# Most often discarded food item **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 4, 2006, 4:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962 "2006-02-04T04:42:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![phall0106](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/phall0106/32/5934_2.png) [@phall0106](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phall0106)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/21 "2006-02-04T14:14:46Z")
Yogurt–I always have good intentions, but when I want a snack, I rarely feel like eating yogurt. Lemons–they’re so pretty sitting in a basket, but do I actually USE them? Rarely. I wind up pitching them when they’ve become shriveled and rock solid. Lunch meat–I always, always, always forget I have it. Right now, there’s 1/4 lb of sliced ham in my fridge, shiney and slimey, waiting to be thrown in the trash. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/22 "2006-02-04T14:55:44Z")
Lettuce, and bananas, for the reasons mentioned. We’ll buy all the stuff for tacos, or BLT sandwiches, and then the rest of the lettuce goes in the vegetable drawer until we throw it out. Nowadays I have trained myself to buy only one banana, because by the time I get around to the second one, it’s black and shrivelled up. Speaking of discarded items, has anybody ever eaten the sprig of parsley that comes with some restaurant dinners? I don’t know of anyone. I wouldn’t do it. That sprig could be plastic for all I know, and they just reuse a handful of them. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/23 "2006-02-04T15:16:56Z")
> [@CanvasShoes](#): > > Milk. Hands down. I don’t really like it, except for on cereal. And I don’t eat cereal often enough to drink the whole carton. It’s almost impossible to find smaller cartons of 2%, so I often end up throwing away a quart or more of milk. That used to be me, until my mom pointed out that organic milk has an extremely long fridge life. I have a carton now that I bought a week ago, and the sell-by date on it is March 14th. It costs around a dollar more for a half-gallon, but I would have normally been buying two half-gallons of the regular stuff in that time (and throwing half of it away). ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/24 "2006-02-04T15:42:04Z")
I eat the sprig of parsley. It cleans your breath after your meal. Seriously. Put me down for lettuce, too, although it’s gotten better since I stopped storing it in the crisper. Out of sight, out of mind for me - I just put it and all my other vegetables on the shelf where I can see them and remind myself to eat them. Another one for us is fresh herbs in the little plastic packs. I use a few sprigs with what I bought them for, then they sit. ---
**Author:** ![Sternvogel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bc79bd/32.png) [@Sternvogel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sternvogel)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/25 "2006-02-04T15:45:45Z")
> [@fishbicycle](#): > > Speaking of discarded items, has anybody ever eaten the sprig of parsley that comes with some restaurant dinners? I don’t know of anyone. Well, you do now – I eat the garnish about half the time. However, parsley is also the food I most routinely throw away. It’s an ingredient in a couple of dishes that I regularly prepare, but the bunches that the stores around here sell are so large that I generally can’t use all the parsley. Occasionally, I’ll spot, or “accidentally” separate, a few stray stalks from the bundle. I still get charged the full unit price, but at least I don’t waste half of what I purchase. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/26 "2006-02-04T15:50:16Z")
I bought a 4-pack of sherbet cones 2 years ago. The last cone is still in the pantry somewhere. Can’t think of any food that gets _routinely_ wasted, though. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/27 "2006-02-04T15:53:39Z")
I could have fed half of the starving children in Africa with the amount of sour cream I throw out in a year. ---
**Author:** ![Lissla\_Lissar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8491ac/32.png) [@Lissla\_Lissar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissla_Lissar)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/28 "2006-02-04T17:17:25Z")
Herbs, lettuce, fruit. I really like frozen food. It doesn’t go bad nearly as fast. Unfortunately the Marketing Gods have yet to perfect frozen lettuce. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/29 "2006-02-04T18:33:53Z")
Anything that gets put in the “crisper” drawers of the fridge. Seriously, next time I buy a refrigerator, I’m looking for a model that just has shelves…no drawers. I’m with everyone else on the banana thing…except instead of throwing them away when they start to get brown, I think, “Oh, hey I’ll make banana bread, but, um not today…” and I put them in the freezer. When the freezer is full of black bananas, _then_ I throw them out. ---
**Author:** ![Savannah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b3f665/32.png) [@Savannah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Savannah)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/30 "2006-02-04T18:40:25Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Put me down for lettuce, too, although it’s gotten better since I stopped storing it in the crisper. Out of sight, out of mind for me - I just put it and all my other vegetables on the shelf where I can see them and remind myself to eat them. Exactly. Now my husband’s cans of Coke and the flour are stored in the crisper, and the perishables are in as plain sight as I can get them. Too many sad discoveries of vegetation-gone-liquid… ---
**Author:** ![SkipMagic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skipmagic/32/20706_2.png) [@SkipMagic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkipMagic)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/31 "2006-02-04T19:03:09Z")
This is better-suited for IMHO. I’ll discard this there for you. ---
**Author:** ![Ludy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Ludy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludy)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/32 "2006-02-04T19:06:10Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > Anything that gets put in the “crisper” drawers of the fridge. Seriously, next time I buy a refrigerator, I’m looking for a model that just has shelves…no drawers. My boyfriend insists that crispers are where you put things to die. In ours, there is quite alot of veggies that are creating their own compost. I am too scared to open the draws. ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/33 "2006-02-04T19:10:45Z")
> [@Savannah](#): > > Exactly. Now my husband’s cans of Coke and the flour are stored in the crisper, and the perishables are in as plain sight as I can get them. Too many sad discoveries of vegetation-gone-liquid… Ooh, great idea! I think I’ll put Pepsi in one drawer and beer in the other. It’s not like I’ll ever forget we have beer. ---
**Author:** ![Campion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4491bb/32.png) [@Campion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Campion)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/34 "2006-02-04T19:29:40Z")
> [@Rhiannon8404](#): > > I’m with everyone else on the banana thing…except instead of throwing them away when they start to get brown, I think, “Oh, hey I’ll make banana bread, but, um not today…” and I put them in the freezer. When the freezer is full of black bananas, _then_ I throw them out. I used to do this, too. But now, like you, I no longer put my bananas into the purgatory of the freezer. They go directly to their great reward in the trash bin. Or they get taken to my parents’ house. My father, who will pretty much eat _anything_, will eat a banana at any stage of its ripeness. In fact, one time my uncle was coming to stay and he is apparently allergic to bananas; they can’t even be in the house with him (or he can’t be in the house with them; I didn’t get details). So, after dinner, mom went to the fruit bowl, pulled out the two dessicated, shriveled nearly black bananas, and handed them to my father, who cheerfully ate them both. It was beyond disgusting. > [@FairyChatMom](#): > > Sacks o’salad. They go on sale, so I’ll buy two. We’ll have a nice salad for dinner the night I bring it home. Then the other sack sits in the crisper drawer till it’s mush. Guilty. Add cucumbers, tomatoes, etc. to the list, and like everyone else, my fridge drawers are simply really slow-working compost piles. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/35 "2006-02-04T19:30:53Z")
We keep soda in one drawer and beer in the other. It’s very convenient. I’ll take all your brown bananas. More spots = tastier banana. Squishy is good too. I do stop at completely black. We throw out a lot of old sour cream (two tablespoons left in the package) and old lettuce. There’s just too much in a head for two people. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/36 "2006-02-04T20:05:03Z")
Lots of various veggies. There used to be a great product, these bags with little holes in them, and veggies would last freaking forever in these things. I’m convinced the product was killed because of its incredibly stupid ad campaign with a talking green thumb. Man, I wish they made those things again. ---
**Author:** ![Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e56c9b/32.png) [@Harriet\_the\_Spry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harriet_the_Spry)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/37 "2006-02-04T20:20:34Z")
Lettuce - me too! I’ve also been through a phase of unopened containers of hummus that failed the carbon dating. For those of you who throw out fresh herbs, including parsley and cilantro, and those little plastic things of basil, rosemary, etc., I used to do that too. Y’know what? You can freeze them! So after you cook the fancy meal you bought them for, put them in the freezer, right in their plastic container is fine, or in a zip lock. They won’t be pretty for garnish anymore, but just fine for any kind of roasting, stew, casserole and such. ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/38 "2006-02-04T20:38:37Z")
?? Throw away food??? There’s starving babies in the Republic of Uthrenbwosvanyzistania! Seriously. I rarely throw away food. Even when there’s suspect meat, severely bruised fruits and badly wilted vegetables I’ll do my best to salvage what I can and cook it. I have… issues. ---
**Author:** ![AuntiePam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/f19dbf/32.png) [@AuntiePam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AuntiePam)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/39 "2006-02-04T20:48:21Z")
Ditto on potatoes. Seems like they used to keep longer, but I just tossed five pounds that were only a month old. Man, do they stink when they go bad. Yogurt too. I should just toss it in the trash at checkout, save myself the trouble of carting it home. ---
**Author:** ![roshia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/6bbea6/32.png) [@roshia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roshia)\ **Post date:** [February 4, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962/40 "2006-02-04T21:40:21Z")
Lettuce? I can’t resist the lettuce. Seriously, family members have become annoyed with me on many occasions for gobbling up all of the lettuce within a couple of days time. I have to be careful to _not_ eat all of the lettuce in the house. All of you with extra lettuce are more than welcome to ship all of your extra lettuce to Alabama, where it will be given a good home in my tummy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-often-discarded-food-item/342962.md?page=3)