Spinach. I eat a lot of it, but it seems to go bad pretty quickly, and nothing smells worse than bad spinach. (Well, in the refrigerator, nothing smells worse. Unless it’s cabbage, and I don’t mean bad cabbage–just ordinary cabbage. But cabbage, for all that it smells terrible, does not go bad as quickly as spinach, so it generally gets eaten.)
For some reason we also throw out a lot of beer–someone pours a glass using half the bottle, caps it, puts it back in the fridge. Hey, it’s bound to go flat. Some days I’ve thrown out a six-pack of half-bottles. I’m sure there’s another use it could be put to, like killing snails, but…I don’t have snails. (I should either get bigger glasses or buy smaller units of beer.)
I find we throw out alot of leftovers. My husband loves to make more than we need and save it for later. But in the last couple of weeks we have thrown out:
Pretty good portion of spaghetti with meat sauce
Enough prepared taco meat for a second meal for 4
Half of a rotisserie chicken
Half of a Pizza Hut thin and crispy pepperoni pizza
Big container of chicken and rice that wasn’t that great to begin with
I’m appalled that we throw out this much, we’ve got to do a better job of portion control!
I’ve done so much better in not letting the veggies go bad in the bin. I do not buy that bagged lettuce any more, it does not last and is NASTY when it goes bad.
Ditto on the beer in the crisper thing. Though I do put apples and oranges in the other, because they’re the only two plant-type items that I can be counted on to eat regularly, mostly because they don’t require any preparation.
In the same vein, our most-discarded item is probably any perishable that requires more than microwaving that we don’t intend to eat within 24 hours.
I think in your case you could just put leftover stuff in the freezer right away, and take it out when you’re ready for it. I used to do this with everything, until I met Jim. Now he just eats all my leftovers. I routinely keep my bread in the freezer, too. Bread thaws out extremely quickly - a frozen sandwich made in the morning is perfect by lunch time.
I’ve got a bunch of black bananas in my freezer, too, Rhiannon. What I really need is a composter. Maybe this summer.
I buy bananas at Aldi’s, at 29 cents per pound. But I have to get bunches of 5 or less because I can’t eat them if they have any brown on them. So it’s a banana or two every day until they’re gone. I only use eggs when I bake, so I seems to buy fresh each time. I try to feed the old eggs to the dogs - I mocrowave them with a little shredded cheddar and they’ll eat 'em.
You guys who have trouble using veggies should try making veggie stock or pickling. You can use things that are a little too “off”, or aestheticaly unappealing for fresh uses, but that may still have good flavor and nutritional value.
veggie stock
Just toss veggies and clean trimming scraps in a gallon size freezer bag when they start to turn. When the bag is full, toss it in some boiling water with more onion, garlic and carrots and you’re good to go.
Homemade pickles
Just about any veggie can be pickled at the point of turning and still be delicious. It is easiest to start with an empty pickle jar, save some of the remaining brine and add water, white or cider vinegar, salt, sugar and garlic. Depending on what you’re pickling, you can add different herbs or spices. I basically keep rotating pickle jars in the fridge, one I feed and one I empty.
Oh damn WHERE is the laughing like crazy animated smilie like Yahoo has??? This did make me laugh out loud. I do that too!
Count me in as another “only eat bananas which have that tiny hint of green and no brown spots” person. I don’t mind the taste of too ripe bananas so much as the texture. It’s sort of a mushy slightly grainy at the same time, and too me, the taste of an “overripe” banana is just too bland. I like the tang of a slightly green one MUCH better.
I actually used to use the frozen bananas though. Here’s a way to use them. First peel them and put them into a baggie before you freeze them. Then, you can pop them into the blender to make a protein shake.
Those words make sense to me individually, but not in these particular combinations. At our house, we frequently run out of potatoes and/or eggs.
We tend to throw away lettuce, bagged salad, and spaghetti. I have no idea why we can’t manage to eat the first two items in a reasonable amount of time. I also don’t know why my parents refuse to let me just throw away the little leftover bit of spaghetti we always seem to have after a spaghetti dinner. No one will eat it and I’ll just end up having to throw it away a few days later anyway. Still, I have to sneak it into the trash. It’s ridiculous.
We put bottled water in one crisper drawer and soda in the other. I don’t think we’ve put a vegetable in either since we got this particular fridge.
Another use for those spotty (but not black) bananas in milk shakes. With vanilla ice cream, not ice - makes the drink too watery. And pop the 'nanas in the fridge for a couple of hours before liquidising for that, well, cold result.
Cooked pasta without sauce freezes well. Just dunk it (briefly) back into boiling water to thaw it and remushify the starches on the outside.
With sauce, it depends on the pasta, sauce and freezing method, as well as how picky you are. I don’t have a problem with it.
I like to take leftovers like this and put them in freezer zip-top bags, then lay them on a cookie sheet in the freezer. Freezes them into a flat square - a good shape for stacking in the freezer. Just be sure to label your bag before filling it. No, really. Yes, really! You can’t tell the difference between meat sauce and chilli once they’re frozen! Trust me, label it! No, you won’t remember, really you won’t!
I used to throw a lot of salsa away. I’d use half of it, forget I had it, then when I needed it again, I’d go out and get another jar. Taking second place is almost all food my mom tries to pass off on me, whether it’s leftovers or cans of stuff. Leftovers almost always get tossed the moment she’s gone and cans go to the counter until we have enough to take to the food pantry. She always seems to make stuff we don’t eat. Since I moved out (more then 12 years ago), my cooking has become drastically different from hers. She makes pot roast, I make Indian food and Chinese. I don’t like the tasteless, creamy, goopy Midwestern stuff she makes. When I can, I use some of the extra meat she makes for lunches, but that’s about it.
I’ve asked her on numerous occasions not to dump all that stuff on me, but she willfully ignores me, making it while I’m at work (“Oh, overly, I’ve made your favorite!”). I’ll eat it the first time to be polite, but I can’t seem to get home fast enough to take over the kitchen before she gets in there.
Anyway, to prevent me and my husband from wasting food when my mom isn’t visiting, I make a list of all the ingredients I buy, then make a list of all the things I bought them for and tack it to the fridge. I’m not allowed to buy anything else until I make everything I bought stuff for.
Oprah, hell. Don’t sell yourself short. Why not host The roger thornhill Show? I’d Tivo it.
Me, too. I’ve finally managed to avoid taking leftovers home from her house; fortunately, she can usually get my brother or sister to take them, so I feel less guilty.
You know what freezes really well, and we never think of it? Pineapple and green peppers. Buy tons of them when they’re on sale, chop them up and freeze them in baggies in quantities that work for you, and use them as required. They don’t take long to thaw, either, especially if you’re tossing them in a dish you’re cooking.
You can also freeze cheese - I buy a big bag of shredded mozza for a pizza, use a bunch fresh, then freeze the rest for the next time we have pizza. Shredded cheese molds much quicker than block cheese, so I used to throw way too much out. This is much better.
Funny thing, when I read the topic I was thinking, Oh I have several food item that I often throw away and was eager to post them.
Now that I read the posts I have discovered that my idea of food is maby a little different.
I was thinking of egg shells and orange peels. I eat these about 1/3 to 1/2 of the time. I like them and think they are maby healthy. I throw them out often as well. Maby everyday. I expecially like hard boiled eggs with the shell. And maby only eat half the orange/citrus peel.
Aside from that parts of chicken bones I cant quite chew all the way up and some forgotten leftovers.
