Food Waste Friday | Why did I buy the whole package??
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.
Recently I posted about how sometimes I buy produce in small quantities, which is more expensive per pound, but less expensive overall because I less prone to waste with small amounts.
For some reason, I decided to buy a large pack of mushrooms last week, and this was the result.
I'm not sure why these went bad so fast...I stored them in a paper bag in the fridge like I usually do, but I had to really scramble to use up as many as possible before they went south.
I did compost the mushrooms, of course, so at least they didn't go to the landfill!
Remember how last week I had to compost a hairy tomato? Just yesterday, a reader left this comment on that post:
"I think you're lucky you got to that tomato before the rest were affected - good work. "
Which is sort of funny, because apparently I didn't get the bad tomato out of the bunch in time. Shortly after last week's Food Waste Post, the other tomatoes started to sprout hair too, so I had to compost them.
I also have a few slices of roast beef lunch meat that have sat in the drawer a little too long for me to feel comfy eating them. Normally I throw leftover lunch meat into the freezer to use for panini sandwiches, but this package was hiding under some cheese and bacon, and I completely forgot about it.
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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.
Mushrooms are sooooooo ephemeral. More than once (sigh) I've had some die just like that, Kristen. I try to buy them by the ounce from a bin and can get only a handful if that is what I am needing for my husband and me.
Our food waste this week included some mac and cheese. I had some terriaki chicken which I just didn't feel like eating again...so I threw some more sauce over it, sliced it up, and heated it. Then, I sprinkled some leftover scallions over top...put toothpicks in the terriaki chicken bites...and the neighbors and I enjoyed it with a glass of wine!
I wasted cilantro for the first time in months.
I had to throw out a WHOLE CAKE! I tried a new recipe for "Tomato Soup Cake," just as an experiment, and it was so gross we couldn't possibly eat it. It was a frosted 9 inch 2 layer cake. I couldn't believe it when I was throwing it away.
Oh, I'd have done the same thing. There is at least a good point in eating vegetables or fruit that don't taste super great, but there is NO point in eating yucky desserts. lol
I had another zero-waste week - hurray! It seemed to happen pretty effortlessly this week. The fridge has filled up in the past couple days, so I'll have to be more vigilant this coming week.
Another week of no food waste at our home! I almost can't believe how genuinely happy that makes me when I get to post that.
Many thanks again for hosting Food Waste Friday!
Apparently I posted too soon. It has turned into an almost a no food waste week. Came home from some errands this morning and discovered that the ants had figured out a way to get into the bag of leftover marshmallows in the pantry (which had been twisted and taped shut, and wrapped with a rubber band for good measure), so into the trash they went.
What a great idea! My friend was talking about that last week, that I should post about how much money you throw away when you have to clean out the fridge.
Thanks for sharing!
🙂
I keep a bin in my freezer for aging veggies and shriveled mushrooms, as well as carrot ends and peels and onion skins and ends, and I also toss in bones after dinner (non-strongly-flavored ones; not the teriyaki sauced ones). When the bin is full, I put it in a big pot, cover everything with water, and make the most delicious--and free!--broth. When we bar-be-que a turkey, I keep those bones separate, because the broth from them is smoky-flavored and is perfect for either bean or potato soup.
I still waste a lot of food, but after having followed your blog for over a year, I'm starting to be concious of my waste, which I think is the first step to reducing it.
Does it count as "waste" if I feed it to the dog?
i did great this week! i need to make pesto w/ my cilantro today so it doesn't go to waste. i did that last time & it sat in the frige too long. this time i'm gonna freeze it for some pasta 😉
*fridge
I avoided food waste this week by making less food. I think I cut down too much because I didn't have anything to take as leftovers for my lunch the last two days. But I was determined to make it to Friday without food waste. My husband ate the last bit of cornbread dressing (stuffing) on his salad. He actually said it was pretty good.
we eat alot of leftovers but i'd be embarrassed to post what we throw away...
you do inspire me though - thank you!
We had another no waste week. We have had several injuries, as well as a cold going through our house, so our no waste weeks are mostly because I haven't been shopping and cooking as much. Less food = less waste. 🙂
We had a zero waste week, and I agree with Alea that part of the reason was that I wasn't shopping and cooking as much.
It's nice when we can save money along with wasting less. And I'm not sacrificing health because we get our CSA delivery every two weeks, so no matter what we're eating tons of fresh local produce.
I had some spinach that was about to be gone, so I roasted some tomatoes, added some garlic and italian seasoning and some pasta and ate up!
Very little waste for me but it seems I don't often have much in the way of food waste. I live alone so one of the steps involved in cleaning up after a meal is packaging most of it for the freezer to be eaten later. Like Michelle posted above, I also have a bin in the freezer for leftover/aging veggies that are used to make soup with whatever bones I have on hand. My freezer is packed to capacity but my fridge usually only contains milk, iced tea, condiments and whatever is slated to be eaten in the next day or so.
Hi! I love your blog.
Why not get a dehydrator, then you can buy mushrooms (and other stuff) when they're on special, dry them and use them later. Works a treat.
Joy (from Chelmsford, England)
If you're having trouble using the mushrooms but they haven't gotten slimey[1], you can slice, sautee and freeze. They'll still be great in sandwiches or on pizza.
[1] If the shrooms are drying out (as opposed to getting slimey), then they're not going bad.
Yes, if they're dry I use them anyways or freeze them. But these were definitely, definitely slimy. lol
We did well this week, not having any waste. Im nervous about future weeks though, because once our CSA starts arriving we have a hard time eating everything before it goes bad. Hopefully FWF will help me conquer this!