Food Waste Friday | I win at using up food.
At least, this week I do. Heaven knows I've had my share of weeks where I lose at using up food.
While it would be fabulous if I managed to to orchestrate my life so that I never had about-to-go-bad food, I'm not there. So, the next best thing is to rescue food that's on its way out the door, and I did a whole pile of that yesterday.
First, I made scrambled eggs for breakfast and used a wrinkly tomato and the last of the cilantro to make a bit of salsa to top the eggs.
Then I cut some bad spots off of the last sweet potato and boiled it with the idea that I would use it in muffins. Except, I sort of let the water all boil off.
The sweet potatoes were still tasty once I scraped them out of the pan, though (I just ate them with butter and salt), and I'm pleased to report that my pan is no longer black either.
Next I decided to try my hand at freezing some mushrooms which had lived in my fridge for almost too long. I know drying mushrooms is a better idea, but since I don't own a dehydrator at this point, freezing has to suffice. I did some googling and read that mushrooms freeze better if you saute them first, so that's what I did. I'll try using them next time I need cooked mushrooms and I'll let you know how they turn out.
I found a container of Chinese takeout rice from probably over 2 weeks ago. None of us like takeout rice, but I forgot to tell them not to include it with our meal.
It was, um, a little dry after two weeks, so I cooked up a little batch of makeshift rice pudding (I just simmered it in milk with a cinnamon stick and a little salt). I'll sprinkle some sugar on top and have it for breakfast today, I think.
Not only did I have a random sweet potato, I also had a regular potato that needed to be used. So, I made a batch of potato bread, and I used some slightly sour half and half for some of the liquid.
I was slightly nervous that potato bread wouldn't be flavorful enough to disguise the half and half, but considering that only a small portion of a loaf is left, I think it's safe to say that my worries were unfounded.
(in case you're new to this idea, let me assure that using soured milk in baking or in pudding is quite safe, and the resulting product usually tastes just fine. Only once in all my years of doing this have I turned out something that tasted icky.)
Lastly, for lunch I made a salad using leftover shredded lettuce (from when we had fajitas) and the one remaining wrinkly tomato (with some not-about-to-go-bad cheese to round it out).
Phew! I'm thrilled that my fridge is now utterly free of food teetering on the brink of badness.
Quite impressive!! 🙂
Wow! You beat the dreaded cilantro. Amazing-I'm not remotely there yet.
Wait a second-I'm first. How did that happen?
Seriously! Where is The Mrs.????
Being lazy.
I was more than a little worried until we started our daily witty repartee (at least we amuse ourselves).
Second week in a row that I have no Food Waste Friday post - although I can guarantee you that there is food a'wasting in my fridge right this second.
I know for sure that the last of the rice, cabbage & pork that was a rescue from three weeks ago is still in there - no longer salvageable.
Last week I had a good excuse - I was hundreds of miles away from my fridge. This week? I just *wish* I was hundreds of miles away from my fridge.
Life happens, right?
I'm baaaaaack for a visit to FWF. It's a refrigerator clean out for me! At least it's a fresh start! And it is better than my last fridge clean out, believe it or not.
I am imPRESSED. Especially knowing your track record with cilantro.
I frequently freeze mushrooms - always sauteing first. Usually I chop them up instead of slicing then add to anything. They retain the flavor but not the crispiness of sauteed mushrooms, look OK too.
First time I've commented on food waste - because we grow our own produce I don't have waste unless it's a bad spot when in from the garden. All kitchen scraps go into the garden as instant compost. Leftovers either get eaten the next day or frozen for a future use. I keep a 'soup' container in the freezer for little bits of leftovers. I even bake chicken bones, after using them for stock, and then crush to add to the garden. Can't afford to waste anything.
I would have posted a link to a photo of a nectarine gone bad, but we left for vacation the day after I discovered it. Anyway, learned that there's a reason the store was carrying organic nectarines for such a bargain price. 🙁
No waste this week and I was concerned because we got a little over zealous at the farmers market last weekend. But we ate nearly all the items up and have very few that will be carrying over into this week.
My wins far outweigh my loses.
WINS:
- Planned taco salad to use up both the overly-soft beans and the half head of iceburg. Even remembered to keep the lettuce separate from the beans+meat+leftover salsa.
- When roommate ate last serving of beans (I hadn't said not to), I used a half-off coupon for a Subway sub, then dumped the innards on the iceburg. Conclusion: I'd rather waste Subway bread than a lettuce head.
- Made chix patties from leftover roast chix, rescued the bland patties with sauce made of blue cheese salad dressing + more leftover salsa.
LOSES:
- one farmer's market peach
- one farmer's market apricot
- 3-4 farmer's market cherry tomatoes
IN DANGER:
- rest of the cherry tomatoes
Quickly tomato sauce or topping for a homemade pizza to the rescue?
These are small tomatoes so not sure they'd be good as sauce - so much skin relative to flesh. Maybe a sandwich with smoked mozz and a bit of garlic. I'd say basil as well, but then I'd have a ton of basil to use up.
If you employ the food processor, you can successfully disguise some cooked cherry tomatoes in sauce. I wouldn't use them for a stand-alone sauce, but mixed in with other sauce, esp. when the sauce is combined with other ingredients, I thought they were fine.
I've successfully roasted cherry tomatoes with some garlic, then chopped and added basil and other seasonings for bruschetta. Dried herbs work OK for this (although not as good as fresh).
You can freeze tomatoes as is and then throw them in next time you make stew, chili, soup and so on. Since I learned that, I have never wasted a tomato again!
Are your kids picky? Do they actually eat the salsa on top of eggs? I have tons of friends who's kids don't eat anything slightly different which makes 'creative meals' tough.
Whoa Kristen that some preparation! Proving pretty much everything can be used up, it is so beneficial to keep an eye on the fridge. Defence is the best form of attack! I wanted to take this opportunity to thank you once again. I've been blogging each Friday for almost 10 months I believe, and it's getting harder to post each week. No waste again, although a photo of 5 eggs that I will use up, even though they still have over a week to go on them.
You win, Kristen, and I lose, big time. This week was such a failure.
*hides from the Food Waste police*
(Food Waste Police): Oh you WILL eat that soft produce, and you WILL like it! 🙂
Wow, that potato bread looks amazing! Good job using up all that stuff in danger of going bad. I think I managed to use everything up that was about to go bad, we still have a few cherries and some cream cheese that are on the danger list- I'm thinking some kind of dessert is in order to use them up. Although, if you read my post, dessert is what got me in trouble this week! 😀
Very impressive and I know that took a bit of work to do all that but seriously that is super!!!!!
It is so much easier to throw it away and not have to "deal" with it. Of course the way you did this is right and not so wasteful AND healthy for you. Lately the more dirty dishes and containers I am seeing here the happier I feel. With five of us including 16,18 and a 20 year old we consume a lot of food. It makes me SO happy when I see my "kids" eating up the last of some cut-up strawberries or last night's leftovers for a snack!!
Way to go !!!!
I had a fabulous week using up produce, too! Though I had 3 wins and 1 fail (strawberries, of all things). Hooray for using up wrinkly tomatoes!
Waste-free here as well! Finally! Used up the last of some souring milk to make pancakes, turned the wrinkly fruit into fruit salad. But I do have cilantro and cherry tomatoes lurking about that will need to be used this weekend.
A good week at our house except for one stinky bag of cole slaw. I paid no attention to the use-by date and it smelled (really bad, too) awful when I opened the bag the other night to use it for coleslaw. Thankfully I had some other cabbage that I could use (and which would have probably gone to waste otherwise).
Waste-free for the second week in a row! I don't expect it to last though.
Yay! WTG!
Just more potato (or potato product in this case) for me. Me and leftover potatoes, we got issues. *Sigh.*
I have incredibly picky children and I cannot "change things up" because they won't eat it!!
But Kristen, I must say that I have been reading your blog ever since my incredibly frugal friend mentioned you (about a year ago). You are an inspiration and I love reading every word you write. Thanks a lot!!!
I do have a question for you too: When you say you have nothing in your fridge, does that mean nothing?? I'm trying to pick my fridge with nothing in it and it's just not possible. Or is it just stuff that you know in a week will go bad so you make sure you use it? Would you be able to take a picture of your fridge on a day like today when you have no food waste and post it so that I can get a better understanding of what you mean when you have nothing in your fridge? Thanks so much!
And thanks for everything you do here. You're the best!
Oh, no, no...I don't have nothing in my fridge. I just have nothing that's about to go bad! 🙂 My fridge is NEVER completely empty, that's for sure.
I'm so glad that my blog has been inspiring to you..yay!
You are my food waste hero! I'm getting there. Not there this week but getting there. Thanks for the inspiration and proof that it can be done!!
Those are great ideas for using up the last of your food, especially the rice! I've never made rice pudding before, but it looks good 🙂 I also use any slightly soured milk in baking. Usually I'll freeze it so that I can mix it in, and I've never been able to tell a difference. (Although usually I freeze it as soon as I realize it's going bad.) Kudos!
wow... that was inspiring! especially the rice pudding, nice save!
So, I have been reading your blog for a couple months, and this(food waste) is the only part of your system I have yet to enact. So, today I cleaned out the fridge(hangs head) I wasted, almost a full carton of strawberries, a handful of black berries, half an onion, half a head of iceberg, half a tomato, a whole tomato, half a green bell pepper, and one serving of spaghetti. I have not posted on here, because I really didn't want the accountability....so i have been honest today. My fridge clean out did provide me with mushrooms to add to our dinner, and some to freeze for later(your idea!) and I found a still good serving of pasta to serve my son for dinner. Both the shrooms and the pasta would have been tossed had I not checked them today! So, It wasn't all bad? I also took a picture, so hopefully if I stick to this, I will get better.
Thanks Kristen and everyone who commented and linked, All of you make me feel like this is something I could incorporate into my life.
What muffin recipe do you use that takes sweet potatoes? That sounds SO good!!
Also impressed with your results and efforts...however I would be concerned that 2 week old cooked rice may not be safe to eat. I was always takes taught that it grows some nasty bacteria even though it takes longer to see in/on it than many other things. I often use sour milk in baking (some recipes require it) however I won't eat cooked food that has been sitting more than a few days. Learned through a nasty bout of food poisoning.
So, random question but it does relate to the pictures: what do you use your cast iron skillet for? I want to use mine more frequently but I'm not always sure what will stick and what won't and how to help it not stick... I would love some advice!
Inspired by your schedule to try shopping for two weeks today. I reserved some money for veggies at the Farmer's market, but hopefully won't have to return to the grocery until the end of the month. We live in a tourist town and the grocers are very crowded in the summer, so I'm trying this as a sanity saver!
I used up some leftover grilled steak by slicing it up and tossing it with some left over salad leaves and salad vegetables and a dressing made from 1 tablespoon of each of fish sauce, brown sugar and lime juice.
I love your using up ideas, all but the rice. I feel that was quite a dangerous thing to do - use cooked rice that old. Freezers are great for not-needed-at-the-time rice though! :0)
A question though - what is 'half and half'? We don't have that term in England as far as I know. Do you mean semi-skimmed milk?
Joy
If it had been in an air-tight container (which keeps moisture in), it probably would not have been safe. But it was in a paper Chinese takeout container, which means that the rice just gets dry instead of going bad.
So, once its rehydrated, it's quite good. I ate it yesterday and am feeling totally fine. 🙂
Half and half is half milk, half cream. Maybe it's like semi-skimmed milk?
:0) That's good!
Re half and ha;f, No, I don't think it's the same in that case. Semi-skimmed is when almost all the fat is taken out of the mils, but not completely (that's called 'skimmed') I'm not sure we have something that is 50% cream 50% milk.
Thanks for taking the time to answer.
Joy
How do you keep your house cool with baking in the summer? I just made cookies last night and it warmed up quite a bit.
I don't exactly! I do try to bake a little less in the summer, but I figure the little extra money caused by extra air conditioning when I bake is off-set by the fact that I don't have to buy breads at the store (homemade bread is cheaper even than the super-squishy, $.98/loaf bread).
Food waste. I try to eat up the food that might go to waste, but that is not always effective. Sometimes it gets annoying to go get my camera and post a picture. I stick to writing about it.