Food Waste Friday | There's a first time for everything!
Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. Why do I do this? Well, 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.
I wasted some beef jerky this week.
This is odd and kind of sad because my kids actually really love beef jerky and they'd have happily eaten it if I had remember it was in the cabinet.
But, I didn't remember it was in the cabinet because I let that particular cabinet get itself into quite an unruly state.
Mess in the cabinet = waste, just like mess in the fridge.
My fridge also got to be kind of a disorderly place this week, but it's now cleaned up and I know exactly what's in there. The lone victim of that mess was a small chunk of cucumber and I didn't manage to photograph that before it got whisked off to the compost bin.
Oh! I know of one other thing I wasted, and it's totally because my fridge got messy. I have about a cup of leftover grilled chicken that didn't get eaten, and I am not brave enough to try it at this point.
Fortunately, it wasn't the really good (and expensive) chicken. Although if it had been that sort, it might have been more likely to get eaten because the good and expensive chicken is also exceedingly tasty. 😉
________________________________________________
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: "But she got more than me, Mommy!"
Joshua's 365 post: Caroline
http://tasmanianminimalist.blogspot.com/2011/10/food-waste-friday.html
It was lovely, but I rather " overmade " it. 🙂
Sorry Kristen, the first link was last week's post :((((
"Disorder = waste". You're looking at living proof 🙂
Hey Kristen, did you see this today via NPR?
How That Food You Throw Out Is Linked To Global Warning
I just read this article and thought of Kristen!
I totally agree! My fridge is looking pretty spartan now though, so I'm hoping for no waste next week. My pantry is another story - it's likely that I'm ignoring a few things in there...
Timing or what - just finished my post and came over here to get the link to FWF, and it had just gone up! Superb! 🙂
I think losing all our stored food to pantry moths and hurricane Irene really helped us reduce waste. Plus, my BF is spending more time really looking to see what's in the fridge before he actually makes something to eat! It's a no waste week for me!
Yay! I love no waste weeks. 🙂
Oh, the scary cupboard. I think that my scary cupboards are multiplying at an alarming rate. A total clean-out is necessary.
Wow, I thought beef jerky lasted forever.
Apparently not! Mine molded.
Ewww....
No waste this week, and I had some pretty good saves by making a quiche and some tortilla soup. My freezer accumulated quite a collection of grilled chicken over the summer (I froze it when I was afraid we had too much to eat and I didn't want it to go bad) and these were perfect ways to finally use them up!
Lots of veggies that went bad due to vacation the previous week.
Hopefully will do better next week.
Just a bit of milk this week, and I used most of my milk in baking before I had to throw it out.
Two potatoes that were moldy, some beet greens given to us by a friend (love the beets, but the greens were bitter), last piece of a beef roast. I would certainly have fed this to the dog if I realized my husband wasn't going to finish it---but it slipped by me in the fridge until it was funky.
We just wasted a few things this week, much better than last week! I'm still looking for my first completely waste free week though. 🙂
Leftover breakfast sausages, beef broth, some stewed prunes. Better than last week though, and no fresh produce wasted! Thanks for the inspiration Kristin!
I wasted three organic peaches that went moldy without ever getting ripe. Aparently the organic ones from the store are no better than the regular store peaches. I also wasted two pieces of naan bread. I kept delaying the dinner they were to go with and when I finally cooked it I found that there was mold in between the pieces where I couldn't see it.
About 1/2 cup of cooked squash... We tried grilling it, and our little girls didn't devour it like they do when we steam it and mash it with butter and a bit of brown sugar. (Go figure!) We made a valiant effort, but after a second supper and a side for lunch, the rest of it had to go. Two grocery store peaches that went mealy because the season is basically over. Some cilantro... although we used it in two batches of salsa, stir fry, and a few omlettes... another good effort!
I'm still staring at about 2 cups of whipping cream that says it was best before September 25. It seems to be okay, but I'm just not certain. I just don't want to pour it down the drain if it's still usable.
It will be fine (the whipping cream) - go ahead and make yourself some waffles with whipped cream and either fresh fruit or hot sour cherries thickened with a bit of cornstarch... yum! Or anything else, of course.
Wasted some produce that was bad when I got it. But I also got an awesome college care package today too!
OOO The Hubs just wasted like 1/3 of the natural/free-range/ $$$ from the farmer's market chicken because it was "too hard" to eat, so he just didn't eat it. I plucked the meat off & fed it to the dog. At least she liked it. So maddening when good, expensive food is wasted!
I feel pretty good about my waste this week - and want to wish all the frugal girl's readers (and the Frugal Girl and family themselves!) a happy Canadian thanksgiving!
My pantry and fridge needs a good clean out. In fact, I really need to make a list of what is currently in my freezers so that I can start using that up. And I need help with meal planning...
This is one issue that I don't really have...I have a see thru fridge, so I can't keep it messy! I just got the fridge, and it looks awesome. I find myself buying colorful food just for the look of it!
My fridge is stuffed and messy and I'm afraid to look. I know I need to cook that ground chicken but there have been so many unexpected evening events this week. It may be in the freezer shortly.
That wasn't too bad: 3/4 of a bunch of basil was beyond use.
- The almost-gone cream went into Scallion-Cheddar Biscuits.
- The soon-to-be-questionable cooked chix and the perishible squash (also leftover ham stock) are going into a cassoulet-inspired veg-bean soup.
- The unexpected dozen of ungraded happy eggs brought by last-minute houseguests are going into two Chinese egg dishes (custard w/ veg, stir-fry w/ veg), which will also use up whatever veg I have too much of. If I don't have enough fresh veg, then it's time to clear out the pantry, which has too much "stash" and not enough "being used."
I almost included the rest of my menu plan, then instead I'm contemplating the close relationship between not wasting food and planning meals.
Bum deal. That can be expensive. I wasted nothing.
I haven't wasted but I did skim off the top of the yoghurt... lol
There's a recurring problem in my kitchen of kids that don't close the bread bag or tortilla chip bag after helping themselves. The food gets stale and ends up wasted.