Food Waste Friday

My pictures from Food Waste Friday will have to wait. But I can talk about my progress and post the pictures later.

Basically, I made great strides in the last week and a half in reducing our food waste. Just being conscious of food waste--thinking ahead of how/when to use things up--has really made a difference. And my refrigerator has so much more room! My produce drawer isn't filled with really old or rotting produce. And I can actually  see what's in there. That doesn't mean I didn't waste anything, though.

I threw out a handful of cut-up strawberries, and about a cup of potato salad that we never managed to finish from Seth's birthday party. I also threw out a sleeve of stale crackers,an onion that had gone bad, and a bunch of cilantro. (I hate having to buy a huge bunch of cilantro when I only need 1/4 cup. And I've tried growing my own without success. Maybe I should try growing it again.) I tried to salvage about a cup's worth of green grapes by freezing them, but when I tasted them, they weren't very good. So I tossed them. I also threw out the salsa that I had made last week (trying to use up cilantro and an avocado) that we never managed to finish, and the ham from several weeks ago that I was trying to use up that I stuck in the meat drawer and forgot about. I threw out half of a chicken tender from dinner last week. I also threw away three cupcakes from Seth's birthday that we never finished. But I really didn't mind throwing those out. I'm always a little bit impressed with myself when I can let desserts go bad. (Boy, after all of that, it doesn't really sound like it was a good week! This is embarrassing.)

I did not waste the mac-n-cheese from Seth's party, though. I took it to lunch last week and finished it up. I also managed to not waste 2 chicken tenders (even if I did throw out the last one)--I ate them for dinner one night. I made spaghetti to go with the leftover spaghetti sauce from last week, and I've been eating that for lunch this week. I also froze strawberries and blueberries to use in smoothies. And I made sure that Ed finished an older block of blue cheese before opening a new one.

One result of trying not to waste food is that my freezer has suddenly gotten a lot fuller. I guess it doesn't really count as "not wasted" if I just transfer something to the freezer, only to see it never get used from there, either. So I'm working on that, too. When I went to the grocery store last week, I had purchases a loaf of bread, not realizing that I already had a whole loaf of bread in the pantry. So I froze one, and this week, I'll take it out of the freezer instead of buying a new loaf. I think I'm going to take half the loaf and make some french toast that I can freeze. A neighbor had given us some friendship bread the weekend of Seth's party that I figured we wouldn't finish, so I just threw it in the freezer. I took it out last night and I brought it to work today for everyone to enjoy. So, like I said, I'm making progress.

Since I'm not doing my daily dinner blog anymore, I thought I'd add some thoughts on my weekly meal plan in my Food Waste Friday wrap-up. The menu plan went pretty well this week. The barbecue was awesome, but William didn't like it. He ate deli ham and string cheese instead (along with his corn on the cob). I ended up making the calzones last night and the chicken is in the crock pot today. William didn't want the calzones last night, so he just ate a few pieces of apple. (He had eaten his morning snack--grapes and a cereal bar--on the way home, so I figured he wouldn't be hungry.) We'll see if William eats tonight's dinner.

So there you have it, food waste and meal planning in more detail than you ever thought you wanted.