I'm not sure what to call this post.
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.
Because this is kind of not so stellar:
Rice with a few shrimp, half an avocado, some cilantro, and a piece of leftover chicken.
I wanted to beat myself up about it, but you know what? I may not have used up all of my food, but I used up a whole lot more than I would have if I hadn't tried.
We had turkey on toast for dinner one night (I made some more gravy, since there wasn't enough left to feed all six of us.)
Joshua and I ate leftover turkey for lunch with cranberry sauce.
I made six loaves of potato bread.
(I used some of the bread to make croutons for last night's salad.)
I froze the last two cups of potato for more potato bread.
Despite these efforts, I still wanted to beat myself up, so I am reminding myself that this week, I homeschooled my kids, cooked dinners, washed laundry, bought and decorated a Christmas tree with Mr. FG and the kids, got out my Christmas decorations, and got some Christmas presents bought, among other things.
So, I'm going to give myself some grace instead of condemnation (which is what I need when all I can see are my failures. Grace, that is!), get rid of the wasted food, and start fresh this week.
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I'd call your post "Celebrating the saves, acknowledging the waste". You did great Kristen, a lot of effort was exerted in improving the potential-food-waste-situation. That's all we can do, try. And try again.
We've been eating a lot of Turkey leftovers like you Guys, this week. I had a practice run at slow-cooking my turkey breast boneless joint. No whole bird for us again this year - because although I will have the very best of intentions, I know the bones and leftover meat will not get boiled up into stock on Boxing Day. (must say never tried turkey on toast though - wondering if this translates to the UK definition of toast?)
My post today is titled "Short, Sweet & Inspirational". No waste for me, a giveaway winner and a tribute to an icon of our time.
The toast is just toasted slices of bread...so it's gravy with turkey in it, ladled over the toasted bread, and you eat it with a fork and knife. Not sure if that's the same!
Yup that's toast alright! 😉
My mom made way too much for thanksgiving so she sent me home with an army of leftovers. I made turkey croquettes with turnips instead of potato (I had turnip that was prepped but never cooked). I made a ham and cornbread casserole with leftover ham and leftover cornbread. I gave the ham bone to a friend of mine who likes pea soup. We ate the pies (obviously). Yesterday I found a ziplock bag with roasted veggies in it. They were gross and had to be tossed. If I had found them earlier Im sure I could have given them purpose.
You should also remember that you purchased and fed your family nourishing food. If you hadn't done that, you wouldn't have had any waste to report.
I had a can of pineapple that disappeared in the fridge until it was too late. However, there hasn't been much cooking going on here for a while because of house remodeling.
Be gentle with yourself. No family with 4 children is perfect in reducing waste. You do terrific in all aspects of frugal living. It's not unusual for life to get in the way. I live with a very non frugal young working adult. She purchases a lot of food on the run and doesn't always use the recycle container for her containers. And often I toss food out that is perfectly edible, but I am bored with it. I'm trying to do better with that.
Turkey and gravy on toast was a staple in my home growing up in the 50's. Thanks for the memory!
Kristen - Don't beat yourself up. You're only human. You had a lot more "wins" than "losses" in your efforts to not waste food. And at least it shows you are cooking wholesome, nutritious meals for your family!
I had to toss out 3 little jars of yogurt. (not the jars, just the yogurt) I haven't gotten on the Friday Food Waste program on a regular basis so these were there so long I'm not even going to tell you how long. :-0. I think you do a great job! With everything! Congratulations!
After 20 years of cooking for one (when I was single) and 20 years of cooking for two (since I've been married - no kids), I have learned a lot about not wasting food; I am proud to say I pretty much use everything up. However, the wasted fresh produce issue drove me nuts for years. I really like fresh produce, but I don't garden as much anymore and I HATE HATE HATE shopping. Well, now I stock up on the freshest produce I can find and I use Extra Life Preserver Disks by DGL products in my fridge. They are available 3 in a package for $12.99 plus shipping from Amazon - less if you have an Amazon Prime membership, then they are even more affordable. These things are the best invention since sliced bread. They work for months. No expensive bags that you can't reuse. No special containers. Your produce stays fresh AND tasty for a LONG time. In the long run, I save money because I am making fewer trips to buy produce and not throwing it out. I eat a lot more fresh fruits and veggies since I discovered them. When I do have to dispose of some not-so-fresh produce I of course put it in the compost bin, which alleviates my guilt a bit.
I ended up in the hospital unexpectedly on Thanksgiving Day, and came home the following Saturday A.M., so I'm giving myself LOTS of grace this week - as you should, Kristen! (I'm fine - more of a health scare than anything - and maybe the kick in the pants I've needed to work on stress management:-) I had to throw away two pears that had gone overboard while I was away, in addition to some leftovers in the frig that weren't eaten. There may be other stuff lurking in the frig that needs to be tossed - I'm still playing catch-up with everything! Leftover turkey will be made into pot pies - yum!
DH and I hosted 20 guests in our new home and we had two turkeys. I gave away leftovers until I ran out of containers. Afterwards, we had turkey enchiladas, turkey tacos and finally, turkey soup. I made a huge vat of soup in my canning pot, but had nothing to store the leftovers in. I cut off the top of a gallon milk jug, which worked great in a pinch. Once the soup's gone, it'll be bye, bye Thanksgiving leftovers.
Don't worry, the waste won't come back to haunt you - it will come back as compost to nourish your little garden next year! I <3 compost.
Excuses, Excuses, Excuses. ☺
Just kidding Kristen. We all have weak weeks, and The Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years Weeks are the Worst! Have a Happy Holiday Season. ☺
It is just my opinion, but I think we should acknowledge and learn from our mistakes, but forgive ourselves for them and then concentrate on our successes. By the way, your Potato Bread looks awesome. Thank you for sharing.
I made two meals from the direct Thanksgiving leftovers, brought the leftovers from that to work for lunch, made a big pan of turkey enchiladas, and then ate my mother's Chinese takeout leftovers as our dinner last night.
Tip: I took the dried out leftover rice and stir-fried it with some frozen peas and corn, three eggs and a couple splashes of soy sauce.
I also boiled the turkey carcass and put an enormous amount of turkey stock into my chest freezer. As well as buying cocoa so I could use up the leftover whipped cream.
So it was a good week for me.
And you do so much, Kristen. I'm happy you're cutting yourself some slack.
This is life. I'm always amazed how well you do, this still looks pretty decent to me - I'm still working on the whole food waste avoidance thing. Some weeks are better than others.
I'm attempting to make a spinach soup to burn through what we have left before it gets really slimy and gross. I'm not sure how it will turn out and hope I didn't just waste some chicken breasts, carrots and peas while I was at it.
Oh man, I hear you...sometimes if something seems super iffy, I opt to throw it out, just because I'm afraid trying to rescue it will cause me to waste other perfectly good ingredients.
Hope your soup is good!
I didn't have such a stellar week either, it happens. Good job on the potato bread, you must have had a LOT of potato left over 🙂
I did! I think it was 5-6 cups altogether.
My failures: 3 cups of mashed potatoes. That I SHOULD have made into potato bread, a cup of green bean casserole, 2 tablespoons of cranberry relish & an apple (that was forgotten with the Thanksgiving Feast)
My Successes: 3 bags of Frozen leftover turkey, 26(!!!) cups of homemade turkey/ vegetable broth prepared and frozen/ canned, 6 cups of redbeans made with leftover ham bone
Things that need to be eaten soon: leftover ham (only has a few days left), turkey gravy (to be served over biscuits), piece of bread pudding
I'm not beating myself up too bad because this week involved an early thanksgiving and a wisdom teeth extraction. I did what I could. Next week will be better...
very good on positive thinking. when I feel like this (throwing some things away) remember that some blessings come (running over) 🙂 That means even your cup of water, if it runs over...it is a waste...but a sweet blessing just the same!