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Avoiding food waste ... and making something yummy!

jenn mccabe

jenn mccabe

She's OUR sunshine!
Joined
Jan 5, 2013
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Sorry for the gross post yesterday about things you've eaten accidentally ...

Today, I'm trying to turn things around and talk about useful tips for using up foods that aren't quite the freshest, tasiest ... but are not quite ready to be thrown out. I am one who hates to throw out food. It drives me so crazy. Especially expensive stuff like fresh produce.

I will take berries and other smoothie type fruits that are past their prime for eating and freeze them to use in smoothies.
I freeze (refrigerate if I think I will use soon) brown bananas for future baking.
I grab veggies and throw them in a pot as a soup base.

And just now I had 2 small pears that were kinda milly/super soft ... I cut them up and they just did not taste too good to eat plain ... but I put them in a bowl, with fresh rolled oats, some almond milk and microwaved for 2.5 minutes. I added raisins, walnuts, pecans, cinnamon and a sprinkle of coconut flakes. Oh my it is yummy!

My tummy is happy and my wallet is happy that I didn't have to throw those pears out.

So ... wondering do you toss ... or try to repurpose? If you repurpose ... I want to hear your tips and tricks!
 
I hardly toss anything. In the last few years I have become a big promoter of re-using and giving stuff to people to re-use what I would otherwise throw away. I am on a swap site where you can swap practically everything except food. I love the idea that things get not thrown away but other people get still some joy or use out of it.

For food I haven't many tips though. I usually make a weekly meal plan and if I have something in the fridge that needs to go soon I try to find a meal for the upcoming days that incorporates that stuff. For example Saturday is homemade pizza night and I always have mushrooms left over. So on Monday or so I try to make mushroom Lasagne, for example. Or with fruit that need to go I try to make a cake. Just stuff like that.
 
I, too, use old bananas for baking. I will freeze them if I'm not planning to bake anything right away.
We have chickens so a lot of our leftovers go to them. They are little garbage disposals. We also have bunnies so we give some fruit to them.
I freeze spinach for my green smoothies.
My husband keeps turkey/chicken carcasses for homemade stock/broth.
 
I got tired of throwing food away so I'm constantly at the grocery store buying things we need for next couple days.
I noticed we wasted a LOT of food when I tried to do "meal planning" because what sounded good at the time just didn't sound good later in the week.
 
bbymks5 said:
I got tired of throwing food away so I'm constantly at the grocery store buying things we need for next couple days.
I noticed we wasted a LOT of food when I tried to do "meal planning" because what sounded good at the time just didn't sound good later in the week.
Click to expand...
I have the same experience - if I buy food for a bunch of meals in advance, then life tends to get in the way and I don't always cook through it all before it goes bad. So I end up at the grocery store a lot!

One thing I like to do is cut up bits of older fruit, older bananas, leftover greens, etc. and add them to quart ziplocks I keep in the freezer. Then when I am running late some morning, I pop the whole contents of the ziplock in the blender with some almond milk: instant smoothie!

This one drives my husband nuts: I make little meals for the backyard critters (raccoons, opossums, etc.) out of food that's a bit too old for people but plenty good for my little friends! I leave the meals waaayyy down at the bottom of our yard at the edge of the woods, and I like to picture the animals having a surprise dinner party! But I am a little nutty like that :)
 
Hubby will no longer entertain the thought of eating outside restaurants on the rare occasion we do go out to eat b/c I always end up feeding the birds LOL!

Christina W said:
This one drives my husband nuts: I make little meals for the backyard critters (raccoons, opossums, etc.) out of food that's a bit too old for people but plenty good for my little friends! I leave the meals waaayyy down at the bottom of our yard at the edge of the woods, and I like to picture the animals having a surprise dinner party! But I am a little nutty like that :)
Click to expand...
 
I save any vegetable that is not eaten, even if it just a few spoonfuls. I freeze them all in one container and when it is full, I make vegetable soup. Yum!
 
Sad vegetables become soup.
Sad potatoes become twice baked potatoes.
Tomatoes become sauce, and then I freeze them.
Old bread becomes croutons. I have to be more careful on that, because I keep catching it when it's already moldy, and that I won't eat.
Strawberries I turn into glaze. And serve over dessert or pancakes.

I can't think of any others right now.
 
Meredith78 said:
I sometimes freeze leftover wine in ice cube trays so that I can add it to meals (for cooking) later...but there isn't often left over wine! :)
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that is genius. i never seem to have white wine when i need it to cook a dish! love that tip!
 
bbymks5 said:
I got tired of throwing food away so I'm constantly at the grocery store buying things we need for next couple days.
I noticed we wasted a LOT of food when I tried to do "meal planning" because what sounded good at the time just didn't sound good later in the week.
Click to expand...
I think I fall into this category too at times and it is the root of my issue. I always meal plan and shop one week at a time. I really need to do 2 trips and plan for 3- 4 days but I hate grocery shopping so much!
 
Christina W said:
I have the same experience - if I buy food for a bunch of meals in advance, then life tends to get in the way and I don't always cook through it all before it goes bad. So I end up at the grocery store a lot!

One thing I like to do is cut up bits of older fruit, older bananas, leftover greens, etc. and add them to quart ziplocks I keep in the freezer. Then when I am running late some morning, I pop the whole contents of the ziplock in the blender with some almond milk: instant smoothie!

This one drives my husband nuts: I make little meals for the backyard critters (raccoons, opossums, etc.) out of food that's a bit too old for people but plenty good for my little friends! I leave the meals waaayyy down at the bottom of our yard at the edge of the woods, and I like to picture the animals having a surprise dinner party! But I am a little nutty like that :)
Click to expand...
good tip w/the individual smoothie bags!
and that is so darn cute! i love that you feed the wildlife little meals!
 
djp332 said:
I save any vegetable that is not eaten, even if it just a few spoonfuls. I freeze them all in one container and when it is full, I make vegetable soup. Yum!
Click to expand...
very smart! i bet they all add up way more than you think.

my shit zhu is a little vegetarian - he eats really small portions of leftover fruits and veggies - he'll eat anything except lettuce/leafy things. so he usually gets the tiny little scraps.
 
bestcee said:
Sad vegetables become soup.
Sad potatoes become twice baked potatoes.
Tomatoes become sauce, and then I freeze them.
Old bread becomes croutons. I have to be more careful on that, because I keep catching it when it's already moldy, and that I won't eat.
Strawberries I turn into glaze. And serve over dessert or pancakes.

I can't think of any others right now.
Click to expand...
I used to do my own breadcrumbs - it's been awhile, I think mostly because I don't make meals with breadcrumbs too often these days. (I hear you on the mold - nope!) And the strawberry glaze sounds so fancy ... yum!
 
Over the last few years my family have really been trying to reduce our food waste and single-use plastics.
We have a diy worm farm for some of our food scraps, and we have the bunnies for some other food scraps (carrots, apple skins). And our friends down the road just bought chickens so all the extra stuff goes to them!
We freeze all of our dinner leftovers, and we meal plan, but go to the store every couple of days to minimise the waste.
 
I'm not very creative in this area. We do have store-bought rotisserie chicken fairly frequently and I often save the left-over chicken to make chicken enchiladas. I'll freeze it if not ready to use right away.
 
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