Spinach in my eggs, spinach in my smoothie...
 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. |
So. I bought this bag of spinach, with great intentions of using it, and it sat in my fridge for a week.
For some reason, at that point I decided to get serious about using it up (a few leaves were starting to get funky!), and so for the past few days, I've been eating spinach like it's going out of style. I added it to my scrambled eggs twice, added it to a salad, and made two green smoothies.
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I'm happy to report that I finished the whole bag off just yesterday, except for a few yucky leaves.
Suh-weet.
I am always delighted when I manage to use up all of my green leafy vegetables, partially because they're so nutritious but also because they are so perishable...it's a triumph to not waste them.
Especially when you waited a whole week to start trying. Which is not such a triumphant thing.
Ahem.
I don't have anything to throw away from my fridge currently, but last week, I had to get rid of half a bratwurst and about a cup of rice.
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Joshua's 365 post: Zoe wanted me to take a picture of this.
I haven't had any spinach for a while and I've been wanting some. I hope I can eat the whole bag before it goes bad like you did when I get it. I had a lot of food waste this week. We had a couple of salads that no one liked that we didn't finish. We now know some recipes that we won't be trying in the future.
No waste for me this week - yay!
There's been a bit of a debate this week about food-stockpiling, which I have found really interesting. So much so I have continued the debate on my No Waste Tastes Great post today.
I truly believe that some of my no-waste weeks are due to the lack of food I have in my kitchen. This lack of supplies won't work for everyone and I totally (totally!) appreciate that - but it does for me. As with much of life we make decisions on our personal experiences - I've been incredibly fortunate to never be in a situation where food was in short supply inside or outside of the home. Here's hoping I never have to eat (or not eat?) my words!
ps love the new linky!
Hi Kristen,
I try to eat spinach every day. Love it! But sometimes I'm a slacker and it sits too long. I've found that spinach freezes really well it you just want to use it in smoothies.
You just reminded me...off to freeze what I have left!
Patti
now im hungry for spinach but its so darn expensive 🙂 sounds like you are doing good, i hate wasting food- we did good this week at eating leftovers and that was less for me to cook- so i was happy...i will have to throw out some leftover chicken spagetti and some leftover crawfish etoufee- i should have put it in the freezer instead- UGH
Spinach is expensive, but I prefer to think about it in terms of the nutrient-bang for my buck. Iceberg lettuce is cheaper (for salads), but not in terms of nutrient content.
I like your calculus, Liz.
Tess, spinach is relatively easy to grow on a windowsill.
Really?
This opens up a whole new avenue of possibility (although I did manage to kill a tomato plant-in-a-pot recently).
I'll have to check in to growing my own spinach.
I actually wasted spinach this week 🙁 I bought a whole lot of organic spinach at the health food store, since it usually lasts longer than the supermarket spinach. Unfortunately this lot didn't, and I didn't realise in time to freeze it.
I love spinach with scrambled eggs 🙂
That is EXACTLY what happens in our house when I buy spinach. I use a tiny bit for a recipe, then it sits for several days. When I realize that it needs eaten, we eat a LOT of scrambled cheesy spinach eggs, and a LOT of green smoothies! I think I need to buy some spinach this week, because both of those sound yummy right now!
One way to use up a lot of spinach is to make Creamless of Greens Soup. This is more of a method than a recipe so modify away.
1. Saute onion, garlic, and optional 1-3 t. tomato paste in olive oil.
2. Add spinach and a little water, cover, let steam till the spinach is cooked.
3. Uncover, add chicken stock or water or other tasty liquid, simmer till spinach is mushy.
4. Puree, in blender/food processor/stick blender.
5. Return to pot, season to taste. This could include salt, pepper, garlic, red pepper flakes, tabasco, vinegar, thyme, oregano, majoram, basil; you get the idea.
I make a similar recipe to WilliamB with kale. What a great week you had Kristen. Last week I ended up throwin out kale that had gone slimy and find soup is definitely one of the best ways to get through it. I've not tried it raw in a smoothie - not to sure about that one although I'm sure my body would love me for it!
I rescued some strawberries this week from the reduced section but then half went off overnight! *sigh*
Good waste this week: one red bell pepper and 1/3 pint of salsa from the farmers market :(. The husband threw out the pepper that was on its way out. I had planned on cutting it up and freezing it because it still had a LITTLE life in it, but he went rogue on a cleaning spree and it was all over. We tried our damnedest to use the salsa, but it just wants happening. I even instituted an unheard of (in this house) taco night just for the salsa and some still remained.
Food triumphs- finished all of the peaches this time. Yay!!! And all of barbecue night leftovers. Double yay!!!
We are doing the pantry challenge at goodcheapeats.com this month, that is leading to very little food waste. Also we started a leftover soup container in the freezer so that's helping as well. We love what I call "Thursday soup"
First time visitor, found you via Bloglovin' - what a great idea Food Waste Friday is! Don't know if I'm game to join in but it will certainly get me thinking!
This is my first time participating, but I love this idea. I moved 10 day ago and I am happy to say that I have no food waste this week.
I was wondering what type of blender you use.
FYI I just saw a recipe in a magazine for turkey burgers with spinach in them that I'm so looking to try next time we have burgers. Worth a shot if you're looking for a new way to use spinach.
Waste? Ugh. This was a wasteful week. We discovered weevils. They should be called EVILS. Lots of food out the door. Gross little boogers.
We never have a problem because we 1) make glorious vegetable stock, 2) feed our chickens, and 3) make compost! We never have ENOUGH cast offs! HAHAHA!
really good post. found this through the swagbucks blog. glad i landed here!
One good way to cut down on waste is to store the spinach properly, I can usually get my spinach to last twice or sometimes three times as long as the original packaging when I use the container here: http://lamp-post.org/extending-the-life-of-produce-no-more-slimy-spinach/