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, 3-years on, the amount of food I waste is minimal. Every Friday, as part of my No Waste Tastes Great routine, I account for all my potential food waste as well as confessing to any items that I failed to save.
Kristen kindly asked me to host Food Waste Friday, alternate weeks and her initial invite for everyone to join in is cordially extended here!
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Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge
A huge advantage to keeping a fridge organised is you can see what is contained inside.
There’s an old saying – ‘Out of sight, out of mind’.
By actually being able to see clearly inside a fridge, I believe potential for food waste reduces.
This doesn’t mean a larger fridge is required. My fridge is considered rather small.
How do I manage?
I keep less in my fridge. Less food, less waste. It holds enough for 7 days, my fridge doesn’t need to hold any more.
Today’s Friday fridge is quite full. I do have a shelf of salad items which will be used up over the weekend as part of lunches.
There is also a shelf full of vegetables. This will make a great slow cooked spicy soup. By adapting this soup recipe slightly, I’ll have some packed lunches for next week.
I love a leftover lunch!
(Leftover lasagne – find the recipe here)
However, even the most organised fridge occasionally produces waste.
I just didn’t use up a tub of cottage cheese. Simple as that. I didn’t do it. No excuses.
It was in sight. Not hidden at all.
Unlike the huge amounts of potential waste that I saw, hidden away in a fridge, last night.
There’s a great Channel 4 show in the UK – The Hoarder Next Door. As someone who has worked hard to improve/resolve my own hoarding habits, it makes great viewing. In Tuesday’s post, I linked to the previous episode featuring Alex.
I’m linking up again today. Last night’s episode of The Hoarder Next Door demonstrates very clearly how not to manage your fridge. Margaret, the lady whose fridge it is, has my very most sincere best wishes. To feature on a show like this, for all to see, takes courage. I truly hope, that with the help she is now receiving, she makes a life for herself that she deserves.
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 blog link into the comments section 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 without a link.
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.”
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
A dozen green beans.
I don’t count the 3 smashed bananas, because they were smashed because the bagger packed them under the heavy stuff. Unfortunately they weren’t ripe enough for smoothies or banana bread, so I can’t save them.
Save of the Week:
Y’all may remember the onion ragu/spaghetti squash that I didn’t like and didn’t want to waste. I froze it to see if inspiration struck later. I think maybe it did: I didn’t like a new soup I tried (Campbell’s Homestyle Italian Wedding). I’m going to pureee some of the former, add it to the later, and jazz it up with tabasco.
Soup saves most things (well done…). Well most. I’ve yet to save bananas in a soup, but who know’s eh?
Talking about bananas – I saved one today hooray!
A dozen green beans.
I don’t count the 3 smashed bananas, because they were smashed because the bagger packed them under the heavy stuff. Unfortunately they weren’t ripe enough for smoothies or banana bread, so I can’t save them.
Save of the Week:
Y’all may remember the onion ragu/spaghetti squash that I didn’t like and didn’t want to waste. I froze it to see if inspiration struck later. I think maybe it did: I didn’t like a new soup I tried (Campbell’s Homestyle Italian Wedding). I’m going to pureee some of the former, add it to the later, and jazz it up with tabasco.
Soup saves most things (well done…). Well most. I’ve yet to save bananas in a soup, but who know’s eh?
Talking about bananas – I saved one today hooray!
I have waste this week and its totally b/c of the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing. Its hard for me to police the fridge when there’s an uncooperative family member but its also part of the compromise of living together. I totally prefer to keep it semi-empty while a certain someone prefers to keep it fuller. 😉
Linking up:
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/food-waste-friday-32114/
Fingers crossed they come around to your way of thinking…;)
I have waste this week and its totally b/c of the ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing. Its hard for me to police the fridge when there’s an uncooperative family member but its also part of the compromise of living together. I totally prefer to keep it semi-empty while a certain someone prefers to keep it fuller. 😉
Linking up:
http://myliladventures.wordpress.com/2014/03/21/food-waste-friday-32114/
Fingers crossed they come around to your way of thinking…;)
Jo, I don’t know how long the cottage cheese was hanging around after it had been opened, but I always store my dairy products upside down. Yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream. For whatever reason, they last longer that way. It’s a tip I read years ago.
This works for me also.
Great tip Susan…I’ll try it. Thanks!
Jo, I don’t know how long the cottage cheese was hanging around after it had been opened, but I always store my dairy products upside down. Yogurt, cottage cheese, sour cream. For whatever reason, they last longer that way. It’s a tip I read years ago.
This works for me also.
Great tip Susan…I’ll try it. Thanks!
Oh dear, I have to confess that things are ‘hiding’ in the back of my fridge. I seem to end up with fresh at the front, and a little older at the back. Things seem to get hidden in the salad drawer too. Must do better! There’s an unopened pack of sliced cooked chicken with 13th of March as its best before date. That makes me feel ashamed!
If it is unopened and still smells and tastes fine, it is fine. “Best before” is a marketing practice (something discussed at length in my advanced product marketing classes at the university) and no indication of freshness or usability. “Use before” is much more ambiguous and might be an indication of when it will spoil.
Better luck next week Helen. I use my salad drawer for long life condiments, as my drawer is hard to access. I find this reduces waste.
Oh dear, I have to confess that things are ‘hiding’ in the back of my fridge. I seem to end up with fresh at the front, and a little older at the back. Things seem to get hidden in the salad drawer too. Must do better! There’s an unopened pack of sliced cooked chicken with 13th of March as its best before date. That makes me feel ashamed!
If it is unopened and still smells and tastes fine, it is fine. “Best before” is a marketing practice (something discussed at length in my advanced product marketing classes at the university) and no indication of freshness or usability. “Use before” is much more ambiguous and might be an indication of when it will spoil.
Better luck next week Helen. I use my salad drawer for long life condiments, as my drawer is hard to access. I find this reduces waste.
I think your refrigerator could be a model for not overcrowding and keeping things in view. I had no waste this week. Yea!
Well done!!!
I think your refrigerator could be a model for not overcrowding and keeping things in view. I had no waste this week. Yea!
Well done!!!