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.
Last week was another story, at least in the produce department.
I didn’t take a picture, but I composted a head of cauliflower, several tomatoes, and the last of a head of lettuce.
What interesting is that back in 2008, when I first started working on my food waste, I rarely threw out just produce…leftover were a big part of my food waste, and for most part, I’ve conquered that challenge.
Sure, I waste the occasional piece of leftover fish, but I almost never am throwing out multiple servings of a dish I’ve prepared, and that feels really good.
And even though I do waste some produce here and there, I’m wasting way less than I used to despite the fact that we buy and eat more produce than we did 5 years ago.
Because I hate to post without a picture, here’s a random one. It’s of the most popular game at our house right now: Trouble.
Sonia and Zoe have been playing it every single day. And when Sonia’s not available, Zoe plays it with her imaginary opponent, “Buddy”. (She does all of Buddy’s moves for him, including popping the dice. So when she beats him, it’s all fair and square.)
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Ok…back to the topic at hand!
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: This one was just for fun.
sarah@everydaylifeonashoestring
Saturday 1st of December 2012
Well, I've only been doing FWF for 6 months or so, not 5 years, but our food waste - leftovers and fresh produce, has really decreased as a result of accounting for it each week. Thanks Kristen!
Lili@creativesavv
Saturday 1st of December 2012
It does seem like produce waste sneaks up on most of us more than meal leftovers.
Kristen, do you have a plan for reducing your produce waste in the future?
Helen
Saturday 1st of December 2012
Oops I think I had a computer glitch while trying to link up or is the linky thing not working? Sorry for the double link above. Linking up below.
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2012/11/30/food-waste-friday-113012/ "ลฝ
Julie@kiddealschicago.com
Friday 30th of November 2012
I also have an entire head of cauliflower that probably won't make it. I am going to hold out another day or two and see if inspiration hits me before I decide to toss it. It's one of those veggies I buy with good intentions and then lots of times I never get around to making the dish I had in mind.
One other question: does citrus (lemons and limes) last longer if kept in the fridge? I often have it on hand and it gets as hard as a rock after a while and then I have to toss. I usually store it on the counter but maybe the fridge is better? Anyone?
Heather
Friday 30th of November 2012
We only lost a head of lettuce...but I completely busted the grocery budget! I need to plan better or we will have to have ramen for a while :p