Food Waste Friday | Boo, hiss.
I kind of feel like I must be losing my touch or something.
The lettuce was left over from when we had tacos, and it had turned kind of brown and yucky. I could have used it in a salad instead of spinach, but spinach IS more nutritious, so I suppose that was sort of a good choice. Better to compost green leaf lettuce than spinach.
The sour cream dip is still in my fridge because I'm waffling on whether it's bad or not. It doesn't smell funky and it's not moldy, but it has been in the fridge for...a while.
I'm actually not sure how long, which is why I'm a little conflicted about what I should do with it.
The half and half container is almost entirely empty, but the last bit in there was very cheesy smelling. Note to self: make sure you don't store the half and half in the refrigerator door (it's warmer there).
Also, I bought some peaches from the store the other day, put them into a paper bag to ripen, and now they're starting to rot while simultaneously maintaining their rock hard status. Sigh. I'll probably manage to save them by adding them to a smoothie or something, but if I have to throw some of them out, I refuse to take responsibility.
The peaches must bear the blame.
Or perhaps the food system that harvests them while they're green and rock hard.
I think I'm going to give up buying peaches until the local ones are ready. Grocery store peaches are just no good 95% of the time.
To make myself feel better, I checked my food waste photo from 3 years ago, and it's pretty bad: Food Waste Friday-7.5.08.
I have improved, I have improved, I have improved.
(On a random note, why in the world did I make my pictures so small back then?? I think that was only my third post on The Frugal Girl, so perhaps it can be blamed on new-blogger-itis.)
Anyway! I'd really, really like to have a no-waste week next Friday, and I'm going to try my darndest.
(Not that I wasn't trying this week.)
Don't feel too bad - I still have weeks like that and I think I've been doing this (off an on) for well over a year now. For me, one (like this week) or two things is really good, and a no waste week (last week) is practically cause for a celebration!
See - this week I'm feeling a bit of a failure myself. But I don't have a photo from 2008 to comfort myself with...maybe I'll feel better in 2014?
We're moving in a week and a half and heading out to vacation tomorrow, so I've not only been trying not to waste any food that we make for the week, but to use up all of the food we have in the pantry and the fridge and freezer so there is nothing to move or to toss. It's tricky, trying to find uses for everything we have in there, as most of it was designed to go with something else that may have already been eaten. However, I'm being as creative as possible! 🙂
Three years?!? Fantastic and inspiring! Someday soon I'm going read every entry. 🙂
Have a wonderful weekend Kristen & family.
It shows how healthy you and your family eat. Sour cream dip wouldn't last 24 hours in my house. In fact I had to pry a bread and butter jalepeno cream cheese dip from my husband's hands the other day since I wanted to save some for my Southwest Chicken Rollups.
I have more waste than I'd like this week too, but it's part of my Operation Declutter, so I'm not letting myself get too down about it.
And I do think your justifications are...well...justified.
P.S. You're right, grocery store peaches are icky most of the time. I love that where I live the local peaches are starting to make an appearance at the farmer's markets. Woo hoo!
This was not a good week. I tossed a lot of food. There was beef hamburgers(beef is fit and active brand from aldi's) that I am having a complete aversion to and that my mom bought. I tossed pudding,wheat crackers,some moldy cheese(I forgot was in the frig) and moldy strawberries. It was not a good week.
You NEVER deserve a boo or a hiss. Have a great weekend. Happy pre-4th and also Canada Day to all.
Dips are so hard to determine... sour cream in general I think! My rule is: if it is seriously separating it is time to GO!.. I feel the same about my produce. I quit buying from the local grocery stores, this was made possible by my AWESOME local farmers market. Not only cheaper but fresher too!
The only waste I think I have this week is surprisingly a 3/4 used jar of Apricot jam/preserves that had a little mold in it. I needed if for pork recipes but I guess I didn't use it fast enough! 🙁
- pasta salad
- asparagus
- I think that's it? Maybe hopefully?
Nope. Sad tomatoes. Old rockhard lime. Sigh.
Sour cream lasts a surprisingly long time. Based on how you described it I think it's still good. I used to have that problem with homemade yogurt, BTW - it didn't get strangely sweet as storebought plain nonfat yogurt does.
You could also cook the peaches in a simple syrup. It's easy, they retain their nutrition, and get sweeter as well. To make simple syrup, simmer equal amounts of sugar and water till the sugar dissolves. Dump in peeled sliced peaches. Simmer till you like the result.
You have my support for the proposition that it's better to eat the spinach than the lettuce. ... Um, oops. Writing this made me remember that I had taco night a few weeks ago, and did I use the remaining half lettuce? I know I used the leftover chopped up lettuce, but I'm not sure about the half that wasn't used at all.
I love recipes that include the phrase "until you like the result".
I propose that they all end like that.
Let's make it mandatory.
Mine mostly do and the ones that don't call for use of a thermometer-alarm. I have to alter my recipes every single time I share one.
I'm going to start taking pictures of my waste too and showing it on my blog, maybe it'll help me!
I COMPLETELY agree with your assessment of supermarket peaches. They are horrible. I too reserve my peach eating until the local ones arrive for the same reason. At which point, I make a complete glutton of myself for a month or two - my husband swears that I eat so many that my skin starts to smell like peaches. ha!
NOT a bad thing. And I'm with you about the storebought.
Yesterday, my husband actually walked through the house, singing "it's almost peach crisp season". Yes. Yes, he did.
Just a suggestion: I have used turned milk to make bread, muffins, even pancakes! DH thought I was crazy, but you cannot taste anything bad at all, plus it relieves me of pouring dairy down the drain. I actually had a bit of 1/2 & 1/2 that was clumpy, and I added it to pancakes.
And the pancakes were really ok? I'm always a bit hesitant..
Alot of recipes call for sour milk...where you put a T of vinegar or lemon juice in a cup of milk....you just use the old milk...it's fine as long as it hasn't gone rancid.
I do that a LOT! But this half and half was so far gone, even I wasn't brave enough to use it. I worried it would make the whole batch of whatever taste icky, and that's worse than dumping a few tablespoons down the drain.
Molly, as long as the dairy isn't craaaazy stinky, it's usually just fine to bake with it.
No waste for us over at Chez Wright, which I am pleased about (there was room for error) as all week I have been conducting a 'Cooking From Scratch Cost Experiment' - I've compared my home cooked (I'd say half scratch in many cases) meals to ready-made shop bought ones. My experience of meal planning has taught me that I still only base it on 6 meals as something always comes up! and it did! That means Wednesday's Dinner is being rustled up tonight instead - still counts as No waste hurrah! Fortunately nothing else to confess to - my fridge and conscience is clear!!!! Better luck next week Kristen (as I know you like NO waste whatsoever) - but as always a stirling job! Happy 4th July to everyone over there!
After a couple of rather disappointing weeks, we had a no-waste week in our house! Hooray!
You're right, grocery store peaches ARE disappointing. However, if that's all you've got, try putting them in a brown paper bag until they ripen. There's some scientific reason as to why it helps (something about them releasing a gas as they ripen and if you can trap the gas in the bag......) Sometimes if you stick an apple in there with them, it helps them ripen faster. This also works for pears, nectarines, apricots, and (I would assume) plums.
She did...they turn nearly rotten but were still brick hard! That is SO frustrating!
I'm trying to get back into the swing of summer, when food just doesn't stay good as long, even in the refrigerator. I try to eat or freeze the fruit we buy from the farmers' market within 3 days, otherwise it starts to rot. I also started bringing the cooler and an ice pack on our grocery store trips, to store the cheese and other dairy in until we get it home. That really helps, especially with soft cheese like chevre. I'm trying to remember all my summer tricks! 🙂
I always think I did good - but then I realize we weren't home half the week and I hadn't grocery shopped....so we SHOULD have used up the food on the days we weren't home....
Yeah, but not being at home ALSO means not being around to check up on your fridge. So it goes both ways, and your food forgives you.
very true.....very true....
I have that same problem with fresh fruit and veggies from the store. Also I have no proof since teenagers are very forgetful about what they do and don't do. I had some lunch meat (carl budding in that plastic tub with the inner sealed bag) that was open and moldy when I went to use it last night. the boys said they didn't open it....so I wonder if it had been opened in the store before I bought it. Just one more thing I must check now when buying food. 🙁
I made the mistake of buying a grocery store peach this year...just to see if they were any good before getting more. I'm glad I only got one because it was practically flavorless. As soon as the local peaches become available, we will be buying them by the bushel. I love local peaches!
About 1/2 c. of brown rice hit the trash here---it got pushed so far back in the fridge I didn't even rescue it in itme to feed it to the dog.
And we are in the middle of peach passion at the moment. I've been eating them constantly and am about to try making peach-rhubarb butter.
I have made 3 batched pf peach preserves so far. That's what I do with the peaches that aren't up to my HIGH standards as far as sweetness and texture goes (I'm a peach snob). They make great preserves!
In preparation for leaving town for part of the weekend and the rest being alllll County Fair and Parties - I did an awful lot of food processing - trimming and roasting the tomatoes going bad, packing up the in-the-car edible food for the trip, freezing portions of chili that simply aren't going to be eaten before late next week... And transforming part of a pineapple into Rum-Soaked Pineapple before BAD things happened to it.
I also made a trip to the store to supplement the car-edibles, and had to KEEP reminding myself (approximately once an aisle) that it was OKAY to completely use up the milk and NOT buy more before next week. You know, miraculously, the store will still have milk next week when I resurface... 🙂
I have to convince myself of that too. Like the store's going to go on vacation too, or something.
hahahhahaa. I like that idea.
Local Peaches are SO much better! There's a local orchard that has a stand at the Farmer's Market and I love buying their peaches. We've never bought enough to last more than a day or two but someday I'd like to try to make peach freezer jam. 🙂
This is my first ever Food Waste Friday, and it's pretty embarrassing when you have to take a good hard look at yourself, especially when it's fruits and veggies that go bad.
Oh, I so hear you! Looking at my food waste one day is what started me blogging, lo these many moons ago (ok, 3 years).
I too blame the food system for the peach problem. Here we have none local that are any better, but the organic ones I bought actually were incredible but ripened/almost went bad very quickly.
"The peaches must bear the blame" -- priceless 🙂
Holding my breath till the peaches come on here. Then it will be HEAVEN.
I don't have food waste yet. I do have some bananas to bake and tons of squash from a friend's garden to cook. Tons of garden cucumber also.
Two mushy tomatoes and half a bunch of cilantro=the homemade salsa that never was. Sigh. So disappointed in myself! But really, I'm trying to do as well as you do-and still have a ways to go!
I'm with you on the grocery store peaches. I say boo hiss to them. And my grocery store makes it worse by calling them 'ripe and ready' or 'tree ripened.' They can't be tree ripened if they're not ripe. GRrrrr booooo hissssss at that. Unfortunately I'm not really in a peach growing area, but I can still find a few good almost local ones.
And as for your questionable dip, I first use my eyes, then my nose, then tentatively my tastebuds to tell me if food is good, rather than an expiration date or memory of how old it is.
Our local peaches are either rock hard or too soft. If we can't eat them before they hit the mush stage I freeze them for smoothies later. Although this year I canned them in my first batch of jam ever!
I've developed a fairly reliable technique for grocery store peaches (we didn't have "local" ones in Minnesota!):
1. Pick up peach. Smell peach.
2. If it smells really "peachy", put it in the bag. If it doesn't, put it back.
3. Repeat.
I've done this with about a dozen peaches so far this season, all purchased at the grocery store, and only one came out mealy and flavorless. The rest were juicy (after a day or two of ripening in a paper bag with a banana in some cases) and sweet.