FWF | Painting Week Edition
 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.
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So. I have been busy painting cabinets, at least most days this week (when it's not raining!), which means that some other things around my house have been falling apart.
And that means that I've had some food waste casualties. In the two weeks since I last hosted a Food Waste Friday, I had to get rid of a sausage, a few slices of ham, a teeny bit of tuna salad, and two bad mangoes. However, the mangoes were kind of not my fault...when I got them home from the store, it turned out that they were the bad kind of soft, not the ripe kind of soft.
Oops.
I have saved some things, though. The last of my organic spinach from Aldi went into a smoothie.
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I made a batch of banana chocolate chip muffins to salvage some funky bananas.
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And when I found this pear in my fruit drawer, I was going to toss it into the compost bin.
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But I discovered that hiding underneath the ugly outside was some surprisingly firm and delicious pear. So, I ate it, and only had to compost the stuff I peeled off of the outside. Yay!
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Hopefully by the time next Food Waste Friday rolls around, cabinet painting will be a distant memory, and I'll be more on top of things around my house.
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Joshua's 365 post: Supermassive Black Hole
I had no waste this week, but I have been working hard to stay ahead of the tomatoes that are ripening.
Who would have guessed that a pear that looked like that would have good flesh inside. Another example of "You can't judge a book by its cover."
Too bad about the mangoes, but you can actually cut off the soft bits and freeze them. They make a great frozen snack - I usually buy trays of 20 mangoes for $10-15 in summer and freeze them.
I wasted half a zucchini this week - my fridge froze it and then it went all soggy before I had a chance to eat it.
Good save on the pear! Pears can be sneaky that way. It's normally the ones with bits of brown on the skin that are nice and sweet inside.
It wasn't a good week here in suburbia on the food waste front - a full head of broccoli bought at the farmer's market ended up in the compost bin!
Some super saves there Kristen!
I love the muffins.
Had a baking disaster yesterday. I've recently become addicted to "The Millionaire Matchmaker" and got a little distracted. Oh the perils of having a TV in the kitchen! Great for company whilst pottering in the day, but not a good idea to get too engrossed. Totally forgot I'd turned the timer off and baked the top tier of a birthday cake way too long. Hence it got stuck in my pan and collapsed. However as we all know most things can be saved. Warmed with a little custard the disaster becomes dessert!
I had a good two weeks with my waste. I had a dinner party on Monday and managed to get through most of the leftovers. My only food waste is 1 1/2 servings of black rice pudding. It is definitely a recipe that I will not make again.
What a shame about the mangoes. I've had that with avocados in the past and it's so frustrating. I love the story of the pear however - a great reminder in nit judging a book by it's cover 😉
My husband and I haven't gone shopping in 2 weeks. I was on vacation for the first week, and this week we haven't had time. So we've been trying to use what is in our pantry, fridge and freezer since.
Tonight we'll be able to make food...but that's it. We literally have nothing else to contribute and will have to go shopping. My freezer looks very spacious 😉
When I was going through the freezer, I found some pears that had fallen way in the back. They had huge holes in them....not sure how that happened, but they sadly had to get pitched (3 of them!). And then I found a very freezer burnt and smashed pack of 2 boca burgers. Those got pitched as well. Otherwise...no waste for me!
Kristin,
I make a lot of smoothies and have been wanting to incorporate (sneak) some greens like spinach in for my kids. Can you tell me what all you put in the smoothie you mentioned in this post to which you added the spinach? Thanks!
Sure-I combined spinach with some orange juice and blended that up, and then I added yogurt, raspberries, and blueberries. I don't really measure anything...I just sorta throw stuff in!
Oh! I forgot to add that blueberries or blackberries disguise the green color really well. Strawberries alone make it turn brown.
Wow, kudos to you for eating that pear! I never even would have tried to see what was below the surface there.
Great save on the pear. I wouldn't have thought there was anything salvageable on it and thrown it out. I'm excited to see how your cabinets turn out.
Me too! I can't wait to hang up the cabinet doors.
Not to bad this week - one cucumber. I could have peeled it and cut away the outside 1/2" was was a bit icky, but I didn't think it'd be worth the effort. And I was very busy - I served dinner for 7 tonight, welcoming the new neighbors.
In other news I organized the deep freezer and rewrote the freezer list. Both had gotten quite chaotic in the past 2 months. While I dread that chore I am very happy to have it done. And I turned 25 lbs of pork bones into stock, using the accumulated onion skins and celery trimmings in lieu of whole onions and celery.
No great saves. But I will say that spoonbread souffle tastes fantastic when topped with braised/broiled onions + mushrooms.
I am SO impressed by you having 25 lb. of pork bones. That stock must be amazing!
Most of the bones came with my last bulk pork order (half a pastured pig, aka happy pork); I think the butcher added extras. The rest were bones from past pigs. Making the stock took days just because there was so much of it but definitely worth it: now I have 3 quarts of highly concentrated pork stock in the freezer for later.
If you live near a butcher or are willing to travel, I bet you could get dem bones for yourself.
The amount of protein I have just tossed is maddening. I have not had a great week food wise but throwing away expensive chicken and salmon is cry worthy.