Food Waste Friday | I have no photo.
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.
That's because the thing I need to throw away today is not exactly my fault. It's a single serving of leftovers that I sent in Mr. FG's lunch. I think they ended up having lunch delivered at his work (or he went out with friends. Or something.), and somehow his lunchbox sat (out of the fridge) all afternoon.
Though I'm committed to fighting against food waste and though I bake with sour milk, cut bad spots off of cheese, and peel rotten sections off of produce, I draw the line at eating meat-containing foods when they've sat out all day. Especially if it's the kind of thing that can't really be boiled before eating. So, into the trash it goes.
I also think I might have some very dry mushrooms in my kitchen drawer, but it's too dark to take a picture. And besides, I just might try to hydrate them and throw them onto some pizza tomorrow. If I find they're beyond redemption, though, I'll add a photo when the sun comes up.
And that's all I've got to say about food waste for the moment. But come back this afternoon for another post (I know! Two days in a row with two posts. What has come over me?? I just have too much to say lately.).
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Today's 365 post: The M&Ms up on that shelf....
Joshua's 365 post: Connect 4
The same problem for me this week - although I haven't thrown it out yet. Mr went to work with some chicken soup from a box one day this week, and he didn't eat it. It's still in the thermos...
You might see it next week.
But did I mention that it's a NO WASTE WEEK!? My first. I'm so proud.
I don't think my Hubby would dare bring it home! He'd dispose of it at work.... haha!
I had a few items left over - no waste though as all can be used up today. Chicken and Mushroom Pie for the Hubby whilst my date night is spent with my kids at the Local Village School's Fish and Chip Supper Evening! The carrots will make a fantastic slow cooked, carrot, ginger, and lentil soup with an added kick of Tikka Masala Paste - cooked overnight so we will make up with tummies growling!
WAKE up not make up - Duh!
As long as the mushroom are dry they are safe to use and infact there flavor is better( more concentrated), great for sauces and soups!
One orange that turned green and started growing hair in the back of the crisper. 🙁 The other ones are fine, but we upped our consumption of them after we discovered the mouldy one, just to make sure we don't lose any others. I ate up a very ripe avocado for a snack at work yesterday, and there is one more avocado and a few tired strawberries that I'm hoping my husband and daughter eat today. Oh... and I just remembered about 1/2 cup of homemade mac n cheese that my husband binned a few days ago, because it had been in the fridge for about a week. We ate most of the leftovers, but had been saving this for one of our toddlers. Oops!
Ack! Still waste but less than when this whole experiment began, so...
Yay! No pictures of moldy food 😉 Keep up the good work FG!
Ha-Ha. I hate when my husband does that! I guess sometimes it's an oversight but I am much like you, if it has meat in it--it goes out..
Congrats on no other waste though. This is my second week of no waste and it feels great!
I had saved the last bits from two different bags of tortilla chips. I had thought I would crisp them up in the oven and sprinkle them on bowls of chili. Instead, I burned them up and sprinkled them in the garbage.
Sigh . . . .
Katy Wolk-Stanley
"Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without"
I am totally nowhere close to having a No Waste week, but this is one suggestion for your mushrooms: I keep a bin in the freezer for carrot ends, onion tops, the bottom of the celery bunch, tired veggies, etc., as well as bones and other scraps. When the bin gets full, I put it in a big pot, fill it with water, and simmer it for awhile. When strained, it makes the most awesome broth, and it's free! I chill it, skim off the fat from the top, then freeze it in 2-cup containers.
Cracking idea Michelle.......
This is a GREAT idea. I do that with meat scraps (eew. carcasses.) and I chop up celery that I know would go to waste otherwise, but NEVER EVER thought of carrot ends or the bottom of the celery bunch.
And now it seems so obvious...like somehow those parts are poisonous or something.
Duh moment (uh...duh 32 years. But I'm cured now.)
I discovered I didn't like Random Vegetable Soup, but I do save certain onion skins and celery ends & leaves, for chix stock.
Another use for onion skins is to dye hard boiled eggs brown, to distinguish them from raw eggs; just put some onion skin into the water before you put in the eggs. Note, though, this works *really* badly if you have brown Happy Eggs. Better to use a pen. Just take my word for it, OK?
I save just about every meat scrap for stock: cooked and raw chix bones (stock is boiled so I'm not squeamish about using bones we ate off of), pork bones, smoked duck bones from a chinese restaurant (they've gotten used to me taking the scraps), scraps from Tea-Smoked Chix I make sometimes (makes the most awesome chix stew or chix pot pie). I don't like the liquid that accumulates from fresh-made salsa fresca so I save that for Mex beans or Mex rice.
I am, as usual, so proud of you!!!!!!
Finally cleaned out the fridge from stuff that should have gone last week--leftover Thai squash soup (which was very good but just made too much and I wasn't sure it would freeze well),and the last piece of a not-very-good salmon and potato casserole. ready to start fresh for next week!
I've been at home sick and sniffly all week - what little eating I have done has been finishing off the leftovers in the fridge. I may need to investigate the bottle of milk to see if it's still usable though. But otherwise no waste. And very little potential for waste next week either since I haven't been shopping really. Am going to try and have another two weeks of eating only or mostly out of the cupboard and freezer.
Love this project.
All week I was very conscious of what we were using and what was lingering in the fridge.
Very important to let others in house know of projects though. My dh tossed something earlier in the week without me getting a photo...lol.
I love partially dehydrated mushrooms! I use them in stews, spaghetti sauces, or to fry up to serve on anything that takes fried mushrooms... like your wonderful Aussie Chicken!
OK, so my food waste is not just from this week. It is from the last several months. I couldn't even list it all. I don't even know what all of it is! It's bad, but I am trying to get better! This is my first time linking up to Food Waste Friday! Woo hoo!
I am really inspired by your minimal amount of food waste. I never really realized it until I started reading more about food waste, but we have a ways to go to get to where you are! At least we compost the produce peelings and produce that may go bad b/c it got forgotten about (we're getting better about that though!)
It's definitely a process! I've been at this for 3 years now, and I still waste something almost every week.
That's really awesome that you compost your scraps...so much better than sending them to the landfill.
Hi there, my first blog here. I love this concept of reducing and eliminating food waste. This year this idea has really spread and I am becoming more conscious of what food we have and using it creatively to avoid food waste. I don't feel the pressure to go and buy more food if the fridge is not full. I grew up in a home where we went without food for a day or two each month. As an adult, I compensated by having tons of food in my house. In fact a restaurant owner once told me that I had more food in my pantry than he had in his. However, today there is more of a balance in my cupboards, fridge, freezer and pantry. Thanks for the inspiration!