It’s 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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Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge
Click here to learn more about my Friday routine
Quite a full Friday fridge. Once again my grocery shop didn’t happen until Tuesday of this week, rather than last Friday. But…finally I’m back on track. Now feeling much healthier, which in turn increases motivation and energy.
The top shelf is chocka full of cheeses, pate, coleslaw, humous. It all lends itself very nicely to a ‘choosing tea’ – as the Kids like to call it. I’ll grab some salad from Aldi this morning (cuke and grapes below will be included) and throw in some nuts and crackers. No cooking for me tonight. Or tomorrow lunch I’d imagine!
The yogurts all have plenty of life left in them yet.
Bottom shelf holds olives and piccolo tomatoes. I’ll adapt the simple pasta dish I posted last week to rustle up a meal next week.
Talking about next week, I’m back on the meal planning program.
Ad hoc shopping and cooking doesn’t work for me and leads to this;
Not a good look.
Hang on?
There’s a small saving grace.
I had strawberries and natural yogurt down as this weeks food waste casualties. But when I took this photo, I noticed the date on the yogurt.
I’d misread it as 1st of May rather than 10th. Must have been looking at it upside down? In the words of Homer Simpson “Duh!”.
Still, the strawberries are unsalvageable. Not good.
Particularly as yesterday I was reminded just how valuable food is.
The local school held a World War 2 Day. It was a fantastic day, with real people (yes, remember those, rather than the virtual kind ;-)) talking about their experiences, plus other activities.
The lady talking about war-time food and rationing, obviously, had me enthralled.
I doubt many British children would have been eating limitless fruit in the early forties, let alone allowing it to go to waste? Just because we have an abundance of it now, should we treat it with any less respect?
Sometimes we just need to be reminded?
As always I’ll leave the last word to Kristen…
“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 for the foreseeable. My blog doesn’t allow links on the actual post, and being redirected to another page isn’t ideal. Please drop your link in the comments section.** Jo
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/2013/05/food-waste-with-leaf-v2.12.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 p
The other day I was looking at my father’s WWII food ration coupon book. That does help you remember how good we have things these days.
They had the amounts of food a family was allowed laid out. It looked such a small amount.
The other day I was looking at my father’s WWII food ration coupon book. That does help you remember how good we have things these days.
They had the amounts of food a family was allowed laid out. It looked such a small amount.
I had a pretty good week over at the Simply ‘Burbs home … a couple of pieces of fruit that were not salvageable. My big news though?! – this is second week in a row that I have managed to not waste any bagged spinach! We buy it in HUGE 2.5 lb bags, so I see this as a real accomplishment! Here’s a link: http://simplyburbs.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-pretty-good-and.html
So interesting to be reminded about WW2 rationing and how much our attitude to food has shifted. Did you ever see the reality series, 1940s House? They took a modern day family and replicated a 1940 style house and lifestyle, asking them to live as if it was the 1940s for a couple of months. As part of the experience, the family were rationed, and were horrified at the small amounts of food, compared to modern standards. It was really, really fascinating, to get a real glimpse of what life might have been like in 1940s England.
Well done on the spinach. I know from personal experience what can happen with bagged leaves!
I didn’t see 1940’s house, but must try and get it as I would enjoy it, but so would my daughter. I hear stories from my Mom about the time and it is fascinating.
I had a pretty good week over at the Simply ‘Burbs home … a couple of pieces of fruit that were not salvageable. My big news though?! – this is second week in a row that I have managed to not waste any bagged spinach! We buy it in HUGE 2.5 lb bags, so I see this as a real accomplishment! Here’s a link: http://simplyburbs.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-pretty-good-and.html
So interesting to be reminded about WW2 rationing and how much our attitude to food has shifted. Did you ever see the reality series, 1940s House? They took a modern day family and replicated a 1940 style house and lifestyle, asking them to live as if it was the 1940s for a couple of months. As part of the experience, the family were rationed, and were horrified at the small amounts of food, compared to modern standards. It was really, really fascinating, to get a real glimpse of what life might have been like in 1940s England.
Well done on the spinach. I know from personal experience what can happen with bagged leaves!
I didn’t see 1940’s house, but must try and get it as I would enjoy it, but so would my daughter. I hear stories from my Mom about the time and it is fascinating.
That’s great about the yogurt – nice save 🙂 It’s funny that you said ad hoc shopping and cooking doesn’t work well for you, because I have just switched back to this method rather than menu planning. I found it works better for me to just buy whatever is cheap at the shops, and then make meals from what I have on hand.
Having said that though, I am a single person household – it might be more tricky with a whole family.
I had no waste again this week for the second week in a row – mostly because I was too busy to cook and just ate leftovers 🙂
http://www.economiesofkale.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-a-clean-bench-again/
I’ve just eaten the yogurt so definitely a save! 🙂
I think if it were just me buying as I needed it (with some basic long lasting staple cupboard items) would work very well.
That’s great about the yogurt – nice save 🙂 It’s funny that you said ad hoc shopping and cooking doesn’t work well for you, because I have just switched back to this method rather than menu planning. I found it works better for me to just buy whatever is cheap at the shops, and then make meals from what I have on hand.
Having said that though, I am a single person household – it might be more tricky with a whole family.
I had no waste again this week for the second week in a row – mostly because I was too busy to cook and just ate leftovers 🙂
http://www.economiesofkale.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-a-clean-bench-again/
I’ve just eaten the yogurt so definitely a save! 🙂
I think if it were just me buying as I needed it (with some basic long lasting staple cupboard items) would work very well.
I did have some food waste, but it was small, and resulted in a new form of life!
http://roadnotchosen.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-growing-things-addition.html
Now that I gotta see!
I did have some food waste, but it was small, and resulted in a new form of life!
http://roadnotchosen.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-growing-things-addition.html
Now that I gotta see!
I can’t remember which museum we were at in the US but they had a display during that ‘era’ and they were showcasing old food packaging. I couldn’t stop howling after I read what ‘Canadian Bread’ was….fruitcake or Christmas cake! LOL
Anyhow…no food waste this week and a great bargain on bell peppers!
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/food-waste-friday-5313/
Canadian bread – fruitcake? Hmmm you wouldn’t guess from the description would you?
I can’t remember which museum we were at in the US but they had a display during that ‘era’ and they were showcasing old food packaging. I couldn’t stop howling after I read what ‘Canadian Bread’ was….fruitcake or Christmas cake! LOL
Anyhow…no food waste this week and a great bargain on bell peppers!
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2013/05/03/food-waste-friday-5313/
Canadian bread – fruitcake? Hmmm you wouldn’t guess from the description would you?
Surprisingly I had little waste – enough strawberries to consider it a goof rather than inevitable.
But just as my fridge was full of shopping, and the freezer full of happy pork (only half a pig’s worth this time), I took take-out Chinese to a friend’s. I thought he’d want a dish or two for later but turns out he was leaving town for a bit. So I had 5 orders of food in my fridge. To shove in amongst the shopping. And no room in the freezer. So far I haven’t lost anything to this bout of poor planning.
Sometimes lady luck is just there with you. Perhaps it’s karma for all the great saves you’ve made prior?
Surprisingly I had little waste – enough strawberries to consider it a goof rather than inevitable.
But just as my fridge was full of shopping, and the freezer full of happy pork (only half a pig’s worth this time), I took take-out Chinese to a friend’s. I thought he’d want a dish or two for later but turns out he was leaving town for a bit. So I had 5 orders of food in my fridge. To shove in amongst the shopping. And no room in the freezer. So far I haven’t lost anything to this bout of poor planning.
Sometimes lady luck is just there with you. Perhaps it’s karma for all the great saves you’ve made prior?
When my son was 10, we flew over to spend a week in London. One of our favorites was the Imperial War Museum. There was a huge section devoted to all of the rationing in England during WWII. I’m not sure anyone could survive on that amount of food. No wonder victory gardens were encouraged in both the US and England.
Fast forward 70 years and it is illegal in many places in the US to have food plants growing in your front yard and to hang your laundry outside to dry. No wonder our poor earth is in such a state.
The next time we go to London, that museum is on the list!
Gosh your last paragraph makes you think doesn’t it? We in the UK aren’t there yet. Line-drying is ingrained from birth I reckon despite our unpredictable weather. Let’s see if I can say the same thing in 5-years time?
When my son was 10, we flew over to spend a week in London. One of our favorites was the Imperial War Museum. There was a huge section devoted to all of the rationing in England during WWII. I’m not sure anyone could survive on that amount of food. No wonder victory gardens were encouraged in both the US and England.
Fast forward 70 years and it is illegal in many places in the US to have food plants growing in your front yard and to hang your laundry outside to dry. No wonder our poor earth is in such a state.
The next time we go to London, that museum is on the list!
Gosh your last paragraph makes you think doesn’t it? We in the UK aren’t there yet. Line-drying is ingrained from birth I reckon despite our unpredictable weather. Let’s see if I can say the same thing in 5-years time?
I loved the series 1940s House so much that I actually bought a copy several years ago. Our fridge bears a magnet that I made from a miniature of a WWII poster that says “Better Pot-Luck (with Churchill today) Than Humble Pie (under Hitler tomorrow) Don’t Waste Food”! In our disposable society of today, I wonder how willingly people would pull together and comply if rationing were a necessity? I, too have my parents’ old ration books from WWII but of course here in the US rationing wasn’t anywhere near as severe as in Britain.
I’m not sure today’s society could cope – although I suppose they would have to. Home-cooking and producing your own food was common in the 1940’s. Much of the skills have diminished by now – too much reliance on convenience.
I’ll have to track down that series!
I loved the series 1940s House so much that I actually bought a copy several years ago. Our fridge bears a magnet that I made from a miniature of a WWII poster that says “Better Pot-Luck (with Churchill today) Than Humble Pie (under Hitler tomorrow) Don’t Waste Food”! In our disposable society of today, I wonder how willingly people would pull together and comply if rationing were a necessity? I, too have my parents’ old ration books from WWII but of course here in the US rationing wasn’t anywhere near as severe as in Britain.
I’m not sure today’s society could cope – although I suppose they would have to. Home-cooking and producing your own food was common in the 1940’s. Much of the skills have diminished by now – too much reliance on convenience.
I’ll have to track down that series!
“Just because we have an abundance of it now, should we treat it with any less respect?”
So well said, Jo. My mom knew a family who never kept any leftovers – scraped them straight into the garbage – meat, vegetables, salads – everything!! She was aghast, almost sick with the waste of it all, having been brought up during WWII. The family simply had no idea how to make another meal with the ample remains of the first … and they were educated people, a teacher and a business person. I think it underlines how important the family environment is for the proper use of food. We learn it best from what we see as we grow up.
“Just because we have an abundance of it now, should we treat it with any less respect?”
So well said, Jo. My mom knew a family who never kept any leftovers – scraped them straight into the garbage – meat, vegetables, salads – everything!! She was aghast, almost sick with the waste of it all, having been brought up during WWII. The family simply had no idea how to make another meal with the ample remains of the first … and they were educated people, a teacher and a business person. I think it underlines how important the family environment is for the proper use of food. We learn it best from what we see as we grow up.