Comments on Crunchy Chicken: Food Waste Challenge check-in: week 1

For the most part things are going well here, my p...

2010-02-12T10:45:19.517-08:00

For the most part things are going well here, my parents live near by and were going on vacation so we actually snagged a few things that would've been needlessly thrown out from their fridge as well before they left. So, mostly it's just been avocado pits, orange peels and the like headed for the compost... The biggest problem is that my son, he's two, had just figured out how to open the refrigerator by himself resulting in the loss of a large amount of Rice Milk, some cheese and leftovers. He's also taken to eating part of an apple and then hiding the rest around the house... But otherwise I think we've been managing to make our way without much unnecessarily getting trashed

I didn't do too badly. I did not clean out my ...

2010-02-09T05:18:46.021-08:00

I didn't do too badly. I did not clean out my fridge before I started the challenge so there was some waste there, all went into the compost except for meat and dairy. I have been putting veggie peelings, onion skins and slices and small amounts of veggies left from dinner into a container in the freezer. When it is full I make veggie stock with it. The veggie mush that is left is then added to my compost, which at the moment is frozen. I just started my winter CSA last Friday and received 1 large head of butter crunch lettuce, 1 large romaine and a large bag of mixed greens. I am the only one who eats salad consistently so this is going to be an interesting week!

I didn't throw out any food this week. I made ...

2010-02-08T18:25:41.130-08:00

I didn't throw out any food this week. I made chili, cheese, and corn bread to use up some jalapenos and cheddar cheese before they went bad. I made a huge batch of Cuban beans and rice to use up some other things in the fridge, ate some for dinner, and froze half of the leftovers for quick meals later.

Freezing things that I can't use right away and before they go bad has been very helpful. I don't have an extra freezer. Just the top mount freezer on my refrigerator.

Just peels and such here. Since I joined the farm ...

2010-02-08T15:48:20.327-08:00

Just peels and such here. Since I joined the farm share here a couple months ago, I've been planning meals and shopping for only what I need so food waste has been limited to the aformentioned inedible bits.
Any of the milk drinkers consider switching to a non-dairy substitute? I used to have milk spoil constantly before I switched - unsweetened almond milk is the preferred variety. You can keep it on the pantry shelf for months until you open it, and I've never had an open one spoil in the fridge.

Sonja - We just add to the subzero compost and it ...

2010-02-08T14:00:42.811-08:00

Sonja - We just add to the subzero compost and it just sits there til warmer weather when it all starts composting again. The only tricky part is sometimes the raccoon-proof lid gets frozen shut and its a bit tricky to get off.

I didn't clean out my stash before starting, s...

2010-02-08T11:08:39.727-08:00

I didn't clean out my stash before starting, so this week I threw out a REALLY old container of sour cream from who knows when. I also wasted a block of tofu, 10oz, I think, that I forgot to change the water on, so it spoiled quickly. Finally, I have a half bag of clementines that will need to go this week, I just keep putting it off because it makes me sad. Otherwise, I ate everything or fed it to the bunnies. I'm not going to get all crazy and count egg shells and lemon seeds or peels. Sorry, to me, that's compost originally, and not food waste that I could have eaten, which is the point of this challenge for me.

I think I did pretty good. I had to get rid of a ...

2010-02-08T06:20:20.148-08:00

I think I did pretty good. I had to get rid of a quart of milk (it was bad) and the leftover three bean salad went to the chickens - they were thrilled. My boys came home from college this weekend, so they were happy to bring back care packages with them.

We did pretty well. Most of our waste came from t...

2010-02-08T05:13:32.504-08:00

We did pretty well. Most of our waste came from the kids as well. I save ends of onions and carrots for stock. The rest went to the chickens or out to the compost pile. My chickens would like it if we just stopped and gave them all people food.

My kids think they have been in leftover hell this...

2010-02-08T05:13:03.253-08:00

My kids think they have been in leftover hell this weekend. I love it, but I think I am going to have to let 3 pieces of enchilada bake go. It was not really anyone's favorite. I am also struggling with subzero composting guilt. If your compost bucket is frozen solid, is it ok to add to it?

Week one and... it would have been a cup of leftov...

2010-02-07T20:50:00.958-08:00

Week one and... it would have been a cup of leftover rice and noodles from Grandma's takeaway container, but then I found a 6-piece chicken wing thingy in the back of the fridge. Eww.

I threw out the leftover cooked pumpkin. It had a...

2010-02-07T20:09:54.525-08:00

I threw out the leftover cooked pumpkin. It had an off-flavor when I cooked it, but then I tried to rescue it with some spices. It just did not work. At least the seeds are tasty. Now that I am in my February Dollar a Day challenge, I am wasting nothing else so far.

I discovered that my biggest challenge will be to ...

2010-02-07T19:17:59.212-08:00

I discovered that my biggest challenge will be to eat what I have, and not go out or "just grab a snack while I'm here". I slipped and ate food at UNO's yesterday, but considering I almost passed out at the mall (another bad thing :-P), I consider it overall not the wrong choice. Also, I convinced my bf to buy more shelf stable options so that HE can eat out less as well.

I did pretty well. The only wastage was my lovely...

2010-02-07T16:47:09.461-08:00

I did pretty well. The only wastage was my lovely packed lunch of coconut chicken curry leftovers that I left on the kitchen counter when I went to work. I was kicking myself at lunchtime, let me tell you. Even with all my meticulous meal planning and tracking of leftovers, there's no accounting for airheadedness, I suppose.

I am happy about some of the freezer and pantry items that have been hanging around for a while that I managed to use up this week - frozen garlic-whistle pesto, frozen blackberries, some specialty flours that I probably shouldn't have bought, and some pecans that I didn't want to go rancid.

I left the rest of the yogurt I was using as a sta...

2010-02-07T15:48:51.863-08:00

I left the rest of the yogurt I was using as a starter out on the counter all night, and had to pitch it. Then the yogurt itself didn't come out, so that was half a gallon of milk gone. That was really frustrating!

I did OK except for the pot of rice I had to compo...

2010-02-07T14:39:24.756-08:00

I did OK except for the pot of rice I had to compost because I shut it off in the middle of cooking on accident. was not sure how to save it. My kids have a few scraps on their plates that the dogs eat. I decided that these are OK because I don't buy dog treats. the dogs look forward to their nightly treats. it is usually a few spoonfuls. i have to use some veges tonight or I will be reporting more next week.

By 'caught' I mean before it's gone of...

2010-02-07T14:12:10.985-08:00

By 'caught' I mean before it's gone off, not actually caught as in live produce!

We've not thrown out ANYTHING this week! I'...

2010-02-07T14:10:56.156-08:00

We've not thrown out ANYTHING this week! I'm so proud! We've caught and cooked and eaten everything as we've needed to, with the exception of four apples that will go in to a salad for dinner tomorrow. We get our new vegetable delivery tomorrow, so it's perfect timing. I used the last 'bits' of veggie to stuff a red pepper for lunch today. I'm really pleased with our no wastage for this week!

I admit... I HAVE NO IDEA!!! We did well with eati...

2010-02-07T13:24:12.895-08:00

I admit... I HAVE NO IDEA!!! We did well with eating leftovers, but I was at course fair at school when my husband cleaned out the fridge on trash night, so I have no freaking clue what he threw out. Some spaghetti maybe? My pregnant brain doesn't remember...

I promise to try to do better next week!

I've kept updates on my blog. But overall, I ...

2010-02-07T12:49:29.251-08:00

I've kept updates on my blog. But overall, I think I did pretty well. I have been more aware of what is in my house and how to best use it.
For example we have honeybells (we get them yearly, and sadly I usually throw a good half of them away, but I decided not to do that this year), so we have been enjoying them with lunches and dinners, and I have been saving the skins, drying them and using them when I boil water to add moisture - then composting them.

Most days were pretty good, but we had one really bad day. The intention was good to use of some leftovers.

We had left over stuffing from Thanksgiving and I should have put it up in two smaller containers, because if I wanted both I could have taken out both. I used said stuffing to stuff some pork chops, and ended up tossing half the stuffing.
In addition some months back (Dec) I bought asparagus and ended up not using it. Then when the fridge was broken it froze, so I just tossed it in the freezer, well it smelled and tasted funny so I tossed it (should have composted it) and then cooked up to much frozen corn and didn't save the scant 1/4c left overs for chili or soup, I was defeated that day and I just tossed it as well.

Other than that our composting has been limited to skins and shells.

Since I eat almost anything and have no kids to fu...

2010-02-07T12:40:33.575-08:00

Since I eat almost anything and have no kids to fuss with, I only composted egg shells and such. I usually feed my apple and pear cores to the dogs because they love fruit. But so far no real food got tossed.

I tossed a perfectly good cup of yogurt because I ...

2010-02-07T11:53:43.636-08:00

I tossed a perfectly good cup of yogurt because I forgot about it in my lunch box for a few days. I still have sweet rice to eat for dessert. I have a bag of apples that I need to either eat or make something with soon.

I'm doing pretty well. Last weekend I made a ...

2010-02-07T11:40:36.184-08:00

I'm doing pretty well. Last weekend I made a big pot of ham and bean soup with veggies. The veggie scraps went into the freezer for next week's soup base. The frozen bag I used this week was composted after making the broth. Of course the ham bone went into the broth too, but that went to the farm dogs, not the composter. The soup, all but one quart of it, fed some local kids. I cleaned out the fridge the week before the challenge, and I just got back from the PASA Conference (Friday - Sunday for me), so there shouldn't be many leftovers in there. I think I'm doing ok...saving the veggie scraps through the week really contributes to a nice soup stock on the weekend.

Oops - I forgot about the challenge :( It's ...

2010-02-07T11:30:12.521-08:00

Oops - I forgot about the challenge :(

It's been frigid here all week (minus 30C w/windchill) so I think my brain froze.

Anyway - tossed some hard-as-bullets clementines that had hidden out in the laundry room under a newspaper, an old onion and some limp lettuce leaves.

I'll try to remember about this challenge now.

Not doing too bad here. Small pieces of bad onion....

2010-02-07T11:06:35.401-08:00

Not doing too bad here. Small pieces of bad onion. Tomato seeds from making salsa. I just can't bear the thought of the extra seeds and juice in my pico de gallo. Non-negotiable. Lime rind and tapped out pulp. Seeds from jalapenos. a few stray stems of cilantro, but very little because I put it ALL in.

Tip for salad...buy leaf lettuce instead of iceberg heads. I find that the leaf lettuce can be used more sparingly as you only pull off as much as you need for one meal.

Nothing major got pitched this week I think. There are still a few things in the fridge, but hubby usually takes those leftovers for lunch during the week or they get eaten on the weekend. Case in point, leftover chili is going on a mountain of nachos during the Super Bowl this evening. Along the previously mentioned salsa.

We have the same problem here with a kid that eats like a bird. I am strongly enforcing the finish your lunch before you get any "snack" after school. Just EAT already!

Same goes with breakfast. Made Amish Friendship bread this week and it looks like it’s all gone. 7 more days before the next batch gets made.

Chickens got bread crusts and heels from daily sandwich makings; son won’t eat the crusts >:( .

Oh, and coffee grounds went into the compost per usual.

I do need to do a pantry and fridge purge, so that may happen later in the week since I didn't do it before the challenge started.