Food Waste @ Home

[Toliver]

17 hours ago, Shelby said:

...Oh and also mushrooms. 

I've got three words for you:

@HungryChris's marinated mushrooms. 

[HungryChris]

Food waste is something I struggle with too and I know it is compounded by the fact that I love cooking. Even though I have leftover stuffed shells and chicken in red curry, I may wake up with the urge to make chili. It is compounded by the fact that I learned to cook at my mothers side, preparing meals for a family of nine, so the portions were off the scale. There are just two of us and It is a constant struggle to do the right thing. Having leftovers when I want to cook something new is just part of it all and dinner tonight is leftover stuffed shells.

HC

[kayb]

I, too, am one of the worst offenders in this regard. Often it's a case of my ambition exceeding my ability in terms of time and initiative; the squash I was CERTAIN I would cook a day or so after buying it is wilting in the fridge a week later. I cook for only two of us, but in truth, it's more usually just one, as Child A generally eats a big lunch at work and then is not particularly interested in dinner, nor do her tastes run along the adventurous lines that mine do.

 

I'm ashamed, every time I clean out the fridge or throw away some baked good that's gotten stale or molded on the counter, of how much food I waste.

 

[Anna N]

1 hour ago, HungryChris said:

Having leftovers when I want to cook something new is just part of it all and dinner tonight is leftover stuffed shells.

Never a truer word was spoken!   It is very hard to have the will power to finish off the leftovers when you desperately want to try new recipe.  

 

Edited to add

 

My solution usually is to throw the leftovers into the freezer where they can hang about until I finally throw them out. There seems to be less guilt involved when there’s a period of time between the decision and the action. 

 

 

Edited November 14, 2018 by Anna N (log)

[Anna N]

23 minutes ago, kayb said:

I'm ashamed, every time I clean out the fridge or throw away some baked good that's gotten stale or molded on the counter, of how much food I waste.

 We are obviously desperately in need of either an intervention or a support group.  Or perhaps both. 

[lemniscate]

It has been a hard lesson to learn recently.  All the new gadgets like Instant Pots and Sous Vide circulators are enablers for me and I get carried away trying different ways to prepare meals.   

[Kim Shook]

20 hours ago, Shelby said:

Oh ditto for me--there are only two of us, but same.  I throw away more shredded cabbage cole slaw mix than you would believe.  Same for limes.  Oh and also mushrooms. 

 

Sigh.

I throw away mushrooms as soon as I notice them.  😁

 

Seriously, I have always been a bad one to waste food.  I don't care for leftovers and am really bad at re-purposing them.  Luckily, Mr. Kim was raised right and determinedly plows through all the leftovers that are in the fridge.  He packs his own lunch and has been known to munch on a snack consisting of slaw, green beans and raw cauliflower (his poor co-workers).  I have gotten better at cooking less food, though.  I was famous for cooking for a crowd when it was only the 3 of us.  It finally occurs to me to cut a recipe in half.  

[ElsieD]

For lunch I make only what we will eat.  Dinner recipes I scale to feed two people and if there happens to be leftovers John has them for lunch the next day.  What I am bad at is buying too much and not eating it all up.  Stuff like fresh vegetables or packaged goods with expiry dates.

[Darienne]

Now, I am no saint, but rarely throw out anything.  All vegetables which are wilted get roasted and frozen for soups.  And as for throwing out limes...Kim Shook... not if you live in Ontario and have to pay Ontario prices.  Zest them and juice them.  

[BeeZee]

I usually have around 6 yogurts in the fridge at any time and I will eat them based on expiration date. Since DH will only take what is on the front edge of the shelf. And his yogurt consumption ebbs and flows.

[IowaDee]

The wild critters that come in the night around here eat well. None are fussy eaters and about anything I heave out the door is gone by morning.

I never throw anything out that might harm the neighbor's roving dog but most stuff is fair game....first come, first served.  Years ago we had

a mama goat and her twin kids.  Now that was like having three garbage disposers on the hoof plus they were just plain fun to be around.

I have a semi-system of arranging stuff in the fridge so it won't get overlooked.  Someone else just returns things to the first empty space he

sees.  The librarian in me wants my food to be organized.  Spices in ABC order, condiments together, dairy here, jams and jellies there and make

sure you "reshelve" them correctly, just like books.  I need a Dewey Decimal System for food.  Whoa, did I get off track or what?  Sorry!  But, yes I over buy and justify it by the fact that the  nearest decent market is 26 miles away and we might get snowed in just anytime.....(even in July)

 

[chromedome]

42 minutes ago, IowaDee said:

The librarian in me wants my food to be organized.  Spices in ABC order, condiments together, dairy here, jams and jellies there and make

sure you "reshelve" them correctly, just like books.

 

Several years ago I watched a movie called "The Accidental Tourist," starring William Hurt as an uptight travel writer and Geena Davis as the dog grooming free spirit he becomes involved with.

In one scene she's helping his siblings, played by Kathleen Turner and David Ogden Stiers, unpack the groceries. They are shelving the groceries in...(wait for it)...alphabetical order. Geena Davis holds up a box of macaroni and asks innocently "Does this go under P for Pasta, or M for Macaroni?"

They give her the side-eye for just long enough to be truly, miserably uncomfortable before Kathleen Turner growls, as if talking to a small child, "'E'...for Elbow macaroni."

[Kim Shook]

1 hour ago, Darienne said:

Now, I am no saint, but rarely throw out anything.  All vegetables which are wilted get roasted and frozen for soups.  And as for throwing out limes...Kim Shook... not if you live in Ontario and have to pay Ontario prices.  Zest them and juice them.  

Not ME!  I wasn't the one with the old lime!  Though, sometimes they get to the bottom of the fruit bowls and turn into dried limes.  Those get chiseled open and put into the air freshener pot with some cinnamon and cloves.

[Darienne]

1 hour ago, Kim Shook said:

Not ME!  I wasn't the one with the old lime!  Though, sometimes they get to the bottom of the fruit bowls and turn into dried limes.  Those get chiseled open and put into the air freshener pot with some cinnamon and cloves.

My sincerest apologies, dear Kim.  Indeed, it was Shelby...

[gfweb]

4 hours ago, Anna N said:

 We are obviously desperately in need of either an intervention or a support group.  Or perhaps both. 

you need a dog

guilt-free old food disposal

Hey, Henry...look what I have for you!

Edited November 15, 2018 by gfweb (log)

[kayb]

20 minutes ago, gfweb said:

you need a dog

guilt-free old food disposal

Hey, Henry...look what I have for you!

 

Damndog has had pancreatitis. Can't feed her people food.

[Anna N]

10 hours ago, gfweb said:

you need a dog

guilt-free old food disposal

Hey, Henry...look what I have for you!

 

 Love dogs. As soon as they breed one that can take itself for a walk and do it’s own poop and scoop I’ll be right on it.  In the meantime I’m just grateful that most days I can take care of those things for myself at least.😂😂

[Arey]

20 hours ago, Anna N said:

My solution usually is to throw the leftovers into the freezer where they can hang about until I finally throw them out. There seems to be less guilt involved when there’s a period of time between the decision and the action. 

 

  

 

Very true.   I've had things in my fridge that I know I'm going to throw out but don't yet throw out because it's too soon. Eventually it will be time to throw it out and then I will.  The same rule applies to some things in my freezer. What really annoys me is when there is something I have every intention of using, but by the time I get around to it they're reached the time for me to throw them out.

[Katie Meadow]

Generally I am pretty good at using stuff up while it is still usable; sometimes misc items come together for a hodge podgy meal that satisfies in virtuous ways. That's why god created eggs and celery. Other times there are simply those inevitable purchases that seemed promising a week ago, but now just make me depressed, or worse, nauseated. To add insult to injury, unless I know my husband is totally unaware of said reject, I know I must wait until it is beyond the pale before tossing it in the garbage, at which point he really can't object, because it's not identifiable and close inspection is not worth the result. All rescue efforts therefore are mine, and statistics are in my favor because he rarely even looks in the fridge. The freezer is another level of anxiety entirely.

[MelissaH]

I've been working on this. So today, I dug down to the bottom bin of our freezer to rescue the beets I'd cooked and frozen when we hadn't gotten to eating them in a reasonable amount of time, and am making them into a quick pickle. And the apples from the fridge that were teetering on the edge of usability have become applesauce, which is currently simmering to reduce and thicken a little bit.

 

I'm hoping these will both go nicely with the Montreal smoked meat (also from the freezer) and half-sour pickles for dinner. The only things I had to buy fresh to make tonight's dinner were the rye bread and cherry soda. I'm hoping there will be enough of the bread and meat left over to make a bang-up omelette tomorrow morning with toast.

[heidih]

A short interview discussing the new James Beard Foundtion cookbook "waste not"  https://awaytogarden.com/waste-not-a-full-use-cookbook-from-james-beard-foundation-with-tiffany-derry/

[dcarch]

Leftover various odds and ends meats from the freezer:

 

Leftover tamales

 

 

dcarch    

 

 

Edited November 17, 2018 by dcarch (log)

[heidih]

52 minutes ago, dcarch said:

Leftover various odds and ends meats from the freezer:

Leftover tamales

 

 

dcarch    

 

 

 

 

 

What is the dark wrapper on the tamales? Looks darker than banana leaf.

[dcarch]

7 minutes ago, heidih said:

 

 

What is the dark wrapper on the tamales? Looks darker than banana leaf.

 

Nori (sushi seaweed).

 

dcarch

[heidih]

30 minutes ago, dcarch said:

 

Nori (sushi seaweed).

 

dcarch

 

That is what it looks like (nori) I thought maybe I was missing the cue on a traditional Latin wrapper  

Edited November 17, 2018 by heidih (log)