Food Waste Friday | Some pantry waste
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 think this waste actually pre-dates my blogging, which is pretty sad, considering I've been doing this for over 2 years now.
A long, long, time ago, in a kitchen occupied by myself, I had great intentions of making some oatmeal animal crackers. I got as far as mixing up the dry ingredients, and then I don't know what in the world happened. I ran out of time or motivation or something.
I haven't the faintest idea where the animal cracker recipe is now, and the dry ingredients have been sitting in my cabinet for so long now, the oats are rancid (safe, but not enjoyable to eat).
So, these ingredients are getting composted.
Along those same lines, I once started mixing up a batch of cinnamon twists and accidentally added something like twice the sugar. I set the dry ingredients aside, intending to just make a double batch later. But I never did. And now I really cannot recall exactly what's in the bag...did I add salt? if I did, was it the right amount or double the amount?
And given that Cinnamon Twists aren't a super-quick food, I find myself unwilling to mix up a double batch in the hopes that they'll turn out. I'd rather waste a couple cups of flour and sugar than risk wasting the butter, milk, and other ingredients necessary for a full-blown double batch.
Update: I have something else to add. A year or two ago, I tried making a little batch of homemade chocolate milk mix (like Quik) using a recipe from the internet, and it was a pretty bad flop, mainly because it wouldn't dissolve. This morning I tried blending it up in the food processor and it still resisted dissolving. And then I tried blending it with milk in the food processor and only ended up with a weirdly-textured drink that looked like chocolate milk. My kids all tried it, and even though they usually will eat anything with sugar in it, they all gave it a huge thumbs-down.
So, that's getting tossed too.
I'm bummed about throwing this stuff out, but really excited about getting the cabinet space back. What took me so long??
________________________________________________
How did you do this week? If you blogged about your food waste, link us up by entering your info into the widget below. You'll save money, reduce your trash output, and get a little publicity for your blog! And if you don't blog, you can still share about your food waste by leaving a comment.
Today's 365 post: Zoe and the Hair-Buzzer
I did not know where to post this exactly but have you ever heard of Hanes rewards? The exact website is http://www.comfortrewards.com. I had to buy my daughter 2 pairs of sweat pants for school and caught a sale at Wal-mart. They were for $4 dollars a pair! Then I found some stickers that you remove and put the codes online. I recieved 25 points. It goes toward all kinds of clothing for the whole family. Maybe you were interested or others. I am not promoting anything I just came across it yesterday! I wonder what your impute is as well. So far, my points earn me a kids free t-shirt (or add the points and buy other things). And they do have sweepstakes and instant wins. I can't wait for your reply. 🙂
*Sorry not buy* other things but get for free.*
There is something to be said about organizing those cabinets!
I just went through my cupboards day before yesterday. I am still trying to decide what to do with all the stuff that I cleared out. It's in a box on the kitchen floor at the moment. It's not bad or spoiled, it's just stuff that's really not part of our diet anymore.
You can always donate to a food shelter or church. If they are unopened that is. 😉
Taking a pciture of wasted food is a great way to realize the waste you produce. My family has cut back waste to a point that if on trash day we empty anything out of the fridge into the trash we are a bit upset with our selves. Cut back, be more frugal and save money. Nice write up.
A few things gone out this week but all in all not too much. I dearly wish I had some outside space to put a composter or knew someone who lived in an area with a 'bio' waste collection service that I could visit every week while bringing along my compostables because when it comes down it, I have very little that waste that can't be composted and it drives me mad to have to send it to landfill.
I always enjoy finding for cupboard space!
I had a couple of tomatoes and a pepper go bad,so I chopped up the remaining tomatoes and pepeers and froze them. I am hoping to eventually acquire enough to make a large batch of salsa...
I hate it when my frugal experiments go awry! I made a hot cider mix last year thinking how fun it would be for the kids to enjoy after playing outside last winter. The first time we gave it a try every one spit it out. It was horrible, it tasted like a cross between hot jello and a sour patch kid. I ended up dumping the whole lot of it! I do love a cleaned out pantry, though. I think I need to do it more often, when I cleaned mine out a few weeks ago I found a tapioca pudding cup that had been shoved to the back of the shelf. It's expiration date 09/08. Nobody was up for eating that, either!:D
I was doing so well this week, even choking down some really blah leftover Tex-Mex. Then I realized I bought that half lb of mushrooms three weeks ago, not one.
I know what you mean, Tina. I had made a lot of bean soup and froze most of it a few months ago, but the texture changed slightly in the freezer. We dutifully ate almost all of it, but I just had to throw out the last meal's worth of soup because I couldn't deal with it anymore.
Overall I didn't waste much though. I am pretty happy with it.
Also, Kristen, it's nice to know that I'm not the only one that let's things sit around collecting dust in my pantry for a long time! just last month I found a box of brownie mix that was about to expire.... I didn't even know that stuff could expire, but I guess that's how long it's been since I started making my own brownies instead.
It doesn't really expire, but does start to taste a little off after a while. Trust me on this one.
I wasted 4 banana muffins that got hairy. And half a pan of what was supposed to be pumpkin coffee cake, but I forgot to put on the streusel prior to baking. And it was underbaked in the center. I choked down as much as I could but finally called it quits and just tossed the whole bit.