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.
We’ve had a number of weeks without Food Waste Friday, what with all the holidays that happen at this time of year, but I’m ready to jump back in. Are you?
If you’ve vowed to save more money or create less trash this year, you should join us! Food waste is expensive and it clogs up the landfills, where it sits and produces methane. And that isn’t terribly delightful.
If you’re tired of throwing away slimy cucumbers and squishy oranges and hairy leftovers, make this the year you finally do something about it.
Check out my top ten ways to reduce food waste, implement them, and come talk to us about your waste every Friday. Public accountability did wonders for me, and heaven knows I was a food-wasting disaster before.
Let’s see…what have I got to share on the topic today?
I found some wrinkly grapes in my fridge, so I picked out the really horrible ones (they went into the compost bin) and popped the rest into the freezer for throwing into smoothies.
Frozen grapes are pretty good plain too, so if you ever find yourself with too many, the freezer is your friend.
One evening this week, I realized my fridge was getting kinda out of control. I was shoving things in wherever I could make them fit, and I know from past experience that this is a recipe for food waste.
So, I organized it and felt much better.
The after is on the right, and though it might not look greatly improved, it really is way more organized. Plus, the act of sorting through what was in the fridge helped me to remember what I had, which is important because knowing what food you have is a key part of preventing waste.
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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.
Those of you who participate in Food Waste Friday can now grab a fancy-schmancy button to perk up your posts. If you copy and paste the following code into your Food Waste Friday post, this little graphic will appear.
If you blog on WordPress, just make sure you’re in html mode when you copy and paste the code, or it won’t work properly.
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Joshua’s 365 post: Oh, yes!
Jayme
Thursday 10th of January 2013
I just found your blog and saw that I had some loaner grapes in the back, hiding out. I picked out the bad ones, rinsed the rest and into the freezer they went! A nice simple tip for the day! Thanks and keep up the sharing!
Stephanie
Monday 7th of January 2013
OK, I've been thinking about participating w/ Food Waste Fridays for a while now. Last month, I ended up tossing two very nice pieces of meat and that was really TOO wasteful for me. I figure the new year is a good time to start a new habit. So today, everybody's back to school/work and I'm cleaning out the fridge to start w/ a clean slate. I don't have a blog, so I'll post my weekly results on my Facebook page.
Marianne
Saturday 5th of January 2013
I threw away some leftovers from Christmas dinner, we had too much food. If I would have thought ahead I would have froze it for a quick night dinner. I normally take leftovers for lunch everyday so I think had I been working I would have used most of it up. We had to get a counter depth fridge when our (2 year old) fridge died and we could not find one to fit in the space..long story anyway I hardly ever throw anything out anymore because it is soooo easy to see what is in there. With my old fridge once it was pushed to the back it was history. This time I knew the leftovers were there I just did not use them up.
Liz Botts
Saturday 5th of January 2013
I love the inspiration I get from looking at how well (or not) everyone does each week. It cheers me along as I try to waste less.
Megan Z.
Saturday 5th of January 2013
I was digging through the pantry and found a can of pumpkin puree and a can of tropical fruit that had expired. I never use either of those things, so I can't quite figure out why I purchased them. I also threw away a little stuffing from dinner a few weeks ago. Blegh.
The hardest part for me is not having food waste when I'm only cooking for two people. My husband and I don't have children yet, so we always have leftovers when preparing meals. Luckily, we love to eat leftovers for lunch (this week I made a huge pot of pintos and a pan of cornbread, and we have been eating on it for days).
I'm learning to incorporate leftovers into new recipes, too. This week, I made extra pork chops, but instead of just eating the leftovers as they were, I made up a pork fried rice recipe. It was one of my husband's all-time favorite meals I have made, and I totally made it up on the spot because I needed to get creative. I was very proud of myself, and I hope I have more moments of inspiration throughout the year.