do you throw away much food?

[Goldy1]

I have gotten better but still do some.

[disneysteve]

This is something we need to work on. We throw out way too much food. Our biggest problem areas are bread and produce. We do a lot of vegetarian cooking so we buy a lot of fresh veggies. Unfortunately, many veggies can't be bought in small quantities. You can't buy 2 stalks of bok choy, for example. You need to buy a whole head. Asparagus is sold in a large bunch. Stuff like that.

As for bread, I tend to freeze stuff as soon as soon as we get home but my wife and daughter prefer to leave stuff fresh and certain things don't freeze well.

We need to figure out how to use all that we buy more efficiently.

[PrincessPerky]

I have 4 klutzy kids..I sweep up enough to feed a family in Africa every day... (Americans eat way more than that)

Though food going bad, we are getting quite good at using everything...course I did just toss a thing of yogurt and some spag...

[whitestripe]

it is very rare that i throw food away. slightly wilted vegetables i use for my dogs food (which i make every 7 days). DF always takes leftovers as it saves him making his lunch at 5am in the morning.


bread is an exception - i work at a bakery so i bring home (for free) a loaf every day i work (three days a week) I give one or two loaves to my parents and one for our house - but usually we throw out half a loaf a week.

[ladydii]

I need to get way better at watching this as we throw out WAY too much food, most often produce. Sometimes my intentions are better than my actions. I am pretty good at using up leftovers but do need to work more on the produce and bread issues.

[JBinKC]

I do a pretty good job. Definitely below 15% which is supposed to be the average amount pitched. Milk is the one thing I often never end up finishing up before it sours.

On the old bread I save and grate it for breadcrumbs.

I guess my frugality is rooted from childhood because if I didn't clean my plate that food got served back to me the next day

[buildmybudget]

I would say we do a pretty poor job right now too. But with a new semester starting we'll be planning lunches and dinners for a whole week and leverage on night of cooking into 3 meals or so.

[rob62521]

I would say it depends. I try to plan meals to use up what we have, but I just threw away two overripe bananas. I normally make banana bread, but the recipe calls for three (yeah, I know I can freeze them), but then reflected that when I bake banana bread, I give it away since dh doesn't like banana bread. Right now things are a little tight money wise so I'm not sure how frugal it is to bake bread to give away and use flour, yogurt, brown sugar and eggs.

Disneysteve, do you eat eggs and cheese? If so, one way you could use up bread and some of the vegetables is to make an egg casserole. You take the crusts off the bread, and soak them in the eggs. I use about 4-5 eggs for two of us and add milk if the bread seems to soak everything up too quickly, then use whatever leftover vegetables and cheese to mix in. Leave it in the fridge overnight and then bake covered at 400 for about 40 minutes and uncover for about 5.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by rob62521

Disneysteve, do you eat eggs and cheese? If so, one way you could use up bread and some of the vegetables is to make an egg casserole. You take the crusts off the bread, and soak them in the eggs. I use about 4-5 eggs for two of us and add milk if the bread seems to soak everything up too quickly, then use whatever leftover vegetables and cheese to mix in. Leave it in the fridge overnight and then bake covered at 400 for about 40 minutes and uncover for about 5.

Sounds good. That wouldn't solve our waste problem, though. We toss out bread because it has started growing green fuzzy stuff, so by then it would be too late to use it in a casserole.

[rob62521]

Originally Posted by disneysteve

Sounds good. That wouldn't solve our waste problem, though. We toss out bread because it has started growing green fuzzy stuff, so by then it would be too late to use it in a casserole.

Can't help you with your "science experiment" with the green fuzzy stuff.

[PrincessPerky]

Oh but you could try to make penicillin!

Do you put your bread in the fridge? It lasts longer that way.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by PrincessPerky

Do you put your bread in the fridge? It lasts longer that way.

It does last longer that way, but also gets all dried out. Personally, I'd rather freeze it, though that alters the texture, too. At least it doesn't turn green and end up in the trash.

[JBinKC]

Dried out bread at least has some remaining food value as it can be used as a source of breadcrumbs.

[Ima saver]

The thing we waste the most is milk. Neither of us drink milk, but we need some from time to time for things like pancakes or soup. I just buy the smallest container I can find.

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by Ima saver

The thing we waste the most is milk. Neither of us drink milk, but we need some from time to time for things like pancakes or soup. I just buy the smallest container I can find.

That's an easy one to fix. Buy dry milk and just mix some up when you need it.

[kenyantykoon]

i dont throw away food. ever. i think that it would be the abomination of abominations that would cause God to strike me dead seeing as how so many of my country men are dying away of hunger

[mickeylily]

Waste food, or waste your health with bad food? It's better to choose health.
Why don't u make a list according to ur cooking plan, then buy food as the list?

[disneysteve]

Originally Posted by mickeylily

Why don't u make a list according to ur cooking plan, then buy food as the list?

That is a common recommendation, but it isn't always so easy to put into practice. My family is not together for dinner every night due to varying schedules. We eat together Thursday night and usually Friday night. Weekends we're usually together though sometimes DD is off at some youth group event or we go out somewhere and dine out. Monday and Tuesday nights I work late. Wednesday nights, DD has religious school and I often have meetings so we eat on the go.

Makes it tough to buy something and use it up before it goes bad.

[Staceyy]

We rarely throw away food. I was really surprised at how long bread will last if stored in the microwave. We went away on a trip for a week and forgot and left an open but resealed bag of bread in the microwave, where we store our bread due to lack of counter or other space. The bread was totally fresh. If it had been left out on the counter, it would have been moldy. We also often freeze our bread.

Most leftovers are eaten the next day or frozen. I chop onions and green peppers and freeze them. I freeze berries such as fresh strawberries, blackberries etc. to keep them from going bad. If I'm going out of town for a week, I will freeze my milk. They say the plastic green bags will prolong the life of your fruits and vegetables, but I've never tried them. Frozen leftovers often make their way into my homemade soups.

[cptacek]

My sister always chops her green/red/yellow peppers and freezes them. She says that is a good way to store them. I need to do that, but haven't yet got in the habit