Every week, I post a picture of the food that has gone bad over the last seven days. I started doing this in March of 2008 to help motivate myself to use up my food instead of wasting it and it’s been very effective. Since it helped me so much, I invited other bloggers to join me in posting their food waste photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
Sooo, this week I learned that those big bargain cans of beans are only appropriate for households where more than two people eat them. Ahem. It’s small cans from now on here at Chez Frugal Girl (I know I could cook them myself, but I’m not inspired enough to soak and cook a small amount of beans, and canned beans are still really cheap!).
The red thing on top is the last bit of a red pepper that went bad before I finished it. I should have frozen it, but I was totally going to, you know, add it to my salad (good intentions and all that!).
________________________________________________________
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!
Cheryl
Monday 22nd of February 2010
Obviously, I haven't warmed up my typing skills this morning... I meant to say the leftovers just DON'T get looked at again. Sorry.
Cheryl
Monday 22nd of February 2010
I need help. Just saw the story on CBN about your frugal blog, and Food Waste Friday really spoke to me. Let me just say that I'm glad I'm not the only one. I feel so guilty about throwing food (a.k.a., hard-earned money) into the garbage and down the drain. I have made some small baby steps toward correcting my kitchen irresponsibilities, such as letting the dog eat left over meat that wouldn't hurt her a bit; not cooking so much food to begin with; buying in smaller portions or freezing the larger quantities ahead of time. My biggest problem has, and remains to be, lack of imagination. I made something great for dinner, but have no clue what to do with the left overs or the remaining ingredients. We don't like left overs very much (unless it's roast, pizza, spaghetti, ham, or turkey). Anything "interesting and new" on day one, just get looked at again. And, with a narrow side-by-side refrigerator, it's very easy to push everything to the back and forget about it. And, that is the other part of my problem: I do not seem to organize the refrigerator in a way that encourages finding contents easily. I think refrigerators should be 12" deep and 5 feet long!!! Nothing would get lost in there then. Anyway, thanks for the interesting blog; I'm going to keep reading and hopefully find some inspiration to improve my lifestyle, budget, and kitchen skills.
Rebecca
Monday 22nd of February 2010
Hello, just found you and I am encouraged by doing many of the things you do. I will follow you and see how maybe I can improve on the things I do and get even better. God bless you. My 'waste' is not that exactly. Some is fed to our pets, the rest is composted and thus used in our gardens. So it is not exactly wasted. It is kept to a minimum and I am sure we could do even better if we paid more attention. Thank you for sharing so freely and I hope you are blessed along with all your readers.
Mrs Green
Friday 19th of February 2010
No food waste here either; thankfully. I do have some rice that must be used tomorrow or else. And I found a lonely sausage that I had left in the oven overnight instead of refrigerating, but I made it into a casserole, added plenty of immune boosting garlic and thyme and I'm pleased to report hubby is still alive ;) That's the beauty of buying fresh from the butcher rather than from a supermarket I suppose.
Reese
Friday 19th of February 2010
Oh! It's friday already!? Without this post, Kristen, I would have forgotten :D (It's been a really busy day. I haven't had time to think of days of the week!).
I've got veggies that went bad from a party---though, in my defense, someone pawned them off on me. I was forced to take the celery home and I don't much like celery (unless it's slathered in pb, and that defeats the purpose!). Also have two pieces of turkey lunchmeat, and a couple small jalapeno peppers. *sigh*
Oh friday... next week you better play nice!