Oct
24
Green Tip #16: Picture Food Waste
I’ve mentioned how I absolutely can not stand food waste, and linked to some excellent resources to help you avoid it. But perhaps all the articles and common sense won’t have as much impact as this. I’m starting a new experiment. I will photograph all the food that I waste each month, tally how much money I threw directly into the trash, and post ideas for how to avoid food waste. Here is a simple one: I was going away last weekend and didn’t have time to cook some fish that I bought. So I put it in the freezer. It took three seconds, and then when I came home late Sunday night to a bare fridge, I actually had something real to eat rather than convenience food.
So next week you shall see my October food waste failure. If you try it as well, you might find you are much more motivated to use up food rather than throw it in the trash, because you are quite literally throwing money away. Especially when you buy good quality food!
Kate, I finally started saving all my veggie “scraps”. I have several bags in the freezer now. When I need veggie broth I pull some out, throw in some spices & herbs and the next thing I know I have the most amazing rich and healthy broth. I was amazed at how much & how quickly I accumulated the veggies that I previously had been throwing out. All that yummy goodness I have wasted all these years! Interested to see what you photograph!! Good luck!
Woohoo! Go Sharon! I’m delighted that you are saving your odds & ends for broth. It is so simple to make your own. It really does reduce your trash too. Win win. I love it! Thanks for commenting
Just started this process myself. I am linking it with eating better. This AM, before your timely prompt and thank your for your post, I cleaned out my fridge and threw away food that I am SO sad to have wasted. I am chronically ill/disabled and food shopping is one of my fun (exhaustingly fun) times and I think I just indulge myself in foolish daydreams of meals I will cook as like cooking when I can. I plan to wash out the frig (big project, here’s hoping) today so as to make a better “home” for whatever I buy or bring home as a leftover.
Oo I hear you on the fridge washing. Good luck – and just take it one step at a time! You can cut & freeze vegetables, unwrap and repack meat to put in the freezer, slice sad looking veggies into quick pickles, and eventually you will find what amount of food works best for you at the store. I highly recommend Tamar Adler’s book An Everlasting Meal, as it has great ideas for simple, delicious meal techniques and ways to revamp or reuse leftovers, either cooked or otherwise. Let us know if you have any great ideas!