It’ Friday Guys – My turn once more to host Food Waste Friday!
Each week since March 2008, in order to motivate her to waste less food, Kristen The Frugal Girl, has posted a picture of any food that has gone bad over the last seven days. She found this embarrassing practice so helpful, to her, that she invited other bloggers to post their own photos, and Food Waste Friday was born.
I started participating in October 2010 and have found, that 2-years on, the amount of food I waste is minimal. In fact every Friday, as part of my No Waste Tastes Great routine, I account (and devise a plan) for all my potential food waste as well as confessing to any items that I failed to save.
Kristen has kindly asked me to host Food Waste Friday, alternate weeks (when she doesn’t post herself), and her initial invite for everyone to join in is cordially extended here!
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I had a bad week, last week on the food waste front. In fact I’ve had a bad few weeks with fresh produce.
Determined to redeem myself I’d planned today’s post in my head. No fridge photo this Friday – oh no, I’d planned on shouting from the rooftops…
“No waste at Chez Wright”
Oops!…I did it again.
I knew the grapes were going to be a challenge. They’d only just survived last week’s cull. Interestingly the green grapes bit the dust, whereas the red ones are still okay to eat. So, that’s the plan – to eat the red ones – and soon. Under no circumstances will they be named and shamed next Friday as part of No Waste Tastes Great.
As I said, no Friday fridge today. You’ll have to take my word for it (I’m a very trustworthy person) that it’s waste free. In fact there’s hardly anything in it.
And that was where I wanted to kick off today. I wanted to talk about saving food, rather than throwing it away.
Because that’s my ultimate aim each Friday. To save what I can as part of my Friday routine.
Last Friday you may have noticed there was pumpkin flesh (that always sounds rather grotesque to me!) in the Fridge. Leftovers from carving the Jack-o-lanterns.
This is what it was turned into;
No recipe was followed. A bit of improvisation (and a little bit of luck) and I’ve a ‘keeper’.
Confession number 2 – I wasted some sugar, making and then burning caramel…
Moving swiftly on….I’m not unique in my food waste philosophy, I know that.
I’d love to hear what your best and worst saves have been!
Without a doubt my worst was a celery gratin. Although I did have high hopes.
As always it’s over to Kristen for the last word:
“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.
**I’ve decided not to include the LINKY this week. My blog currently doesn’t allow links on the actual post, and I think being redirected to another page is a pain. Please drop your link in the comments below this week. If the majority would rather the LINKY be available I’ll include next time I host FWF**
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.”
<div align="center"><a href="https://simplybeingmum.com/" title="Simply Being Mum"><img src="https://simplybeingmum.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/11/food-waste-with-leaf-v2.11.jpg" alt="Simply Being Mum" style="border:none;" /></a></div>
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.
Well done on eating your jack o’lanterns! I had big plans to eat ours but unfortunately left it out of the fridge for too long and then didn’t want to risk it. And being spring over here it wasn’t cheap, so I am kicking myself. I did manage to roast the seeds though.
I didn’t have a very good week either, a combination of too many party leftovers and some forgotten milk 🙁 Here is a link to my post:
http://www.economiesofkale.net/food-waste-friday-the-last-party-leftovers/
You did better than me with the seeds. Kids wanted to keep them. Presuming they’ll not be in the best shape for planting!
Must have been one of those weeks eh? 🙂
Well done on eating your jack o’lanterns! I had big plans to eat ours but unfortunately left it out of the fridge for too long and then didn’t want to risk it. And being spring over here it wasn’t cheap, so I am kicking myself. I did manage to roast the seeds though.
I didn’t have a very good week either, a combination of too many party leftovers and some forgotten milk 🙁 Here is a link to my post:
http://www.economiesofkale.net/food-waste-friday-the-last-party-leftovers/
You did better than me with the seeds. Kids wanted to keep them. Presuming they’ll not be in the best shape for planting!
Must have been one of those weeks eh? 🙂
Did you use the actual Jack-O- Lanterns or what you cut out? The next question is did you use candles or electric lights to light them? Candles tend to mess my pumpkins up.
I had a pretty good week with only some wasted candy. As far as I can remember, most of my saves have been pretty good. Usually, they involve some kind of soup or casserole that is hard to mess up. The best one recently involved mixed veggies, kale, feta cheese and rolls.
See this weeks details of my food waste and meal planning:
http://liveandlearn-tossandturn.blogspot.com/2012/11/food-waste-friday-and-true-food_9.html
It was only the flesh we carved out. The pumpkins were a few days old before they were retired. In the UK we celebrate Bonfire night within a week of the 31st, and as Halloween has grown in popularity it’s become common to take your withering Jack O Lantern with you (well we do anyhow). They usually get tossed on the bonfire and burnt at the end of the evening.
We’ve started using small tealight sized fake candles powered by battery. Safer around the home. They are so sophisticated now you can even get ones that turn off when you blow them out! They also flicker. Very convincing! Real candles do wilt the inside quickly with the heat.
Did you use the actual Jack-O- Lanterns or what you cut out? The next question is did you use candles or electric lights to light them? Candles tend to mess my pumpkins up.
I had a pretty good week with only some wasted candy. As far as I can remember, most of my saves have been pretty good. Usually, they involve some kind of soup or casserole that is hard to mess up. The best one recently involved mixed veggies, kale, feta cheese and rolls.
See this weeks details of my food waste and meal planning:
http://liveandlearn-tossandturn.blogspot.com/2012/11/food-waste-friday-and-true-food_9.html
It was only the flesh we carved out. The pumpkins were a few days old before they were retired. In the UK we celebrate Bonfire night within a week of the 31st, and as Halloween has grown in popularity it’s become common to take your withering Jack O Lantern with you (well we do anyhow). They usually get tossed on the bonfire and burnt at the end of the evening.
We’ve started using small tealight sized fake candles powered by battery. Safer around the home. They are so sophisticated now you can even get ones that turn off when you blow them out! They also flicker. Very convincing! Real candles do wilt the inside quickly with the heat.
You used your bundt, it looks great! See, they just make plain cakes look fancy with zero effort required. I’m quite tempted to see if they still have them once I move. Been street viewing the area beyond the bits I know and it looks like it’s going to be even better than I thought for local shopping. Hooray!
Poor grapes. Mine was a handful clementines. I always fancy one or two, then never finish the bag. Not sure what to do in this instance, since I don’t drink juice (only when ill and craving it) and DH can’t have citrus so can’t use up in our regular meals or baking. I should just stop buying them unless I can get one loose when I fancy. That would be the easiest solution!
I loved the look of the cake out of the Bundt. Also so easy to cut into slices. Glad to hear the local shops are going to be a plus for you after the move.
Clementines are tricky. even if squeezed, there’s not usually a huge amount of juice. they get eaten up quickly here so they tend not to spoil, but on the rare occasion they have, it’s happened quickly! I think I’d boycott for a while – that’s what I’m doing with cucumber.
You used your bundt, it looks great! See, they just make plain cakes look fancy with zero effort required. I’m quite tempted to see if they still have them once I move. Been street viewing the area beyond the bits I know and it looks like it’s going to be even better than I thought for local shopping. Hooray!
Poor grapes. Mine was a handful clementines. I always fancy one or two, then never finish the bag. Not sure what to do in this instance, since I don’t drink juice (only when ill and craving it) and DH can’t have citrus so can’t use up in our regular meals or baking. I should just stop buying them unless I can get one loose when I fancy. That would be the easiest solution!
I loved the look of the cake out of the Bundt. Also so easy to cut into slices. Glad to hear the local shops are going to be a plus for you after the move.
Clementines are tricky. even if squeezed, there’s not usually a huge amount of juice. they get eaten up quickly here so they tend not to spoil, but on the rare occasion they have, it’s happened quickly! I think I’d boycott for a while – that’s what I’m doing with cucumber.
Did you try cutting off the bad parts of teh apple to salvedge the rest?
Hi Carol. No I didn’t – not this time anyway. They were cooking apples, so quite sour, and there wasn’t enough to justify trying to cook them and freeze. The photo doesn’t really show what bad shape they were in overall. Very soft and mushy. But you are right, if they’d have been eating apples, I probably would have seen if there was anything salvageable. They’ve been recycled with garden waste. Still waste though, I know. I really need to get with it!!
Did you try cutting off the bad parts of teh apple to salvedge the rest?
Hi Carol. No I didn’t – not this time anyway. They were cooking apples, so quite sour, and there wasn’t enough to justify trying to cook them and freeze. The photo doesn’t really show what bad shape they were in overall. Very soft and mushy. But you are right, if they’d have been eating apples, I probably would have seen if there was anything salvageable. They’ve been recycled with garden waste. Still waste though, I know. I really need to get with it!!
We didn’t have any waste…but we ate A LOT more than usual! boo!!!!! Next time though…
http://www.chasingsimplicity.net/?p=346
Yay for no waste! good going !
We didn’t have any waste…but we ate A LOT more than usual! boo!!!!! Next time though…
http://www.chasingsimplicity.net/?p=346
Yay for no waste! good going !
Not much food waste here. I say not much because I can’t remember if I threw anything out! One of those weeks that has sucked out my brain 🙂 I think there was some spinach? I swear they make the bags too big! I will, however, be singing Britney Spears for the rest of the day thanks to your post title 🙂
You’d have been in good company. I was singing it ALL day! 🙂
Not much food waste here. I say not much because I can’t remember if I threw anything out! One of those weeks that has sucked out my brain 🙂 I think there was some spinach? I swear they make the bags too big! I will, however, be singing Britney Spears for the rest of the day thanks to your post title 🙂
You’d have been in good company. I was singing it ALL day! 🙂
No waste here either but we have some produce headed that way. Not if I can help it, said I LOL
As for the grapes, pick out the good ones and flash freeze them on a tray. Once frozen, keep in a zipper freezer bag. You can use in smoothies, as ice cubes (in water?) or just eat them frozen as a treat – a truly healthy one 🙂
Linking up!
https://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/food-waste-friday-11912/
You’re right! I really should ensure the grapes don’t go to waste again. the ice-cube idea would work as they’d thaw slightly. just a little too cold when frozen for my sensitive teeth!
No waste here either but we have some produce headed that way. Not if I can help it, said I LOL
As for the grapes, pick out the good ones and flash freeze them on a tray. Once frozen, keep in a zipper freezer bag. You can use in smoothies, as ice cubes (in water?) or just eat them frozen as a treat – a truly healthy one 🙂
Linking up!
https://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2012/11/09/food-waste-friday-11912/
You’re right! I really should ensure the grapes don’t go to waste again. the ice-cube idea would work as they’d thaw slightly. just a little too cold when frozen for my sensitive teeth!
Too many of the red grapes I bought, were too soft to eat happily. This is the third batch in a row – no more red grapes for me.
2 c. sliced peppers. They seem to go from fine to bad in about a blink of an eye. I’m wondering if there’s a way I could cut them at work because whole pepper definitely last longer.
No fantastic saves this week.
Not bad all in. Maybe time of year is a factor with the grapes? To be honest I’m struggling with produce generally.
What I do is pre-slice a pepper and store it in an airtight container but keep it elevated from the bottom – you can cut down a plastic strawberry basket. I believe Rubbermaid sells a ‘vegetable’ keeper of some sort with an elevated plastic insert for the bottom to let air get under there and keep things high and dry. I just make my own accordingly.
Too many of the red grapes I bought, were too soft to eat happily. This is the third batch in a row – no more red grapes for me.
2 c. sliced peppers. They seem to go from fine to bad in about a blink of an eye. I’m wondering if there’s a way I could cut them at work because whole pepper definitely last longer.
No fantastic saves this week.
Not bad all in. Maybe time of year is a factor with the grapes? To be honest I’m struggling with produce generally.
What I do is pre-slice a pepper and store it in an airtight container but keep it elevated from the bottom – you can cut down a plastic strawberry basket. I believe Rubbermaid sells a ‘vegetable’ keeper of some sort with an elevated plastic insert for the bottom to let air get under there and keep things high and dry. I just make my own accordingly.
A porridgey food save here this week but really not one I’ll be repeating…
Live and learn eh? 😉
A porridgey food save here this week but really not one I’ll be repeating…
Live and learn eh? 😉
Best food saving recipe I have is frittata. Saute whatever veggies are about to bite the dust in a cast iron skillet, pour in beaten eggs, top with cheddar and pop into the oven. Saved us money and waste and best of all is an easy dinner when paired with homemade bread.
Hi Rachel – I agree! Eggs are amazing – so quick and easy. I did omelettes last night as the fridge was bare. Some veggies and bread, and “job’s a good ‘un”!
Best food saving recipe I have is frittata. Saute whatever veggies are about to bite the dust in a cast iron skillet, pour in beaten eggs, top with cheddar and pop into the oven. Saved us money and waste and best of all is an easy dinner when paired with homemade bread.
Hi Rachel – I agree! Eggs are amazing – so quick and easy. I did omelettes last night as the fridge was bare. Some veggies and bread, and “job’s a good ‘un”!