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!
———————————————————————
Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge
Not much to talk about here. The usual spreads, cheeses and yogurt on the top shelf, all with life left in them.
Slow-cooked ham sitting in the centre, which will be eaten up as part of the Kids ‘choosing tea’ after school.
There is waste. About an inch deep of natural yogurt – see bottom shelf. I just didn’t quite finish it – Duh!
My fridge looked very different last Thursday.
(Last week’s fridge chaos is nothing in comparison to Jeff’s from last night’s episode of Britain’s Biggest Hoarder. I have never seen a fridge/freezer quite like it, nor do I ever wish to again. My heart goes out to Jeff. I was incredibly impressed with what he has achieved in dealing with his hoarding. Keep going Jeff – don’t give up!)
Although I successfully limited the damage, last week, it reminded me just how important meal-planning is, here, in the battle against food waste.
It seems only right on the 70th anniversary of the Dambusters to quote Winston Churchill;
“He who fails to plan is planning to fail.”
Back on the meal-planning program, I am.
Simply Being Mum’s Menu Board
My menu runs Saturday-Thursday. Friday is No Waste Tastes Great.
Being a Brit it’s only right 😉 we have a chippy night. The Hubby and I no longer indulge in a takeaway on a Friday, rather the cash is spent on a fish and chip supper after swimming lessons for the whole family. This has become a family tradition, and hopefully is creating a childhood memory.
Of course reducing food-waste is not just about the fridge. A quick inventory of the cupboards and I discovered a basket of potatoes.
No problem. A quick peel and boil…
…and they were whipped up into these for baking…
Quite a stylish way to serve mashed potato, even if I do say so myself! They were nicknamed ‘potato puffs’ by the Kids last night.
I love a good food-save!
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-v2.11.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 p
I had no waste this week. Part of this may be because we didn’t buy any food except some milk and just ate out of what was on hand. Glad to see that you are back to the old routines with your food.
Good news on no waste – no shopping works for me everytime in the war against waste!
I had no waste this week. Part of this may be because we didn’t buy any food except some milk and just ate out of what was on hand. Glad to see that you are back to the old routines with your food.
Good news on no waste – no shopping works for me everytime in the war against waste!
Great post again Jo! Love the potato puffs! :-). We have no waste this week. Off on hols tmrw and used all bits and bobs left in fridge to make a veggie curry for tonight with a pack of naans I found in cupboard. Quite pleased as hubby wanted a takeaway tonight to start the holiday off and I talked him round to my way of thinking ha ha!
Take care xxx
Oh I love an anything goes curry! – I love curry full stop! Have a fab holiday!
Great post again Jo! Love the potato puffs! :-). We have no waste this week. Off on hols tmrw and used all bits and bobs left in fridge to make a veggie curry for tonight with a pack of naans I found in cupboard. Quite pleased as hubby wanted a takeaway tonight to start the holiday off and I talked him round to my way of thinking ha ha!
Take care xxx
Oh I love an anything goes curry! – I love curry full stop! Have a fab holiday!
Oh! – those potato puffs really do look wonderful; I’ll have to add those to my list of ‘things to try’!
I had another zero Food Waste week, my fourth (fourth!!) in a row! Wow!!
And I also had a couple of really great saves, which I’m pretty happy about. All in all, a good week.
http://simplyburbs.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-adventures-in-avocados.html
FOUR zero food waste weeks – that’s amazing!
The puffs are most certainly a hit here, and have the added bonus of being easily freezable for later use.
Looks like the no waste theme is continuing both generally and in your household. Way to go!
Oh! – those potato puffs really do look wonderful; I’ll have to add those to my list of ‘things to try’!
I had another zero Food Waste week, my fourth (fourth!!) in a row! Wow!!
And I also had a couple of really great saves, which I’m pretty happy about. All in all, a good week.
http://simplyburbs.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-adventures-in-avocados.html
FOUR zero food waste weeks – that’s amazing!
The puffs are most certainly a hit here, and have the added bonus of being easily freezable for later use.
Looks like the no waste theme is continuing both generally and in your household. Way to go!
Looks a good week and it looks like you are completely back in the groove!
I so am! Here’s to no waste next week!
Looks a good week and it looks like you are completely back in the groove!
I so am! Here’s to no waste next week!
Love the potato puffs, what ever gets kids to eat them! Ended up trashing some stuffing this week. Guess I should have planned better myself. http://roadnotchosen.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-too-much-stuffing.html
My daughter who doesn’t eat potato (not even chips) will eat these puffs.
Stuffing doesn’t sound too bad…it could be a lot worse!
Love the potato puffs, what ever gets kids to eat them! Ended up trashing some stuffing this week. Guess I should have planned better myself. http://roadnotchosen.blogspot.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-too-much-stuffing.html
My daughter who doesn’t eat potato (not even chips) will eat these puffs.
Stuffing doesn’t sound too bad…it could be a lot worse!
That is a very creative way of serving mashed potatoes – they look great 🙂 I had some odds and ends of waste this week, which was annoying, but I did manage to save yet another batch of brownies. One day I will perfect a gluten free recipe!
http://www.economiesofkale.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-bits-and-pieces/
I’d love to hear a gluten free recipe for brownies, so if you do perfect – let me know! But remember Perfect Is The Enemy Of Good !!
That is a very creative way of serving mashed potatoes – they look great 🙂 I had some odds and ends of waste this week, which was annoying, but I did manage to save yet another batch of brownies. One day I will perfect a gluten free recipe!
http://www.economiesofkale.com/2013/05/food-waste-friday-bits-and-pieces/
I’d love to hear a gluten free recipe for brownies, so if you do perfect – let me know! But remember Perfect Is The Enemy Of Good !!
My run on bad weeks continues, which doesn’t surprise me given my schedule for the past few weeks. I have one more of these weeks coming up, then things should quiet down a bit.
And now the bad news: an entire canteloupe. I didn’t even get to cut into it.
My run on bad weeks continues, which doesn’t surprise me given my schedule for the past few weeks. I have one more of these weeks coming up, then things should quiet down a bit.
And now the bad news: an entire canteloupe. I didn’t even get to cut into it.
I was just at a 5K race at which individually wrapped 6″ subs were served. As someone who ate near the end of the feeding period I could tell there likely would be some untaken; I don’t know what Subway would do with the unused ones. I also volunteered to bring snacky-main dish to a party tonight.
Now the question: would you have – with permission of the staff – taken a bunch of the sandwiches to slice and serve at the party?
I didn’t think of this till it was too late to do it, but I can’t decide if it’s a good, unwasteful idea, or just cheap.
Personally I don’t think it’s cheap. If they are going to waste, which I presume they would then it makes sense?
I was just at a 5K race at which individually wrapped 6″ subs were served. As someone who ate near the end of the feeding period I could tell there likely would be some untaken; I don’t know what Subway would do with the unused ones. I also volunteered to bring snacky-main dish to a party tonight.
Now the question: would you have – with permission of the staff – taken a bunch of the sandwiches to slice and serve at the party?
I didn’t think of this till it was too late to do it, but I can’t decide if it’s a good, unwasteful idea, or just cheap.
Personally I don’t think it’s cheap. If they are going to waste, which I presume they would then it makes sense?
Half a watermelon. Very sad. When I realized that it wasn’t getting eaten I should have tried making it into granita, but by the time I had that good idea it had already gone slimy. Also, and this was totally my own fault, I was steaming some cauliflower and carrots for dinner and let the pot boil dry (this is SO humiliating …) so the veggies tasted like scorched metal and the pot was ruined.
I did that with a plastic steamer (years ago when heated plastic was not recognized as a possible problem!) – pot boiled dry, the steamer melted with the veggies inside, and it stuck and burned to the bottom of the pot (which was ruined). You are not the only one!
We all have our kitchen incidents! I lost a spoon by leaving in whilst making caramel. Plastic doesn’t quite have the same ‘melting’ temp as sugar! Oh dear!
Half a watermelon. Very sad. When I realized that it wasn’t getting eaten I should have tried making it into granita, but by the time I had that good idea it had already gone slimy. Also, and this was totally my own fault, I was steaming some cauliflower and carrots for dinner and let the pot boil dry (this is SO humiliating …) so the veggies tasted like scorched metal and the pot was ruined.
I did that with a plastic steamer (years ago when heated plastic was not recognized as a possible problem!) – pot boiled dry, the steamer melted with the veggies inside, and it stuck and burned to the bottom of the pot (which was ruined). You are not the only one!
We all have our kitchen incidents! I lost a spoon by leaving in whilst making caramel. Plastic doesn’t quite have the same ‘melting’ temp as sugar! Oh dear!
I lost two flowerets of cauliflower (two little flowerets – who puts THAT back in the fridge?!), and five eggs. The eggs should have gone a week or two ago, but I was still deciding if they were okay (past expiry). I should know by now that if I’m “iffy” on something now, two more weeks in the fridge are not going to improve the quality 🙁
I like your idea of fish and chips as a tradition. I’m pretty sure your children WILL remember that. It was the little treats, done on a regular basis, that seemed to stick with mine, anyway.
Jo… I do that delaying decision making tactic all the time. I actually hear a little voice asking me in my head how I think it will improve the situation! Like you say two-weeks down the line they will deteriorate further. Currently there is ham in my fridge that I am wishing back to life so I don’t have to confess it Friday…but it ain’t gonna happen is it?
I lost two flowerets of cauliflower (two little flowerets – who puts THAT back in the fridge?!), and five eggs. The eggs should have gone a week or two ago, but I was still deciding if they were okay (past expiry). I should know by now that if I’m “iffy” on something now, two more weeks in the fridge are not going to improve the quality 🙁
I like your idea of fish and chips as a tradition. I’m pretty sure your children WILL remember that. It was the little treats, done on a regular basis, that seemed to stick with mine, anyway.
Jo… I do that delaying decision making tactic all the time. I actually hear a little voice asking me in my head how I think it will improve the situation! Like you say two-weeks down the line they will deteriorate further. Currently there is ham in my fridge that I am wishing back to life so I don’t have to confess it Friday…but it ain’t gonna happen is it?
Sneaking in real quick to link up while house guests are sleeping in – hooray!
Haste = waste 🙁
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/food-waste-friday-51713/
Haste most certainly does create waste… in lots of areas – not just food !!
Sneaking in real quick to link up while house guests are sleeping in – hooray!
Haste = waste 🙁
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2013/05/18/food-waste-friday-51713/
Haste most certainly does create waste… in lots of areas – not just food !!