Food Waste Friday | So, about that not wasting produce thing...
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.
Remember how pleased I was that I wasted no produce last week? Well, this week was a bit different.
The pepper end got slimy, and the last of the beans molded.
Also, I found an errant potato. Fortunately, I discovered it before the potato was utterly disgusting and odoriferous.
The good thing about produce waste is that it's all compostable, so it'll just turn to dirt in my backyard.
On a more delicious note, since it's Friday, don't forget to visit Baking With Lisey. We tried out a Chocolate Chai Mini-Loaves recipe this week.
Hmm. Moldy food and delicious baked goods are really incongruous. Maybe we'll do Baking with Lisey on Thursdays in the future!
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Today's 365 post: But of course.
Joshua's 365 post: A multi-picture post!
Zip ! Yes, true !
Loving the contrast of the old mouldy food and then Lisey's beautiful baking! You should always end on a high note in life!
I have a potato shot on my No Waste Tastes Great post today. But once again the quality of mine is called into question. I'm struggling with the macro shots quite a lot. Seeing your potato made me realise just how much work I've got to do on my technique. In fact, I don't know why I didn't go outside the light's so bad in the UK at the mo. I've been investigating the 'lightscoop', but don't want to be 'all the gear no idea'...so have been trying to master basics first. Looking forward to the photography e-book - any idea when it'll be available?
Oh and on another note - I have waste. Jerk sauce and mayo - must try harder!
I was thinking the exact opposite - I would rather the good-looking food be protected from the moldy stuff.
Definitely go outside! That's always the option I choose over the Lightscoop whenever possible. Or at least put your food as near to a window as you can.
The e-book? Well, I'm sorry to say that I outlined it but haven't actually written any of it. I'm wondering if that might have to wait until summertime or something.
I'm back - let's hope I can keep it this way!
No waste this week-minor miracle :0). The chai loaves look amazing!
I cannot believe how much I am saving on my food bill just by watching my waste. Simply amazing. Thanks so much Kristen!
No food waste this week YAY. Love the Chai Mini Loaves.
Good Morning! Just a note....the link to Lisey's post didn't work for me this morning. Not sure if on this end or yours. Thanks for always being so inspirational.
Ack! That's because I'd scheduled her post incorrectly. It's published now and the link should work for you.
To be *particular* - how do you count the bad parts of things? So I had this apple with a bad spot, I cut that off and ate the rest. Both salvaged and composted. Score.
Oh, I don't bother counting tiny bits of waste like that...if I cut out a bad spot and use the rest of the piece of produce, I think that's pretty much a 100% victory. 😉
Another method:
Since the point of FWF, to me (YMMV) is to help me stop wasting food, I chose to count the waste that I'm responsible for. So if a strawberry goes bad because of my actions, I count that as part of the week's waste. If it wasn't my fault (say, one in the box was doing poorly when I bought it), I don't count it as waste.
I still don't know what to do about food that others bring into my house. Thoughts, anyone?
I was pretty smug about two weeks of zero waste, as well! Oops. Life has a way of bringing you down a notch or two when you get a little smug, doesnt it? 🙂
Kristen, have you tried keeping a freezer bag for pizza toppings? I started doing that a few months ago, and slightly over-the-hill peppers can go into it, and do quite well. I've salvaged a ton of peppers this way. I just chopped and froze a big yellow bell pepper (I keep some frozen marinara sauce in the bag, too.) You may have already gone that route. I know you make a lot of pizza!
That cake looks awesome. You daughter must be so proud of herself! Great job!
I really like this idea of a pizza topping bag.
Me too. Pizza is our Sunday food.
Ooh,the cake! Yum.
I have to agree...at least I can compost my yucky cuke & orange I wasted this week.
My first time doing this - will have pictures next week (but I hope not too many!) Happy Friday, everyone 🙂
Once again I'm waste free this week. Two weeks in a row, I hope I can keep the streak going.
I had no food waste this week! Part of my success was putting a list on the fridge for items that need to be used up. The list did get a bit long, and it helped.
Hi Kristen. I have a compost/gardening question. How large, (approximately), are both your compost and garden? Do you tailor the size of your compost to your gardening needs? If you've already posted on this I missed it. Thanks.
I only had 3 jalapenos this week! I'm pretty excited. Next week I'm doing an unprocessed food challenge so I'm not sure what to expect although I'm hoping for zero waste.
I like the Baking with Lisey on Friday. Like someone else said it end's on a high note.
I had something I tossed, something small, but for the life of me I can't remember what it was... I did use an old tangelo for juicing for a recipe and used the peal for my garbage disposal, as it cleans it well and smells good too. My prebagged spinach has been doing much better lately. How do you all keep prebagged spinach from having bad pieces mixed in or going bad quickly? I am trying to figure why it is suddenly not going bad as quickly, for future reference.
I do have way too much carrots and potatoes right now, so may need to give some to my twin in order to not have food waste in the weeks to come. I took advantage of a meal deal at the grocery store where you buy a chuck roast and get free carrots, free potatoes and free celery. All things I didn't need, but I wanted the meat. So need to use up some stuff. Problem is, I don't like the stringyness of celery. While my son will eat some as ants on a log, I doubt he will eat all of it. Ideas?
Mince one part celery, one part carrots, two parts onion. Then pick one of two options:
Option one:
Saute briefly in olive oil with some thyme. Now you have mirepoix which some (including myself) find tasty on its own and is useful as the base for many Continental dishes, sauces, and soups. And omelets.
Option two:
Freeze raw, then saute as the base for many Continental dishes, sauces and soups.
You could also make vegetable soup: carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, then chose any of: tomatoes (canned, fresh & chopped, juice), cooked beans (for protein), leafy green such as kale or chard, ...
I don't like the stringiness of celery, either. I chop it up really fine and add it to all kinds of dishes. Herbed brown rice, soups, etc etc. There are endless options! And if I don't get the chance to use all my celery before it starts to get pretty sad looking, I'll put it in my freezer in a freezer bag I keep with the ends of veggies and I'll use it in vegetable or chicken stock later.
I am food waste free this week. But since I am heading out of town in a couple of days I need to make an effort to use up and freeze the food that I had in my meal plan that didn't get made like planned.
I'm not so successful as most of you this week. Cooked dinner for my book group last Friday which entailed buying some unusual things and I wasn't so good at using them up. We did eat all the cooked leftovers at least. Into the compost goes: a bunch of the dreaded cilantro, most of a bunch of basil (should have made pesto), and an avocado. And I will be sitting down next to plan my weekly menu around what is still lurking to forestall more waste. Leeks will combine with potatoes for soup, the peppers and last of the cabbage and green onions will go in a stir fry, and the remaining salvaged cilantro will go into a batch of salsa.
Last night's dinner included a pesto-ish topping. The original called for parsley but I'm more likely not to waste spinach so I used that. Puree 2c. spinach, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, optional tabasco. Mine was too watery so I sauteed it a bit before tossing the shrimp with it. It's a strongly favored topping so there was a lot left over. So today for lunch I had Brown Rice with Spinach Pesto.
You could do something similar with the cilantro. Add to beans, cooked chopped chicken, rice. Or beans and cooked chopped chicken and rice mixed together.
Now why don't I think of this when I'm faced with cilantro of my own?
oh good grief...and now a crown of broccoli--too brown too save.
WilliamB: Good idea. I like cilantro a lot, it just seems to get forgotten, or go slimy fast. Maybe it's time to try taking it out of the bunch and putting it in water on the windowsill.
@Skirnir Hamilton, have you tried making carrot soup? That is a great way to use up a ton of carrots! I really love carrot soup, and usually make it in our slow cooker. I use a recipe from "Joy of Cooking," and I can share it with you if you'd like it! It's a smooth, puréed soup with a hint of nutmeg. Also, you can use a peeler on the celery to remove the outer strings that can make it tough to chew. You can also chop and freeze celery, along with some chopped onion, for a easy soup or casserole starter.
Oh yeah! You can also stick a piece of paper towel (or two) in your bag of spinach. It soaks up excess moisture so you won't get those slimy leaves so fast. Works like a charm!
Only a few things wasted this week, and I'm trying to use cilantro in everything I can think of so I don't have that as a casualty next week.
Not a great week for me. A meal and a half loaf of french bread.
I like the baking with Lisey posts any day, it just seemed to run together with the food waste post. However you do it, it will be great.
I'm sad to report the food waste in my house this week: about a quart of Naked veggie juice, a head of organic romaine lettuce and ½ cup of homemade spinach/artichoke dip. Really there is no defense for wasting yummy veggie juice, so I will just say it ended up in the back of the fridge and we promptly forgot about it. Usually we drink it up soon after I bring it home from the grocery store but not the case this time around.
I had wonderful plans for the lettuce though (green breakfast smoothies), but I ended up cooking my other greens and opting for cooked foods in the morning. And about the dip, friends prepared it for their Superbowl party and gave us a generous portion to take home. Since I don't eat diary foods and my fiancé is not much of a snacker, we really had too much to eat. I mostly used it as spreads on sandwiches.
Also, I had to toss a moldy clementine and onion in the compost bin, but that is not quite the same as us wasting food. I think my cupboard might be warm or damp because this is not the first time an onion turned in a short amount of time. Hope everyone had a better food waste week than me.
I had to throw away some raspberries. They went moldy. Love and hugs from the ocean shores of California, Heather 🙂
Not much waste this week. Just a small amount of icing that comes with Pillsbury danishes. I have lots of produce in my fridge. All still good. But I'm thinking of recipes to use them before they go bad.
Have a great weekend!
That cake looks wonderful!
Did you know that butter can go bad? I didn't either. There goes my mostly entirely waste free week.
No food waste this week. Just a tired, nauseated, 7 month pregnant, barely cooking woman with an empty refrigerator. I may not go grocery shopping til Tuesday or Wednesday to get some necessities.
I love the phrase "errant potato." What does Dave Barry always say? That's an excellent name for a rock band."
Now there's an idea!
I had food waste the other day that I was actually really happy about. We were cleaning out the freezer and pulled out a box of freezer burned garlic toast. I happily tossed it because lately I've been making rolls from scratch to eat with our meals or using bread from a bakery to make our own garlic bread. I've only just started working with yeast and live at high altitude so I need to work my way up to French bread. But anyway, I was proud of my waste! 🙂