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.
I’m not sure what it is, but it seems like every grocery store I visit is starting to only sell green beans in big plastic bags.
And big plastic bags of beans usually get the best of me, as this one did.
Boo.
I usually manage to cook at least half the bag, and then I don’t get around to cooking up more beans in time.
Maybe when summer rolls around they’ll start selling loose beans again and then I can buy the perfect amount. I keep buying the big bags, thinking that this time, I will surely get around to cooking them all, but based on my track record, I should probably stop being so optimistic.
Ahem.
I also had to throw out some leftover chicken salad. It was good initially, but after sitting overnight, the chicken got really mushy, which I am assuming is due to the vinegar in the dressing.
So next time I will only dress the amount we will eat right away.
I feel like this picture of food waste was awfully dark and dreary, so here’s some color to perk things up.
(We bought this pop-up tent years ago, and Sonia especially likes to set up a nest inside of it and do her schoolwork there. 😉 )
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Karyn
Tuesday 18th of March 2014
Why don't you blanch them and freeze them? The green beans that is ;)
Linda
Sunday 16th of March 2014
I hate wasting food!
I have honestly started buying more canned and frozen veggies lately..I know it's bad, but there are only two of us! I have thrown away soooo much fresh produce that was half used and then went bad!
Another tip is to toss it all into a big pot of soup before it goes bad. I get creative with produce that needs to be used right away and leftovers...like, I'll chop up leftover meatloaf and use it in "hamburger soup" or use leftover taco meat and fixings and make taco soup...
Katie @ Horrific Knits
Sunday 16th of March 2014
We have a store called Price Rite, that's sort of like Aldis hybridized with a 'normal' grocery store. I get a lot of my produce for canning there because they have loose prodce like beans and cucumbers.
Helen - myliladventures
Saturday 15th of March 2014
I've noticed the same thing about the green beans as well unless we buy them from an Asian market (where you can pick your own amount from the loose in the bin)
Kathleen Griffy
Friday 14th of March 2014
Hi Kristen, As a Mom (now retired from that job, at least not on active duty), I would cook the whole "mess" up and either put the leftovers in the fridge to use later in the week or freeze. I have not adjusted to the newer crispy green bean style of cooking and still like the southern style of cooked green beans with onion and some crumbled bacon added for flavor. This seemed to help us use our veges cuz they were already cooked and ready to go. When we had out garden we were always covered up with veges and sometimes too many to eat but not enough to fill the canner! LOL