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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Check this out…
Simply Being Mum’s Friday Fridge
Oh boy!
A plan is needed this Food Waste Friday. A No Waste Tastes Great plan.
I’ve a few ideas, but I’m more interested in what you would do with the contents to make a food save.
Let me list the potential-waste items for you: Starting top to bottom:
Strawberries
Salsa
Cucumber
Tomatoes
Garlic bread
Cauliflower
Peppers
Salad
Greek yoghurt
Mangoes
Kiwi Fruit
Broccoli
What would you do with this list?
So far I’ve used a mango and Kiwi – you can see how on my Instagram.
Unfortunately I do have a food waste confession to share:
I dropped a cooked, breakfast egg on the kitchen floor this morning.
Not a good look, so I’m sharing a photo of the replacement egg!
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
I see a stir fry in your future with all of those vegetables. I only had a little lettuce that went to waste. Otherwise, things went pretty well.
Great going!
I see a stir fry in your future with all of those vegetables. I only had a little lettuce that went to waste. Otherwise, things went pretty well.
Great going!
I would use the tomatoes, peppers and salsa to make a bruschetta style topping for the garlic bread and have that along with a salad for lunch.
I’d then mix a teaspoon of mint sauce (always keep it to hand) into a scoop of the greek yoghurt with some lemon juice and pepper. Makes a fab raita style dip for the cucumber as an afternoon snack.
For dinner, I’d roast the broccoli and cauli with some lemon and garlic and serve alongside fish (salmon if I have it – usually do) and any leftover raita as a sauce on top.
Big fruit salad with the rest of the yoghurt (sweetened a touch if necessary) for pud.
My fridge is empty today (mostly because I’ve only picked up essentials as and when needed recently) so no waste to report.
The raita tip is fab – thank you. I also always have mint sauce to hand. Always. When I was small I wouldn’t eat ‘Sunday roasts’ until my Mom discovered that by pouring mint sauce over the meal – I would. Still have it on roasts now.
I would use the tomatoes, peppers and salsa to make a bruschetta style topping for the garlic bread and have that along with a salad for lunch.
I’d then mix a teaspoon of mint sauce (always keep it to hand) into a scoop of the greek yoghurt with some lemon juice and pepper. Makes a fab raita style dip for the cucumber as an afternoon snack.
For dinner, I’d roast the broccoli and cauli with some lemon and garlic and serve alongside fish (salmon if I have it – usually do) and any leftover raita as a sauce on top.
Big fruit salad with the rest of the yoghurt (sweetened a touch if necessary) for pud.
My fridge is empty today (mostly because I’ve only picked up essentials as and when needed recently) so no waste to report.
The raita tip is fab – thank you. I also always have mint sauce to hand. Always. When I was small I wouldn’t eat ‘Sunday roasts’ until my Mom discovered that by pouring mint sauce over the meal – I would. Still have it on roasts now.
Our fridge is stuffed filled with condiments and it drives me bats. Tonight was left over nights.
So how would I use those ingredients. I would combine the cauliflower and broccoli to make a crunchy topped gratin style dish. I like the bruschetta style dish from the garlic bread. You could also make a salad and add strips of char gilled pepper etc to brighten it and make croutons out of the bread. If I had a number of peppers I would stuff them with a tasty filling and yogurt dressing. The salsa would make a great topping to a meat meal or even stirred through pasta. Besides fruit salad I would like to see some fruit elegantly prepared in a tall glass layered with yogurt to make a parfait. The fruit could also be pureed and frozen as ice pops.
What a thorough and useful comment Suzan. thank you I will most certainly be using your suggestions to reduce waste going further. In fact I did exactly as you described with the fruit/yogurt (it was on Instagram last Sunday. ‘Parfait’ always makes me think of Donkey from Shrek! 🙂
Our fridge is stuffed filled with condiments and it drives me bats. Tonight was left over nights.
So how would I use those ingredients. I would combine the cauliflower and broccoli to make a crunchy topped gratin style dish. I like the bruschetta style dish from the garlic bread. You could also make a salad and add strips of char gilled pepper etc to brighten it and make croutons out of the bread. If I had a number of peppers I would stuff them with a tasty filling and yogurt dressing. The salsa would make a great topping to a meat meal or even stirred through pasta. Besides fruit salad I would like to see some fruit elegantly prepared in a tall glass layered with yogurt to make a parfait. The fruit could also be pureed and frozen as ice pops.
What a thorough and useful comment Suzan. thank you I will most certainly be using your suggestions to reduce waste going further. In fact I did exactly as you described with the fruit/yogurt (it was on Instagram last Sunday. ‘Parfait’ always makes me think of Donkey from Shrek! 🙂
Assuming you have garlic-How about gazpacho from the salsa, cucumber, peppers and tomatoes (add tomato juice, olive oil and crushed garlic) and serve with tzatziki made from the yogurt, cucumber and garlic. Combine the cauliflower and broccoli and roast them. That takes care of most of it.
Sounds gorgeous! I did actually use the salad items up – but the cauli and broc thats a fantastic idea going forward. I opted for soup this time, but next that’ll be on the menu! Thanks
Assuming you have garlic-How about gazpacho from the salsa, cucumber, peppers and tomatoes (add tomato juice, olive oil and crushed garlic) and serve with tzatziki made from the yogurt, cucumber and garlic. Combine the cauliflower and broccoli and roast them. That takes care of most of it.
Sounds gorgeous! I did actually use the salad items up – but the cauli and broc thats a fantastic idea going forward. I opted for soup this time, but next that’ll be on the menu! Thanks
Worst case scenario if you can’t use them soon enough – Freeze chopped strawberries (use in jellies, crumbles, compote, pies..), chopped peppers, tomatoes (use in pasta/pizza sauce or soup), yogurt and garlic bread.
I’d probably do Jamie Oilver’s cauliflower ‘rice’ with the cauli – my new ‘thing’ at the mo. Served with vegi curry and yogurt
It also depends on whether it all needs using now/ tomorrow, or whether some can wait for a few days – gives more options if that’s the case 🙂
Thanks Louise – I’ll be checking out JO recipe asap. Sounds fab!
Worst case scenario if you can’t use them soon enough – Freeze chopped strawberries (use in jellies, crumbles, compote, pies..), chopped peppers, tomatoes (use in pasta/pizza sauce or soup), yogurt and garlic bread.
I’d probably do Jamie Oilver’s cauliflower ‘rice’ with the cauli – my new ‘thing’ at the mo. Served with vegi curry and yogurt
It also depends on whether it all needs using now/ tomorrow, or whether some can wait for a few days – gives more options if that’s the case 🙂
Thanks Louise – I’ll be checking out JO recipe asap. Sounds fab!
I was thinking bruschetta also…..plus the fruit would be lovely in a fruit tart with shortbread crust and crème anglais. I would use the broccoli and cauliflower in a wild rice/cheddar/vegetable casserole (similar to one found at Smitten Kitchen).
Bruschetta came out on top… in fact sounds so good may just buy the stuff next week to make it anyhow… thanks for heads up on Smitten Kitchen!
I was thinking bruschetta also…..plus the fruit would be lovely in a fruit tart with shortbread crust and crème anglais. I would use the broccoli and cauliflower in a wild rice/cheddar/vegetable casserole (similar to one found at Smitten Kitchen).
Bruschetta came out on top… in fact sounds so good may just buy the stuff next week to make it anyhow… thanks for heads up on Smitten Kitchen!
I’m sure all this stuff has been eaten now, but for what it’s worth:
Strawberries, kiwi , mango and greek yogurt for puddings or breakfast smoothies
Tabbouleh to use up the cucumber, tomatoes
Cauflower and peppers in a curry – with chickpeas for veggie or meat if not
Broccoli soup and garlic bread spread with salsa
Not sure how you eat salad, but we’re happy to eat it with anything here – even curry!
Thanks Rae… all sound advice. The smoothies are a definite, I have recently been converted to how simple they are. And so great for using stuff up! Need to e-mail you – havent forgotten…
I’m sure all this stuff has been eaten now, but for what it’s worth:
Strawberries, kiwi , mango and greek yogurt for puddings or breakfast smoothies
Tabbouleh to use up the cucumber, tomatoes
Cauflower and peppers in a curry – with chickpeas for veggie or meat if not
Broccoli soup and garlic bread spread with salsa
Not sure how you eat salad, but we’re happy to eat it with anything here – even curry!
Thanks Rae… all sound advice. The smoothies are a definite, I have recently been converted to how simple they are. And so great for using stuff up! Need to e-mail you – havent forgotten…
I was having a great week … until I went away for a day and a half. The damage: 2.5 fresh apricots, almost all of pear, an apple.
Oh my – I know you try so hard, so that must have hit home!
I was having a great week … until I went away for a day and a half. The damage: 2.5 fresh apricots, almost all of pear, an apple.
Oh my – I know you try so hard, so that must have hit home!
One advantage of having various animals is that if something from our fridge is destined for the bin it more than likely ends up in a dog, chicken or pig!
One advantage of having various animals is that if something from our fridge is destined for the bin it more than likely ends up in a dog, chicken or pig!