Food Waste Friday | Drat. I knew this was going to happen.
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. If you're not a blogger but still want some food waste accountability, feel free to participate by leaving a comment.
I hate it when I waste something that's healthy and expensive.
This is some leftover salmon, which I should have just eaten that night.
Because I should know by now that I am very, very not prone to eat leftover fish, or to think of some creative way to use it (like by making a salmon salad). So, next time I cook salmon, I'm going to cook less and just make sure we have enough in the way of side dishes in case someone is more hungry than I anticipate. Heaven knows I'd rather have some leftover side dishes than leftover salmon.
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Please check out my shameful brown rice wastage !
Hi Kristen, I like to think of cold meat or fish as a perfect excuse voor eating mayonaise... but even I forgot two delicious meatballs the other week that would have been great eaten cold.
I'm with you on the leftover fish and I know what you're talking about when say it's hard to waste something expensive. Sounds like a good plan for next time.
I now do much smaller portions generally than I used to, and do indeed top up with side dishes, various breads and dare I say it puddings! If anyone still needs feeding after dinner I turn to pancakes with a myriad of toppings, some healthy, some not so! It's a long time since I was affectionately referred to as 'Jo Big Portions' by my Hubby. The portion size has dropped off dramatically since becoming food waste obsessed (and also more frugal!) 🙂
p.s. - not showing off but my fridge is looking pretty spot on this week - as usual photographed for the world to see. Everything has a purpose and a potential place moving on into my 'Use It Up Week' starting Saturday. I overspent last week (and my now incredibly tight grocery budget) and it's compensation time!
Wasting meat always seems the most painful. Maybe moved with mashed potatoes for salmon cakes next time? Thanks again for helping to keep us all mindful.
Oh heck! Commenting with my i-phone leads to fairly odd responses. Apologies to all. It's 'mixed' not 'moved'.
Leftover fish gets eaten up in my house the very next day or not at all - but to be fair, our fish dishes are usually so tasty there aren't many leftovers!
I'm about to lose the battle with a bag of russet potatoes - 1.99 for 10 lb bag and I've been using them for breakfast tacos but started a bit late in the game - they're starting to get softish and the dogs pulling the bag to the floor while I was at work last night didn't help things I'm sure! only a few left though - maybe 4-5 little ones. Iwish the stores would put the smaller bag on sale for 99 cts...
When I have that happening with my potatoes I like to make mashed potatoes and freeze them in ziploc baggie bricks. They don't take up much space in the freezer and are helpful on a night when I'm in a hurry and don't have much time to cook, I can just defrost a baggie in a pot of hot water and I'm good. That's a great price for potatoes - I don't think I've ever seen them that low where I live.
I discovered quite by accident the best way to store potatoes if you have the means. Our landlord left a non-working old freezer in our dry storage area. I was going to have the hubby haul it away and put up shelves for me to store dry goods. But then I figured why bother, the freezer has shelves and it was clean inside. I loaded it up with my dry goods and other excess overflow, along with the bag of potatoes. That bag of taters lasted a MONTH in there! It was amazing. It saves me some money on taters because they normally sprout eyes before I can come close to cooking them all and it kept the freezer out of the landfill.
wow that's some great storage. these lasted longer than I thoughta dn still taste ok thank goodness - just a bit softer and more wrinkled. I have 4 left not counting the ones that rolled under the counter - if it's ok in the morning I may peel it and give it a go!
I hadn't thought much about freezing them - wasnt' sure if I had to partly boil them or what for freezing. all my freezer veggies were bought already in the freezer section..still kinda newish at this frugal stuf! I think Houston has too much humidity for produce - my garden was doing good til we hit triple digits this summer - sigh..and it was promising to be my best green thumb effort yet. 🙁
yep luckily several stores sometimes compete a bit - boneless skinless chicken breasts are 1.99 on sale at the 'expensive' grocery store near me but Food Town often has them for 1.69/lb and drumsticks for 88 cts or 69 cts - of course never when I'm looking for them so I have to stock a bit. sometimes taters are 2.99 per bag and that's not too bad - usually it's 2.49 or so for a 5 lb bag seems like. I don't buy them often but when I notice them cheap like 1.99 for 10 lbs I like to come up with some ideas for them - these are too small really for a big stuffed tater but good for mashed, diced, hashbrowns, etc.
I don't believe I've ever heard of it before so.... what is salmon salad? Is it a tuna-style thing with mayo?
We wasted a little meat this week too. It was turkey breast, and delicious at that, so I was sad when we didn't get to it on time. But bad meat isn't something I'm willing to try to salvage, so into the trash it went. :-/
I'm thinking that having a standard use-up-fish recipe ready would help. Croquettes spring to mind - they are flexible as to batch size, or you could freeze leftovers till you had enough for a meal-sized batch. I often do cheater croquettes, using rich mashed potatoes, leftovers, and an egg for binder.
Not the best week for me:
- a plum
- 2 c. broccoli that inexplicably went bad in work fridge
OTOH I used the most challenging item that needed to be rescued: buttermilk. I had about 2 c. liquid buttermilk leftover from fried chicken. I used it to make an oatmeal quickbread to do with the beans-veg-leftover meat stew. (The recipe called it a variation on cassoulet, but it wasn't even close so now I have to think of a new name for it. I'm much, much better at thinking of new dishes than at thinking of new names.)
We've started freezing buttermilk. (We bought 1 quart when I only needed 1 cup, oh well.) It works out to ~1 cube = 1 oz, and it's been making fanTAStic buttermilk pancakes. I'd never made those before, and they're so fluffy and delicious.
WilliamB, I'm so glad you comment. 🙂
For baking I use dried buttermilk, with the total lack of waste justifying the extra cost. But this once, I wanted to soak chicken in buttermilk before frying. A winner, BTW.
Lettuce. Yuck. Anything that turns itself to liquid form in one of your fridge drawers is the worst!
A container of yogurt starter that's done. A sad potato.
Just a 1/2 of a banana and an apple(that sat next to said banana) is my only waste this week.
Leftover salmon is good just mixed in with a green salad. No need to do anything at all with it.
Ok, another random reader Q&A from Molly (do you ever think I just use you as a good frugal shopping list? Although I must say that after my last one, about dish towels, I ended up cutting up an old bath towel that we didn't need. Sometimes the hubby is very frugal.)
Canning. I think I need to get a real, as in big and hefty, water bath canner. After that will be a pressure canner. My current pots are no longer cutting it. Thoughts? High quality? If I find a used pressure canner, where/how do you check the gauge? Cost is less important than quality and lasting long term. Thank you smart frugal folks!
I would get a Presto pressure canner right away, it can also be used to water bath can. I have a 23qt one which can do 8 qts or up to 20 half pints under pressure. You can double stack jars in a pressure canner, but not when water bath canning. I actually just got rid of my water bath, I use my presto for both types of canning, the manual tells you how, plus I use it for making huge batches of stock and boiling corn. Amazon sells them for around 80$ , I found mine at a local farm supply store.
I would recommend a new one, some of the old ones can be really dangerous if the seal and gauge aren't quite right. My mom had a hand me down one from her grandma, and she used it until I can't remember what broke. She called the company and they told her that they couldn't replace it anymore, and gave her a discount on a new one.
If you do find a deal on used, head to a small hardware store (ace, do it best- not sure what others are around...) they usually have a great canning selection (including the plastic jar lids which are awesome!) and are knowledgeable. Most of them can test the gauge and such, and have replacement parts.
I'm glad someone else knows, because my method (borrow my mom's!) isn't going to work out real well for you. =P
It wasn't a good week for my fridge. Left over salad, corned beef (that was very sad) and something else I can't recall. Also found a loaf of fuzzy homemade bread the got hidden behind some stuff in the pantry and a couple pumpkin muffins that I'd forgotten I'd stashed on the fridge to keep the dog from getting to them while we were out. Not a good week for waste here.
Most of the romaine lettuce I bought, along with the mung bean sprouts. Right after I bought them, I wasn't hungry for them any more. I know that's not a very good excuse, but I caught a cold and all I wanted was hot comfort food.
I'm also going to buy only what I really will eat, not what I think I should eat. I'm old enough to know the difference.
WilliamB - thanks for posting all your great tips and ideas! Very helpful.
That's my problem too! I buy stuff I know I should eat, like spinach & carrots, but I really don't like to eat them (or not very much of them), so I usually end up throwing part or most of it out. I suppose it makes me feel healthier when I buy it- but doesn't do much good since I don't eat it!
I love having left over salmon...great tossed on top of a spinach salad with shredded carrots and a sprinkling of pepperJack cheese. Yum!
Oh I never know how to eat leftover fish too! Especially since they've got that all-fishy smell...but couldn't you put it in a broth/soup the next day?
I had a great week--no waste! However, I have Kristen to thank, because I used what I learned from her "3 Ways to Use Ripe Bananas" post (https://www.thefrugalgirl.com/2011/08/3-ways-to-use-ripe-bananas/). I had a massive amount of overripe bananas, so I froze the last few. Also thanks to Kristen, I now love frozen banana ice cream. Check out my blog for a link to a great recipe!
We cook salmon just to have leftovers to make salmon pizza. we top our regular crust with tomato sauce, cooked salmon and feta. yummy.
I have a lot of ham left from thanksgiving, and will be freezing it, but I still need ideas on how to make use of it! All I can come up with is quiche (aside from sandwhiches, of course)
How about ham and cheddar muffins? I made some for myself this week, and they were great lunch and breakfast treats.
bean soup! ham salad! cheesy potato soup! ham and cheese in bread dough (kinda like stromboli)!
Here's where cats come in handy - never any leftover salmon at our house!
Did I miss something? Are you taking Saturdays off now or this is a temporary thing? Either way is a-okay, I just wanted you to know that your absence is noticed and your presence missed!
One way I like to use use salmon is to mash it up and mix it with cream cheese, onion (or onion powder), lemon juice, and a little liquid smoke. (You can also add horseradish for some extra zing.) It makes a very yummy snack with crackers!
I'm with Diane...I was looking for your Saturday food post when I saw that you haven't posted anything since Friday. I hope all is well :). K.
I was wondering the same thing.... Did I miss something about you not posting Saturday's menu plan anymore??