It’s Friday Guys. Food Waste Friday.
I’m here once more to confess my food waste and celebrate any saves.
And of course to share a photo of my Friday fridge.
Feeling brave? Share your Friday fridge photo over on my Facebook page.
There was some bread wasted this week. It caught me a little by surprise. Only purchased 2 days ago, I went to make packed lunches this morning to discover mould spots. Now I have decided not to photograph it today, I’m not a fan of mouldy food photos. Once in a while is tolerable, but not today.
(Tonight’s dinner is homemade sweet and sour chicken again. Like my 7-year-old son keeps commenting it’s a ‘religion’ to which my 10-year-old daughter replies you mean ‘tradition’.)
So, being my own biggest critic, as per usual I started to blame myself for the mould. Surely I could have prevented it?
Then I came to my senses. It does not matter how mindful you are in reducing food waste, some will slip through the net.
It’s encouraging, and motivating, to recognise how far you have come.
To remember that thought, and practice, has led to much less being wasted now than a few years ago.
Leading onto my 5 ways to reduce food waste this Friday!
- Meal plan and only buy what you intend to use within 7 days
- Make all perishable items visible in the refrigerator
- Do a daily inventory of the fridge
- Think outside of the recipe and use what you have rather than buy more
- Have a weekly routine of cleaning and restocking the fridge identifying items urgently requiring consumption
But how I do it is only the tip of the iceberg, how do you do it?
I would love to compile a comprehensive list of tips to share with everyone. Please do pop your tips in the comments section below! It works better when we work together. And please share your own Food Waste Friday blog post! Or anything else at all!
I try to freeze everything I can before it goes bad, if I know I can’t use it up. Or precook it for another night. Also if some things are washed and pre- cut you might be more likely to use or eat it.
There is no way you could have known bread would go mo(u)ldy in two days time, that is just ridiculous! If that happened I’d be able to return it to my local supermarket for a refund, but don’t know if you’d be able to do that where you are.
In regards to the bread, my family always froze it. When we needed it for sandwiches or whatever, into the toaster it would go! I was astounded when I found out that normal people don’t freeze their bread. But hey, it works.
I stopped shopping on the same day every week. I still meal plan every Saturday, but I start with what’s on hand and try to stretch the shopping out an extra few days. I find I’m usually only shopping 3 times a month now (with top ups for fresh produce and milk if necessary) rather than every week. Saves waste and money, brilliant!
Lovely ideas! I’m currently go shopping when I really don’t have anything to cook at home. This way I can plan my meals to the last product left and buy only fruit and vegetables more often than other stuff. Here are some good ideas for me to try. Thank you for this nice post!
My pleasure 🙂