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.
Kindly overlook the spatters. 😉 We have more embarrassing stuff to focus on than that!
From left to right, we have some moldy grapes (forgotten in a drawer) a bit of fruit salad (should have thrown that into a smoothie), half a cucumber that got frozen in the back of the fridge, and the worst thing, an entire eggplant.
Whoops.
I don’t really like eggplant, but I saw a juice recipe that called for it, and I thought, “Ooh! Maybe I wouldn’t mind eggplant in a juice.”
But you know, the road to the trash (or compost!) bin is paved with good intentions, and this eggplant is evidence of that.
Also, I had to get rid of a bad tangerine. I’m not sure this is my fault, though, because it’s the only one out of the fairly new bag that went south.
Happily, all of this food went straight into my compost bin, so although it’s a waste of money, it’s not a total ecological disaster. 😉
And I have to say, I do love the feeling of a cleaned-out fridge. It’s so nice to have a fresh start every week (back in my pre-blogging days, I’d go for a LONG time between fridge-cleanings, and the amount of stuff lurking in there got to be truly scary.)
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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.
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Today’s 365 post: This kind of grosses my kids out.
Joshua’s 365 post: The Things Sisters Think Of….
Pam
Sunday 20th of November 2011
I just finished reading a book called The Cheapskate Next Door and in the book the author mentions that about 25% of our food goes to waste every year!!! Hard to believe, but I guess if we're not careful enough it could easily happen.
giddy tigress
Saturday 19th of November 2011
I love clean fridges too, and Food Waste Friday is helping me maintain that..thank you!!
Olivia
Saturday 19th of November 2011
I always thought citrus and onion should not go into compost?
Lisa
Monday 21st of November 2011
I think this is just if you are doing vermicomposting (with worms). I had a worm bin in my classroom a few years ago, and we were informed that the worms don't like either citrus peels or onions/garlic.
WilliamB
Saturday 19th of November 2011
Why did you think that?
Anything that was once alive can decompose. This includes all foodstuffs. (Even bones. Although in practice, bones decompose too slowly for most home compost piles.) Also, many folks choose also to leave out meat, or meat and dairy, because these items are thought to attract more critters.
Susan@Emperorp
Friday 18th of November 2011
Okay Kristen, I finally linked up. I have been privately following your Food Waste Fridays for nearly two years and have been doing fairly well. But I had a very bad week. A throwback to my old days of terrible food waste. Time to try for the public humiliation factor that seems to have helped you a lot :)
Kristen
Friday 18th of November 2011
Welcome, welcome!!! I'm so glad you joined us. : ) I hope FWF helps you as much as it's helped me!
snailmailfan
Friday 18th of November 2011
Nothing spectacular to report food waste wise - I had a little bit - but reading other people's comments - I've just learned you can freeze bananas for use in banana bread! That's really useful.