Food Waste Friday | At least it wasn't meat?
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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Here's what I found when I cleaned out my fridge:
The roasted cauliflower was met with something less than enthusiasm by my family members (although it DID look much more appetizing when I served it than it does now!), so it didn't get entirely eaten the first night. I liked it fine when it was fresh, but I kind of forgot about the leftovers.
My poor bunch of cilantro is quite old, and I've got a new bunch to use up now, so this one is going into the compost. Fortunately, that's only $0.99 worth of waste and it will turn right back into dirt.
The coconut milk? Well, I bought it because I heard it was good in smoothies, but the kids and I tried it and decided we do NOT like coconut milk in our smoothies.
I had all sorts of good intentions of using up the rest of the coconut milk (heaven knows there are a bazillion ideas on the web!), but I just didn't get around to executing any of the ideas. And now there is a bit of red stuff growing on the milk, which means we are not going to use it.
Kinda bummed out about that because coconut milk isn't exactly cheap.
Ah well...it's a new week now!
Oh. I forgot to say that I also have a mushy kiwifruit that needs to be composted.
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There are a lot of recipes calling for coconut milk. It's the "in" ingredient these days. I haven't started using it because of the cost. Maybe I should start though. In the meantime, that's a pretty red color on yours. Otherwise, I had a good week with no waste.
I tend to avoid fad ingredients for this reason. Coconut milk, Nutella and quinoa seem to be the ingredients people pin these days (well that and anything that involves mixing a couple of processed foods together.)
I grew up with these foods and am not young 😉 Nutella is much of Europe's equivalent to PB. And what are people using in their curries if not coconut milk?
Quinoa is relatively new in the UK, although I've been buying it for at least 10 years now.
Good job on the no waste 🙂
That's funny, over here coriander (cilantro) is expensive and coconut milk is cheap. I recently discovered Aldi sells coconut cream for 79c a tin, so stock up every time I go.
I love coconut milk so much that I never buy normal milk any more. I use it on porridge and in pancakes, ice cream and puddings. It does have a stronger taste than normal milk, so you might need more fruit in a smoothie to balance out the coconut flavour.
I had no waste this week, but I was away for most of it. I do have quite a few things (tomatoes, zucchini, almond milk) to use up soon though.
I've got small amounts of aging beef and chicken stock that will need to be thrown out. boo!!!! Bad planning on my part.
You know, I think I've read that you can simply boil the stock and it will be fine.
True, if the issue is that the stock seems "old." If there's something growing in it - too late!
Both of these are store bought in cartons and they had been in the freezer and defrosted, so I don't know if I can freeze them again. Ideas?
The box says to use within 10 days, but it usually never lasts that long.
You can definitely refreeze, as described above. Refreezing foods usually does negative things to their textures and moisture levels - not something to be concerned about with stock, eh?
Both my husband and I ended up being sick all week which meant we did not stick to our planned menu at all and the children (10 to 17) have been fending for themselves a lot for the minor meals. I am going to clean out the fridge today and do some grocery shopping now that we are finally almost fully mended BUT I am expecting to find a lot of waste. Sigh!
I had a surprisingly good week; surprising because I didn't really do anything in particular to facilitate that 'good week'! Still, a good week, is always good 🙂
http://simplyburbs.blogspot.com/2013/04/food-waste-friday-how-did-that-happen.html
I have carrots to confess and a pretty full fridge. I have my excuses of course! 🙂
I nearly had carrot waste but got to them just in time! However I did have some wilty green stuff, some tinned grapefruits and some toffuti to own up to...
I recommend canned coconut milk ( full fat) not the carton coconut milk ( big taste difference) in smoothies but mix it with regular milk you have on hand ( half of each). As for food waste only limes and leftover tri-tip ( like 3 small pieces) were forgotten about in the back of the fridge.
I would be bummed on that coconut milk, too. But now you know -- you and your kids don't like it in smoothies, and it doesn't keep terribly well. We all learn this about something or another.
No waste this week as we're trying to use up odd bits from the fridge, freezer and pantry. I took some leftovers and bits and pieces, and made a Mexican bean soup (some baked beans, olive juice, canned tomatoes, single serving of corn, a half jar of salsa no one liked, and chicken stock) , a garden lasagna ( a bunch of odd bits of vegetables, both raw and cooked), 2 different batches of muffins (1-canned pumpkin, 2- assorted dried fruit and chopped nuts), some stovetop stuffing (a loaf of bread that just came out of the machine all dry and holey), and last night, finished off all the leftover vegetables in a stir-fry.
Roasted cauliflower goes really good on wraps. It's crunchy and savory, even when cold! 🙂
A lemon went bad, two pieces of garlic bread, and I do have some lettuce that is not going to make it. Not a very good week at the Ray household.
Canned coconut milk & cream is best for cooing, coconut water for drinking and coconut milk in a 2L carton in the fridge section for drinking in lieu of cows milk. I suspect that was the suggested 'coconut milk' for smoothies.
I love using canned coconut milk to make a dairy free chocolate ganache/mousse or in lieu of water for rice in the rice cooker. Jasmine coconut rice....mmm!
No waste here this week 🙂
Forgot to add - could you have turned the rejected leftover roasted cauliflower into a puree'd cream soup or add cheese over top and reserve?
Yes! I totally could have, if I'd been organized enough to actually do it.
For the record, I am of the opinion that:
1) We get a pass if we try something new, even if we don't like it.
2) We get a pass if we get sick.
Not a great week at Chez WilliamB. The total amount of food wasted is less than $4 but the hummus, at least, was an own goal and unnecessary.
- 2 c. of hummus likely gone bad; it was from the 1/2 gal I made, I should've immediately put some of it in the freezer. Lesson learned.
- The last dredges of home-made pickles, there were just a few too many in the batch.
- Bread dough that did not rise. I gave it a day at room temp but the yeastie-beasties gave up the ghost and quit working. I constantly have trouble getting whole wheat doughs to rise and need to remember to proof the yeast rather than just add it to the dry ingredients. Note to self: put note about this on the yeast container.
Not Exactly Food Waste:
- I left one of my TelFresh containers (with a few graham crackers in it) at a meeting this week. Hopefully someone else will put it to good use at least.
Thanks for hosting this! My first week posting. I think it will help keep me on my toes! Can you freeze coconut milk (the canned kind)? I have some in the freezer for curry but have yet to thaw and see how it performs.
It's hard for me to usually use a whole batch of cilantro before it goes bad so I'm usually guilty of using half, and the other half going bad. It majorly bums me out. I'm thinking of freezing it from here out to use in tortilla soup that I often make.
I use coconut milk most weeks, in curries (do your kids like kormas?) and smoothies. Our favourite smoothie, the only one in which I'd use coconut milk, is banana, pineapple & coconut milk. Sometimes I add a little apple juice too. It's divine!
Or how about piña coladas? 🙂
If you are looking for a good way to use coconut milk, look at the Cook's Illustrated recipe for Chicken Adobo, it is awesome. 🙂
I am notorious for fresh herb wasting. I can't find small enough bunches of fresh parsley that I can use before they get gross and wilty in my little vase by the window. I know how you feel about the cilantro.
I agree with Ruthie about the cauliflower, by the way. It can be great leftover in things; give it a try next time.
This week I wasted some celery (which really could have been thrown into anything), some cabbage (again, could have been used anywhere), and a little bit of homemade yogurt. That was the most surprising, since we are all yogurt eaters around here. Maybe no one wanted to get yogurt hands by sticking a spoon all the way to the bottom of the jar. LOL
no yogurt hands at my house I make my yogurt in 8 oz. jars- single serve size.
We did not care for coconut milk either, but then I discovered that Blue Diamond makes a coconut/almond milk blend that we love. It mellows the strong coconut flavor and thickens it up as a straight beverage.
I had a bad head cold. That meant loss of appitite. That meant food waste.
I rescued an avacado, and melon but lost some milk and raspberry iced tea. who knew tea can get moldy?
What a great and humiliating idea! Ha. I will be embarrassed by what I throw out. I'll participate next week 🙂
Had no idea what cilantro was lol had to look it up and realised we call it coriander here in Europe lol
Never have left overs or food waste these days. I buy and cook way less food. I was still in the frame of mind for cooking for more people. Self same people are long gone off to college married and have kids of their own lol there is a downside of only buying and cooking exactly what you need. You never have any stores to draw on. With a disabled child who is often ill I am often stuck at home. This means I do need to have something on standby other than my batch of homemade bean burgers lol. My son is a committed carnivore but we try to do some meat free days for colon health and animal welfare.
I *just* discovered coconut milk in smoothies myself this week and have been looooving it so much! We skimmed the coconut cream off two cans of full fat milk to make some really rich and delicious coconut whipped cream for a dessert we made for our dairy-free friends and I didn't want the rest of the cans to go to waste - so I started adding them to my smoothies. So creamy! The fruit drowns out the actual coconut taste, but it is so much more creamy than my smoothies have ever been.
But I've never tried the stuff from the carton. Is it very much different than canned?
I tend avoid fade foods too. Nutella is not one of them! Yummy... But, as for the cilantro...I love it but buying it fresh is a certain waste. It doesn't last long in the fridge. Instead I buy a plant and put it in a pot on my back porch. Then I have it all summer long and it doesn't go to waste (unless I forget to water it). 😉 and I just don't buy it in the winter. We waste bread and milk. I wish I could buy a half loaf of bread in the store. I do try to freeze half of the bread but even then it can go to waste.