Food Waste Friday | Thrifty Threads, a Banana, and a Hurricane
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.
Before I show you a yucky food picture, I wanted to tell you that Lisey is on Thrifty Threads today! Go check out her fancy Goodwill duds. 🙂
So, as most of you probably know, Hurricane Irene is barreling up the coast towards the Mid-Atlantic area. Last weekend we had an awful storm where our power went out and tons of trees fell down, midweek we had an earthquake, and now a hurricane is due to hit us in less than 48 hours.
Boo.
This weather is way too exciting for my taste.
Anyway, because I'm pretty darn sure our power is going to go out, I've been trying to prepare as best I can to minimize any food waste caused by the lack of power. So, I did a VERY thorough fridge clean out (like the kind where I even wipe off the shelves) in order to take inventory and figure out what needs to be eaten asap.
I'm pleased to report that we're doing pretty well at eating down the food in the fridge and I'm also pleased to say that the only food waste I have is this banana, which I found behind a produce drawer (the only way to see the banana was to actually take the drawer out).
Because I haven't the faintest clue how long that banana has been camping out there, I decided to send it out to the compost bin.
By the way, I have a game giveaway for you guys (not a video game...a game that doesn't require batteries and technology), and I plan to post that this afternoon, so stop back in later today.
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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.
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Today's 365 post: Two little chefs
Joshua's 365 post: R-2 Potatoo
P.S. Don't forget to enter my REI giveaway and read about my new rearview mirror!
A 52nd birthday party and not so hungry tummies, equalled a whole lot of waste x
Be safe!
A super thorough fridge clean out is very much needed at my house, too. Not because of Irene, fortunately, although a few days back we had a tornado warning (!).
No, it's because one hasn't been done in a very. long. time.
How pregnant am I? Yeah, that's how long. I don't think things are able to sneak behind drawers in my fridge (although, knowing my evil fridge, I'm sure they'd get assistance if they tried), but the shelves definitely need to be removed and washed and all that other fun stuff.
No food wasted this week for me (thankfully, after last week). Mr's hoping to get to Pennsylvania this weekend for a family funeral, though, so I'm not sure how single parenting and food waste avoidance will go down while he's gone...
More wasted cucumbers 🙁 they are my nemesis lately..
Here where we live, we are unsure what effects we will have from "Irene" (depending on which way the storm decides to go), but I've still been trying to prepare for any power outages. Last night there was pretty much dairy products and condiments left in the fridge so we are sitting pretty good that way. I'd rather be prepared and have nothing happen than to be caught off guard. We also went around our property and made sure that everything was as wind ready as possible, but I fear there is not much I can do for the garden..
We did awful this week. Who wastes a whole, cooked hamburger?
I think a thorough fridge cleaning of the actual fridge is needed here too!
Just some cilantro (again!), dill and half a lime. Still too much for my taste.
Prayers for you (and the millions of others) being affected by Irene. Stay safe! Between tornadoes, earthquakes, tsunamis and hurricanes I'm starting to wonder what is going on -- maybe the apocolypse? 😉
Happy Friday!
~LeeAnn
Stay safe....and evacuate if needed. I lived in New Orleans until Hurricane Katrina hit and know first and the devastation a severe storm can create.
Fortunately, I live near a river, not on the ocean, so we shouldn't get flooded here. Our neighbors said even during past bad hurricanes (Isabel, Floyd) that our street has not flooded.
We'll probably mostly have wind damage which will mean no power.
We also live in Irene's direct path. I am planning to buy a second propane tank for the grill today and some more bottled H2O. Hadn't thought about cleaning out the fridge --- a good idea.
Let's hope for less eventful weather this week.
OK, first of all, thanks for helping me realize that it is Friday! Wow. How did that happen?
As far as food waste goes, I should know what is in there wasting away, but I am "officially" overdue on the fridge clean-out. So smart to do it in getting ready for the hurricane. Maybe I'll get to it today. 🙂
Half of my fridge got a thorough clean out this week, but because a thawing chicken decided to juice all over!! (EW) That'll teach me to put thawing farmer's market chickens in a bowl! In any case, I think the Food Waste karma fairy will forgive one banana, I had a "helper" this morning that made my food waste a lot worse...
Two half hot dog buns--I ate the un-moldy parts for breakfast! Hooray for ingenuity!
We're going out of town this weekend, so if we lose power at any point, I fear a fridgeful of waste, but I'm not going to let that put a damper on my vacation! Maybe there's enough cold stuff in there that if we're not opening the door over and over it will stay cold, right? That's how science works, right?
eep! that banana looks like one i threw out recently. now i don't feel as bad. 😉
be safe in the hurricane!
Apparently we leave yucky food in the fridge for weeks, until we realize we have a lot and then have to *plan* (yes, PLAN) to dump it all in one trash can, take the trash out immediately, and run the dishwasher immediately to clean the containers.
So:
- millet tabbouleh
- weird bean/sprout/cucumber thing? didn't like this one
- bad chunks of avocados
- who knows what else got chucked
Have fun! My in-laws/siblings/rest of family are all in the path. I, being the smart one, live in Chicago. We *just* get tornadoes. Oh, and snow, lots of that. 😉
Hi Kristen! We are also on the east coast (Boston.) Although the storm will definitely be weaker when it arrives here, we are still preparing for a power outage. One frugal question for you - how to you avoid crazy panic emergency spending? In other words, what do we *really* need in an emergency? Batteries, candles, bottled water (for shame!!), canned food? As always, you have very practical advice about keeping your head in situations like this. Any advice is appreciated.
Well, I have city water, so we still have water in an outage. So, we bought a pack of D batteries from Costco (for flashlights and our lantern), a bunch of candles from Goodwill, and I bought some shelf-stable food and I'm going to make some too (bread, granola bars, granola, etc).
I also ordered a propane tank so that we can keep grilling (burgers, grilled pizza, etc).
I hope you don't get hit too hard!!!
thanks... and great info! I was thinking about baking a bunch of stuff. one thought... can you grill in hurricane force winds and rain? 😛 Hopefully your power won't go out!
As I type this, the power company is removing a dead tree in front of our house. That makes me happy!
Coming late to the game...
In my household we avoid panic spending by - what else? - planning ahead. We thought about what we'd need to shelter in place:
- water (at least 1/2 gal per person per day)
- hand sanitizer, soap
- food that doesn't need electricity but that does need to be cooked (beans (in the pressure cooker), rice, flour, noodles, etc)
- food that doesn't need to be cooked (canned/dried meat, canned/dried fruit, canned veggies, etc)
- light source (candles, flashlight) (know where they are!)
- heat source (fireplace, grill, electric burner, gas stove)
- news source (hand-cranked radio/signaler/flashlight/etc)
- power source (batteries, generator, wood, gasoline)
- communications (we have landline phone, and one non-cordless phone for it - did you know that cordless phones need electricity to work but corded phones get their supply from the phone line?)
- medkit
Most of this we have on hand anyway, and now make it our business to have the rest as well. This means being sure to have a 2 week supply of canned meat & produce, mostly.
Stay safe....in my thoughts.
Stay safe and God bless...
On another note, that has got to be the blackest banana I have ever seen!
I found out this morning that my last english muffin was moldy. Unfortunately I had been planning on eating it for breakfast. I also found some really rotten tomato and jalapeno slices in the fridge that had obviously been in there for a long time.
Jenessa,
Do you keep your english muffins in the fridge? Mine last a really long time in there and never go bad before we eat them.
Zero waste! Hooray! And I salvaged a bunch of stuff to make a rather delicious salad. Double-hooray!
Stay safe! We are set to be hit with the beginning of some rain today and are already in a state of emergency and we're about an hour and a half from the coast.
The last serving of chicken salad. I ate it and ate it and ate it, and then I oculdn't eat it anymore. And part of a bunch of basil that got put in the too-cold part of the fridge and turned black.
We had success this week - in our world anyway! One wasted item vs a tonne !:) So we're on the right track!
Praying for you guys in the path of the hurricane, that you stay safe! Good idea, with the grilling. I wouldn't have thought about that.
We just had some leftover okra curry that went bad this week, other than that, nothing! I used up the almost bad limes and cucumber that needed to be eaten by squeezing the limes and slicing the cucumber into some water in a pitcher with ice- cucumber lime water is really good, and refreshing! I'm definitely doing that again.
We are preparing for the hurricane also here in Connecticut after the earthquake jolted us a bit. Everyone is in a sour mood here (guess they aren't reading my blog) and the stores are out of everything. Hubby and I have trivial pursuit and a number of other board games ready just in case the power goes out. I've also got a stack of books I've been waiting to read. It is good to see that people are taking it seriously though.
Hope you guys ride it out okay. I'll be thinking of you when the winds are blowing up here.
On the other side of the Atlantic, but we've been following the hurricane even here.
Thinking of you all on the east coast- hope the damage isn't too bad.
I was too late to save some leftover roast chicken and half a cantaloupe. Stay safe with the hurricane! Praying for you all!
That is definitely the banana they sang about in the Grinch song.."You're like a bad banana with a greasy black peel.."
We'll be praying for a safe weekend for your family. I've got family up near the Jersey shore, and I know they're nervous about what's coming their way!
I lived in New Orleans for two years and vividly remember the worry over hurricanes. It can be so scary. I moved just a few years before Katrina. You will be in my thoughts and prayers and hopefully it will be a safe weekend for your family.
<3 goodwill threads!
Lovely Lisey!