Food Waste Friday | Empty Fridge Edition
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.
So, since arriving home from vacation last Saturday, I have not made an honest-to-goodness trip to the grocery store. I made a quick stop to pick up some milk, OJ, and produce, but that's been it.
This means that we've been eating down our fridge, and it's quite barren at the moment. My fruit and vegetable drawers are almost never empty, but they're pretty darn close right now.
I do have some cilantro to get rid of (it was a pre-vacation purchase),
plus an orange that I peeled pre-vacation (it was one of those duddy oranges that didn't taste quite right and so no one wanted to finish it off) and some old baby carrots. The carrots were kind of dry and aged but we were feeding them to the hermit crabs. Unfortunately, the hermit crabs recently expired (all 3 of them on the same day! We think they got too cold when our power went out), so there's no one left to eat the carrots.
So, that's what's new (or, um, old!) on the food waste front for me.
Oh, and the oven barbecued brisket I made the other night was delicious. The only trouble was, I had difficulty cutting it into slices (it kind of fell apart!), so I just cut it up/pulled it, mixed in some extra BBQ sauce and we made sandwiches out of the meat.
I've never made brisket before, but after an afternoon in a low, slow oven, it definitely reminded me of chuck roast. That's good news for me, because I have several recipes that use chuck roast (Beef Au Jus sandwiches being one), and so brisket is no longer scary to me.
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Today's 365 post: I was going to throw these out before we left...
Also, don't forget to enter in the Walgreens giveaway and the GE giveaway before it's too late!
Hello, I posted just another version of food waste... Unnecessarily eaten food... 😉
Hey all in all, a great job after being gone for a week!
We had egg salad that no ons felt like finishing off and a butternut squash soup that I kept trying to "fix" by adding ingredients. It was gross
Had to google cilantro - it's coriander! Got it now! have seen cilantro mentioned a few times, and thought it was some exotic herb I had never come across...
Food Waste for me - none again (hurrah!) as I do my No Waste Tastes Great challenge. But once again I have got to freeze some peppers. It was celery that was nearly taking me down every week for a month or so - now it's peppers. Fortunately they do freeze and I can use up next week.
I think that coriander is actually the seed of the cilantro plant (if I remember right!). It's got a pretty different flavor than cilantro leaves do.
You're absolutely right Kristen, quite a different flavor. But I enjoy both.
And quick question about the way you store your cilantro--do you always keep it in water this way? It makes total sense that it'd last longer this way, but I've never thought of doing it! They sell cilantro in such huge bunches and it's so strong that I rarely ever use it all before it goes bad.
Oh yeah, one more thing....brisket is supposed to fall apart. 😉
Having written a short paper (5 pages) on this plant for cooking school[1] I feel I am in a good position to opine. The most common terms to describe the leaves and seeds of this plant are: cilantro for the leaves, cilantro or coriander for the seeds. Professionals are more likely to use cilantro for the leaves and coriander for the seeds, in order to avoid confusion. Bad things happen if, for example, one uses the leaves instead of the seeds in a spice cake.
Another cilantro tidbit: to a small percentage of the US population the leaves taste like soap. It's a genetic variation.
[1] I am not a graduate of a real cooking school. I took the very first class at a real cooking school, because I could.
I learned a trick from my MIL on slicing roast. She cooked it the day before, put it in the frig, sliced it cold and then re-heated it in the oven the next day. You can really get thin slices when the meat is chilled and it is not as likely to fall apart.
Great idea! I do something like this when I need to slice raw meat (freeze it for 20 min so it's firm) but it never occured to me to do with a roast. Thanks for sharing.
Now I just have to remember to roast the meat a day ahead. =P
I was going to say the same thing, Melanie. It's very commonly done with "traditional brisket" as far as I know (I know my family and friends all do it). Brisket is one of those wonderful items that tastes even better the next day, so go ahead, make it in advance, and then slice it after a day in the 'fridge.
My mother came to help (many years ago) when my son was born. She made a huge brisket, set it to cool overnight in the 'fridge, and then sliced it thin. Then she put in sandwich baggies -- each bag had a few slices of meat plus a couple of spoonfools of the juice/gravy-stuff. And all the bags went into the freezer. It was fantastic! Long after she left, I could pull out a bag of brisket whenever I was hungry, or two bags for myself and hubby. Together with a slice of bread or a roll and a veggie, the meal was delicious and nutricious. For a new mom who was a bit overwhelmed, it was completely great.
I'm back after several weeks of not doing a food waste post. Not too terrible this week; some artichokes that I forgot about it (oops) and some spinach dip leftover from a party that I got tired of.
I have some pizza that I ordered on Sunday that I still need to finish up. Does anyone know how long pizza lasts in the fridge? Is it still okay to eat? It smells fine, but I just wanted to make sure.
My two cents on how long pizza lasts: unless it sat out on the counter for a long time (over 4-6 hrs), your pizza should be fine to eat. If the crust is too dried out, try wrapping it in a damp towel (paper or other) and heating it in the microwave. The steam softens and un-stales baked goods a little.
BTW, pizza freezes excellently well. I put it in a ziploc bag and suck out as much air as I can.
I agree with WilliamB. If it's not too dry, I recommend heating it up in a skillet on the stovetop...it's sort of like a fast version of oven-heating.
Here's one of the traditional Jewish wasy to cook brisket:
Ingredients
A full-cut brisket
one medium onion
one pkg. Lipton (or other) dry onion soup mix
one bottle Heinz chili sauce
garlic salt
two bunches of carrots (with greens, preferably)
two dozen new potatoes
Directions
Put brisket in roaster, deckel side up. Use garlic salt to taste. Spread chili sauce on meat (and spread some on sides). Sprinkle onion soup on meat (and spread some on sides). Thinly slice onions-- so rings can separate--and place on top of meat. Add approximately 1 inch of water alongside roast (do not pour water over roast). Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Cook in 350 degree oven for 4 to 6 hours.
Approximately 2 hours before roast is done, check to make sure water has not evaporated and add carrots, peeled and potatoes--you can peel them in rings or leave them unpeeled.
Does your cilantro last longer when you keep it in water? I tried it once, but it wilted so quickly that way. Do you cover it after it's in water?
The produce man at our market once told me to cut the ends off the stems as soon as I got home, then wrap the stems in a damp paper towel or rag, then put it back into a plastic bag. It seems to work and give me several more days of fresh cilantro. But I'm willing to try something new if it will make it last longer. I'm looking forward to having it in the garden again, so I can pick off just what I need and not have to figure out how to use up a whole bunch!
Laura, I'm so excited that I'll have space for container gardening this year, and I love cilantro. Do you have any tricks to make it happy?
My mom grows herbs in window boxes on the deck (which is right off the kitchen). Works really well as another type of container gardening!
I keep herbs and scallions-with-roots in a cup of water, in the fridge, covered by a damp towel, and all that covered with a plastic bag. It's like what your produce man suggested but with a better water supply.
Yeah, I've had better luck with the glass of water than with the damp paper towel. I cut the ends off and then stick them into the water.
That bunch had been in there for over 2 weeks, so I'd say it kept pretty well.
I was so sad that I had some wasted food this week- I did so well last week
I have real trouble with milk. Its just my husband and me, and so we don't usually go through a 1/2 gallon a week. I wish they sold it in quarts.
Did you know that you can freeze milk? I'd freeze a quart of your half gallon and just thaw it when your first quart is gone.
Coming from a large military family I remember having the bottom of our freezer entirely lined with frozen milk, and I do the same thing today. When I see that I am getting low on milk I get one out of the freezer and sit it in the sink to thaw out. It usually takes about 8 hours or so to become slushy and then I shake it up and put it in the frig to be used later. Works great when you see a good sell on milk and want to buy extra. I also suggest freezing your milk in the upright position to allow it to expand in the freezer. Also, put the date on it when it is thawed out so you won't go by the "used by" date and think it is bad!
I had a lot more than usual this week, a combination of going away for 4 days and getting fed up with Too Many Small Nagging Chores, dammit. In efforts to simplify my life I tossed some food that I could have eaten but didn't really feel like it:
- stove top browned potatoes that just didn't work out well (abt 1 c.);
- oven browned potatoes that did work out well, but I had OD'd on taters (abt .5 c.);
- a half-eaten pear that had gone soft;
- a head of bibb lettuce from my CSA; I didn't give it to my friend in the hopes I'd try the lettuce but, as usual, my lettuce aspirations were not met;
- about .5 c. celery ribs because the tips went brown/soft while I was gone;
- the edible rind of a CSA cheese that just wasn't to my taste.
On the plus side:
- the bulk of the CSA cheese (together with happy eggs, happy milk, Whole Foods bacon and unhappy spinach) made a rich, silken, tasty spinach-mushroom quiche;
- the rest of the celery, bits of other veggies, corn cob stock, and leftover parmesan rinds will become minestrone this weekend;
- the tofu and napa cabbage survived my absence well, and will join some shrimp to become a stir-fry for dinner tonight.
Cilantro here, too. Wish they sold it in bundles half the size!
As a farmer's daughter, I am accustomed to cooking many cuts of beef. Brisket and other roast-types cook up beautifully in a large crock pot. Just add a teensy bit of water to the bottom and season the meat any way you'd like. When done they WILL crumble, but then you can use this crumbled/shredded beef for tacos, burritos, and many other recipes. With such large cuts, I find it a great idea to re-freeze the cooked meat in smaller portions for later use. Something easy for those days when you need a quick dinner.
Can you post the brisket recipe? Please! Thanks!
I think I can...let me double check with my contact at Cook's Illustrated to see if I can get permission.
More food related tidbits: a list of ingredients is most definitely not copyrightable - only the instructions are. US law is quite settled on this subject, although many chefs & editors try to convince otherwise.
There's a woman in DC who cooked every recipe from the French Laundry Cookbook[1] and blogged it (http://carolcookskeller.blogspot.com/). Her solution to the problem of what to post was to take pix of her ingredients, write about method, and post lots of photos. Rather like you do for Wednesday Baking, now that I think of it. The chef was delighted, became a fan, and treated her to dinner at the restaurant.
That said, you do what you're comfortable doing.
[1] The French Laundry is an extremely fancy restaurant on the West Coast.
Love Brisket! I never heard of brisket till I moved to Texas. I also cook it just like a roast and freeze it. Also any leftovers I mix with bbq sauce and make sandwiches or baked potatoes. I also do that with a regular roast. Yum!
Just starting to be more intentional about our food waste as part of our overall project grocery strategy...gotta embarrass that budget down!
Hi Kristen!
About that cilantro (or any other bunch of fresh greens like mint, green onions, lettuce, etc)... if you create a little "greenhouse" in your fridge, these types of produce will last for weeks!
Making a "greenhouse" in your fridge is really easy 🙂 Using the same setup you're currently using (greens in the cup with about 1/4-1/2" of water) then using the plastic baggie you got from the store's produce section, put the plastic bag down over the top of the greens and cup. Make sure there's air inside the bag (like a balloon) and then tie the mouth of the bag (like you would a garbage bag) so it's tight around the cup. Voila!
Hi Frugal Girl! I have a major "food waste" dillema! I tried out your homemade yogurt recipe and followed directions/steps to a 'T' and they are still liquid! Didn't firm up at all! Now I am not only majorly bummed out, I have no idea what to do with all that milk/yogurt liquid in my fridge.
Hi Kristen,
I did a post on food waste 2/15 and linked to your site. Just wait until your kids are teens - wasted food will be a thing of the past!
Freezing herbs (especially cilantro) is a great way to preserve them. Just stick the entire bunch stems, leaves and all in your freezer. Put a tie on the end of the bag, first. You could also chop the cilantro first but I don't. When you need cilantro for a soup or stew, just break off a few sprigs and toss into your dish. Or just toss the whole thing in. No more waste!
Not a good week. I wasted apples and Lima beans. I am giving up buying apples at the farmers market I never eat them all before they go bad.
I wasted nothing. Sorry about your crabs.
Not too bad!
I personally hate having to buy cilantro for a recipe. I know I will NEVER use all of it and, in my mind, it's bunny food. (Growing up I had rabbits and they were fed a diet of vegetables with only a little bit of pellets lol! My mom used to joke that they ate better than we did 🙂 )
do you compost the waste, or just chuck it in the trash?