Week 2 recap

There were a few moments this week when I looked at the leftovers in my fridge and felt a little stress. Kris had brought home some leftovers from my mom's that I had left on purpose and now had to find a way to use them. We do well with her leftovers, but what we always were throwing out was the salad. My mom makes a big salad and sends it home with us. If it's not eaten in the first night or afternoon it's no good to anybody. This means I had a big bowl of salad for breakfast this week. I followed that with a big bowl of Chinese food, so you could say it is all balancing out.

The only thing that is left in the fridge is a big container of gravy. This is a large amount so, I am thinking I should make a shepherd's pie. Kris asked me if it was the beef barley soup my mom made and I said yes. He almost ate it, but he doesn't ever eat gravy, so I felt too bad to let him.

Tip: Freeze gravy in small baby food containers and thaw out as a treat for the dog.

If you haven't figured it out yet, most of my food is coming from my mom's house. She is a chronic over cooker and I love it. She has been more thoughtful of her food waste this month. I went to her house for the day and we had the same meal for dinner as we had for lunch. I have NEVER had leftovers at her house before. This was a big step! When Evy pointed this out, my mom said she was embarrassed that she was serving the same meal again. lol Joking, but probably a little serious.

The good: Kris isn't really fully participating, but I left him some 4 day old yogurt and told him it was his job to eat it. He put it in a smoothie, good boy!

The bad: Some small spoonfuls of my avocados were brown and Wyn wouldn't eat them (just kidding, I didn't try to make her) I threw out the gross looking leftovers that Kris brought home from my mom's. They looked old when we got them and I can never be too sure how long they were in her fridge. I don't consider this a fail.

Another rule I have decided over the last month. If the food was purchased in 2010 I am allowed to throw it out. It just means I should have done a better job of cleaning out my cupboards prior to this challenge. There was some junky baby cookies in the cupboard that I was not going to feed either of the girls, so in the garbage they went.

Suggestions please~
What to do with this container of gravy?
What to do with a box of raspberry shortbread cookies?

The things I have eaten

Ok Brianne people are reading this. No pressure.

First, thanks for everyone who has enjoyed my blog and who have left me notes of encouragement. If anyone has any tips they want to share I welcome comments, so that everyone can benefits by all the great tips and tricks that people are using.

Already this week I have thrown away one of my muffins. And that was after I froze half of each kind. It seems like we can't quite get through muffins in this house, but I do enjoy making them. I gave up baking years ago because Kris and I just don't eat it, so maybe it's time to stop with the muffins too. So much reflection of such importance. le sigh.

My experiment for week was testing out if croissants froze nicely. I am happy to report they did. A little more flaky but still very edible. We have about 8 that I don't think we can finish in time, so in the freezer they go for another day.

The big event was a Usborne book party that I hosted. I made all the snacks totally aware that whatever was left would have to be eaten by me. That said, no one ate ANYTHING! That night I drank the rest of the punch, put the chips back in their bags and packed everything else up the fridge. I confess I have been eating leftover rice, mixed with extraordinary cheese dip and chicken salad tarts. Yes, all together. If you have tasted that Epicure dip you know that it is mayo, cream cheese, cheese and some spices. So maybe this plan is not going to be the healthiest this week, but I did finish nearly everything. We just have some fruit compote left. (or compost as Kris calls it)


Tip: The fruit compote is going into ice cube trays to be used for smoothies or ice cubes for a punch.

Just think about it

Even if you aren't ready to completely eliminate food waste from your routine, just think about what you are throwing away. Not just leftovers, but old fruit and vegetables, a box of crackers at the back of your cupboard, dairy hitting it's expiry dates or even old coffee!

I hope I can share what we do in my house to keep our waste under control, but for now just be keep in mind how much we thrown away mindlessly.

Every morning I wake up and drink the last couple cups of coffee from the day before. At some point we will figure out exactly how much we need to make, but for now a little more sweetener makes it taste just fine.

Week 1 Recap

Although I haven't had much time to blog, I have been thinking about all my postings with every food decision. Week 1 was not a perfect week. I am going to accept it as a learning process and take what I learned and make changes.

Also, people have left me some tips about using food in smoothies and soups. Another tip I picked up is muffins: my little girl and I made savory muffins which included diced steak, green onions and feta cheese. Very tasty and I used up a few things I otherwise wouldn't have.

Food wasted:
1. 1/4 jar baby food
2. 1/2 cup lentil soup

First, the baby food was completely my fault. I knew it had one day left on it and I should have fed it to the baby for breakfast, I was running late and gave her a banana. This is why typically I don't use the jarred food. This is one of my last big jars left, a couple small applesauce to go. I don't anticipate this happening again. Lesson 2: organize my life a bit better

On to the soup. Ahhhh. This was leftover food from my mom's house and I really hesitated taking it home. I opted for a small container and gave it to Kris. He didn't quite finish it, but it was my decision to take it. Lesson 3: If I am not willing to eat it, don't take it.

That was the bad, onto the good. I made good work of the leftover steaks from NYE. On the 3rd I was coming home from work and was starving. I really wanted to stop at McDonalds with my coupons and get lunch for the hubby and I. (As an aside, during my last pregnancy I started a Big Mac addiction that I haven't been able to quit cold turkey) I am going back and forth in my head thinking about the hot delicious greasy food that awaits me. No, I have some steaks that need to get eaten, McDonalds- you lose today. That confirmed for me how this plan was going to save me money and shed some pounds.

There are times when I would prefer something else to eat, but knowing that I have leftovers in my fridge make my food decisions easier.

Ooooh that just fell on the floor

Day 1 and already questions and rules popping up. I dropped a bit of a tart on the floor. Decision: I am not eating that. Last nights festivities included a selection of dips on the counter. Decision: Technically, because it was on Dec 31 that it was left out I am going to toss these.

I thought this would be very easy for me to eliminate the waste. I think I was more concerned about the big things: a full cucumber, a container of leftovers. It's the little things that are going to be tough, but will just take some getting used to for me. Sarah and I were making scrambled eggs and I told her to add one more. In the end there was about one egg worth leftover. Dangit! Now I have to eat that at some point. Lesson 1 learned: if we finish all the food at a meal that is ok. It has occurred to me that this resolution was going to make me eating everything in site in an effort not waste food. But after breakfast this morning, I think it will actually mean that I make less, buy less and in turn eat less. Hmmm I like that.

So what did I do with that tiny amount of scrambled eggs?

Tip: I had a leftover tart shell that I sprinkled with cheese and ham and added the eggs.