! (clears throat loudly)
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.
I would just like to say that....
I had no waste this week!!!!
I'm not sure how long it's been since that was the case, but I know it's been a good while.
Part of the reason this went so well is that I haven't done a serious grocery shopping trip of late, so my fridge has stayed very under-control. I felt like I was channeling Jo, from Simply Being Mum!
I even managed to use up the leftovers from tacos (those are my arch enemy sometimes) by making myself a big taco salad for lunch.
It was really delicious, and that one salad emptied out something like five leftover containers.
Yay for leftovers!
((Graphic courtesy of Glad. I have no idea how to make graphics!)
Want to see something funny that happened in my cabinets?
Apparently, my kids have been using up only 95% of the peanut butter in a jar before opening a new one, because I found five (!) jars of almost-used-up peanut butter. I rounded 'em up (the jars, not the children) and used a spatula to scrape out the last 5%, which I then put onto banana chunks.
So, we didn't waste any peanut butter, and that cabinet is significantly less crowded than it was before.
I've been in sort of a food waste funk of late, but I feel pretty darn energized by my no-waste week. Woo!
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Joshua's 365 post: Graphic
Good job! Well done! In fact a most excellent job. Puts my rubbish efforts this week to shame. The two putrefied apples were my biggest shock. One was perfectly formed still - just mush inside.
I was so out of food however that I did my Aldi shop a day early. Although it messed with my usual routine - it did give me chance to really strip down the fridge (rather than wipe down) .
All's well with the world now I have a sparkly fridge!
I totally understand about the peanut butter jars. I find it hard to scrape the last of the peanut butter out of them especially if the jar is very big. I always wait for the jar fairy to come along, but they haven't made a visit yet.
On the waste front, I burnt a whole pot of rice this week that was beyond salvaging. At least I got it outside before the smell filled the house.
If you like soups/sauces/smoothies with PB, you could use very hot water to get the remnants of the PB out. Just shake the jar with hot liquid in it; the PB will dissolve and you can use that in any recipe that uses PB and that liquid. Might work for cookies, too, depending on what liquid is used.
I agree with the hot water trick and I then add it to my stir fry's for a delicious peanut sauce.
I am so stealing Jodi's idea!
I've also been known to dump oats and milk in a PB jar, let sit overnight, and then eat in the morning.
We had to toss out a bunch of apples which had gone rotter but since they were free and we would've had to cut the bad spots (e.g. places where birds and bugs bit into them) in order to use them, I'm not really worried.
On a side note, wouldn't it be nice if Peanut Butter still came in glass jars? I think Smuckers still does and maybe some more indy brands and stuff but the big guys are all plastic. I make my own peanut butter so I have to deal with the plastic container the Peanuts come in from Aldi.
I had some rotten apples in my latest 30 pounds of free apples (we've been foraging-we've given 150 pounds away already) when I was making apple sauce. My fridge is empty...quite empty. Tomorrow is my son's birthday and we're having 18 people here. Today we shop. Next week I may have waste depending on how leftovers go. I'm not planning any meals for Sunday (though there will be options if needed)
I like to make quesadillas with our leftover taco meat. Just an idea for you in the future. 🙂
Okay, WHY have I never thought to use a spatula to get out the last bit of peanut butter/mayo/whatever?!??! Every time I just struggle with a butter knife and then give up and rinse out the last little bits. I feel like a huge dunce. Haha!
Congrats on the no food waste!! 🙂
Rachel, you are not a dunce....I only recently figured out about using a spatula to get out the last bits of peanut butter - D'oh!! .;-)) I usually put it in a small (salad dressing size) container, and take it with me to work to have on my breakfast toast. Now, if I could just figure out more ideas for repurposing the plastic peanut butter container.....
They're awesome, especially if you have many of the same size. Most of my ideas are for storing and sorting many small things.
1. Store food. Obviously thejars are food safe. Use for beans, rice, pasta (because those cardboard boxes aren't much use), chocolate chips, leftover Halloween candies. Anything, really, that can fit through the neck.
2. Store large volumes of small office supplies, such as paper clips or rubber bands.
3. Store hardware: nails, bolts, etc.
4. Store crafting supplies.
5. Store kids toys that contain small bits.
6. Use as freezer containers for liquids.
7. Use as give-away containers. I use them to keep random bits of scrap metal. In my case it's mostly staples from clementine boxes. Having one place to keep the bits means I can recycle them instead of throwing them out.
I freeze my chicken stock in them.
My last house had plastic mayo jar lids screwed into the rafters in the basement workshop. The jars were filled with screws, nuts, bolts, etc and nicely stored out of the way but easily within sight. I've seen people do this with baby food jars for small things too. I think the plastic is probably a bit safer. You could do this in crafting and sewing work areas too- attach the lids to the underside of shelves to store buttons, needles, etc
Our food pantry takes them (glass jars, too) to divide up 50 lb. bags of dry beans and grains for families. might check with yours!
Woohoo! Our waste was minimal this week, too. A couple of lemons went bad in the produce drawer. How come I can never seem to strike that perfect balance of having JUST ENOUGH lemons? I always find myself with a surplus or in desperate need of one!
Here's what I do with almost-almost-empty peanut-butter jars: give 'em to the dog. Getting that last little lick of peanut butter out of the very bottom keeps her occupied all day!
Sometimes squirrels take ours out of the recycling bin and I find them in the yard, totally and utterly cleaned out!
I love the peanut butter jar for dogs idea... especially since they actually make dog toys specifically for this purpose that you can fill with peanut butter, but yours is so much more frugal!
Also, you probably already thought of this but depending on what you use your lemons for (mine are usually just for lemon juice while cooking) you can juice 'em and freeze the juice in ice cube trays... this helps me because I have similar lemon issues 🙂
Similar to the spatula-peanut butter topic, does anyone have a great suggestion for getting all the TOMATO PASTE out of a can without waste? I've tried to shove my spatula into those teeny cans before with less-than-desirable results, but I hate how much a butter knife leaves behind. Maybe I need a smaller spatula.
Yup, you need a teeny spatula. I have a super skinny one that works GREAT for small-mouthed containers.
I guess I always felt like it would be too much of a uni-tasker since tomato paste jars are the only container where I seem to have this problem - but it would sure solve me a lot of frustration!
A unitasker isn't always bad, it's just a presumption that the usual cost/benefit ratio is going to come out negative.
In this case it's relatively inexpensive on an absolute scale, can be used anytime you need a spatula, and saves frustration and food. I use my small spatula mostly to get foods out of the blender, but also out of small cans such as tomato paste cans. Worth it to me.
I agree. In fact, I have a small spatula that has one rounded corner and one that's a right angle so it gets into the bottom of cans perfectly.
I buy a larger can of tomato paste. I scoop the contents into an ice cube tray. I use my regular rubber spatula and I always have tomato paste. Once they're frozen, I transfer the tomato cubes to a freezer container. Then I add however many cubes I want to a variety of dishes-soups, the sauté pan...
Funny, when I was a kid we would scrape the bottom of the jar as well as we could (and the sides, and the lid) in order not to be the one who had to walk ALL THE WAY DOWNSTAIRS to get the new jar from the pantry. (Not sure why but apparently admitting that the jar was empty was akin to admitting defeat and the walk was some sort of torturous punishment.)
Well, I wasted enough for both of us! I rarely throw away food, but this morning I threw away almost a pound of grapes. I got them on sale a few days ago, and I was wondering why my son wasn't eating them very enthusiastically. I finally got around to trying them last night, and they tasted awful. They're not spoiled, but they just don't taste good, and I can't justify expecting my son to eat them. I guess they weren't so much of a bargain after all...
I almost had no food waste this week, except that when I got home with my grapes, there was one moldy one. But at least I found it and saved all of the rest. Also for the first time, I bought produce from the discounted cart. There was a dozen over ripe tomatoes for 99 cents. I brought them home and turned them into 2 jars of spaghetti sauce. I just might be willing to rescue produce in the future.
Your graphic artist did a great job!
It's confession time. This was a very, very bad week for food waste over here. I cooked a 10 lb pork shoulder in my crock pot to make BBQ and shredded pork for quesadillas which I would have frozen in smaller portions. I usually do this with 3 - 4 lbs but I got this one on a really good sale and it was the largest one I've ever done so it took longer to cook. It wasn't done until 9pm. I pulled it out, shredded it and left it in containers on the counter to cool. I was exhausted so I went to bed early and asked my husband to put the pork away before he came to bed. Unfortunately, it ended up being left on the counter all night long. He forgot to put it away and I didn't remind him like I usually would because I was sound asleep. Ugh, I should have set a timer , but totally forgot.
So, not only did I waste 10 lbs of pork, but I also wasted some BBQ sauce, honey, brown sugar and a ton of seasoning. It was painful throwing all that meat away (I tasted some that night and it was delicious!). We debated about whether to eat it or not, but it's not worth it to chance getting sick after sitting out for so long (11+ hours). We both felt really bad about it. It's only the 2 of us, so that would have been a lot of meals. Hoping for a better week next week!
P.S. Kristen - That was me in Target last month. It was really nice to meet you guys!
Oh, I'm so glad you commented...after I left Target, I realized that I'd have no idea which commenter you were! 🙂 It was lovely to meet you too, and I'm happy your husband told you to come and say hi. 😀
Brandi K, This might make you fell a little better. My sister lives out in the country, so she does her big shop down the hill about once a month. This time she splurged and bought two expensive cuts of meat. (I'm a vegetarian, so I don't remember exactly, but I think she used the words "roast" and "steak".) Somehow in all the unpacking with the help of her boys, this bag was missed. She didn't notice it until the next day. Not only was the expensive meat wasted, but her car smelled too!
Another thought re: the meat left out overnight. I would have been tempted to freeze it in small portions. I would have then reheated a small sample and tried it myself. If it had no ill effects on me, I'd feed it to my family. (No small children here.) Now, I'm no nutritionist, so someone more knowlegeable than I might shoot down this suggestion, I'm just saying that's what I'd be inclined to try. Either that or handle it the way I do the occasional parking ticket: pay it and forget all about it as fast as possible. Probably the safer choice.
A nutritionist, food scientist, or caterer would be appalled at your suggestion. I, OTOH, would do about the same thing. The only small difference I'd do is look for a use that would allow me to cook the meat again, such as stew. Keep in mind, though, that I have a proven cast-iron stomach.
Tee-hee, me too, William B. That cast-iron stomach comes in handy.
That's even worse with the stinky car! Oh we'll, these things happen sometimes.
I really did debate over keeping it. But, we've been trying to get pregnant and it absolutely wasn't worth chancing getting sick if I happened to be pregnant (unfortunately I'm not).
I bought more this this week to cook tomorrow. I'll be sure to cook it early enough so this doesn't happen again!
Under those circumstances, you absolutely did the right thing, Brandi K. Also, glad you got to meet FG and Family!
Ohh that is painful! A few months ago we splurged on fresh gulf crabmeat from the seafood truck and made some AMAZING crab cakes. We had two left over, but in some fit of complete exhaustion/brainlessness, instead of putting the container back in the refrigerator, I put it... in the cupboard where I keep all my plastic containers! When I found it the next day I seriously almost cried.
But, I guess it just happens sometimes! 🙂
I don't think I'll have any waste this week either. I am trying to stretch what I have until I can get to the store on Wed (when my husband gets paid) so I am using up everything I can and if I know I wont use it, into the freezer it is going. Last night I put some english peas in the freezer bag of veggies I'm keeping until its full (to make soup) and this a.m. I added the heals of the bread loaf into a bag in the freezer that once it's full I'll use for breadcrumbs. I've also got a crockpot of black beans in the fridge I made the other day but haven't had time to divide up-I'll do that tomorrow. I also have a couple of chicken carcasses in my fridge I need to make some stock with. And a few leftover pizza slices to put in the freezer for another meal. I need to get busy when I get home today! lol
Hey now! Great job! This has not been the best week, food-waste-wise, at our house -- somehow the refrigerator door was left WIDE OPEN for about 10 hours on Tuesday and we lost anything remotely perishable, because I just don't play with room-temperature mayonnaise, you know? We'd been having trouble with the seal anyway, and we think that it was barely cracked when DH left for work and the cat opened it wider to explore. Sigh.
Anyway, all that to say, good news for you!! 🙂
Oh gosh, that stinks! But better safe than sorry! 🙁
Wow! That is impressive! I am so inspired by you every day!
What a great week for you! I really must get a small spatula or two. A squidgy pear and a squidgy banana here and pondering whether pet food waste has to be included in the FWF round up!
Ha, "squidgy" - what a good word. 🙂
Congratulations on no waste 🙂 I wasted fresh ginger this week - I had good intentions of mincing it and freezing it, but it just got forgotten in the fridge.
The hubby and I have been taking part in a very successful pantry challenge, so no food waste. UNTIL TODAY!!! Due to a chicken recall that included the lot number of all of the chicken in my freezer I threw roughly 20lbs of chicken away. It was PAINFUL. I had gotten it on an amazing sale and I was sooo glad to have it stocked up for the pantry/no spend challenge this month. Oh well. Guess we have to rethink things until the 27 (the end of our challenge)
The place where you bought it won't exchange/refund it?
Unfortunately no. It was not a government recall but rather a consumer reports "urging" to discard. I feel the only reason it hasn't been turned into a government recall is because of the forlough. So technically I didn't HAVE to throw it away so the stores aren't doing refunds. BUT they also aren't selling any chicken now, so they obviously know the "urging" had some substance to it.
Try contacting Foster Farms directly. It's unjust that they get a pass on refunding, when the reason they are is that the Federal government is shutdown and so can't order/negotiate a recall.
CeCee, while that's painful I don't think it counts as *your* waste.
My husband agreed with that, but it still will greatly effect my pantry challenge 🙁
I had a half cucumber that went slimy on me since I didn't get around to eating it in time. I also have some very brown lettuce that I need to take out to the compost bin soon. So not too bad for the week.
I think the kids learn the peanut jar trick from their friends my teens also do this. I started noticing this about a year ago. So while making my grocery list out on Friday. I start looking at things in the fridge. They do this also with ketchup, mustard, and mayo. I have to watch them like a hawk. I am glad that I have found this and have corrected the situation. this could get kinda pricey pitching wasted items. Congrats on the no waste. WOOOO HOOO
Wow I just discovered your blog and it's awesome!!!
When we hit the end of peanut butter jars we use it as a sundae bowl, just plop the ice cream inside and go to town! The end of the peanut butter gets used and it's one less dish to wash.