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.

Laying in out

So why am I setting my sites so high? Well, because I can. I try not to waste food and do a pretty good job of it most of the time, so how can I do better? Zero waste.
Now there are a few rules I have been setting:
1) I am not going to eat the scraps on either of my children or my husbands dinner plates, that is just 20 pounds my butt doesn't need. I will help my kids with serving sensible amounts on their plates.
2) I am not looking to eliminate all food waste. What I mean by this, is my goal is not to compost my banana peels, turn my peanut shells into craft projects or the like. I want to stop throwing out perfectly edible food before it spoils.
3) More rules are allowed at a time when I decide a blanket exception needs to be made. (Because I was sure I had a couple more in mind)

For anyone who knows me, I am the leftover queen. It's crazy to me that people in my family actually refuse to eat day old food. Boggles the mind. This means I already start with a large amount of 'second hand' food to start with and I will have use a small amount of planning to make sure this gets used up. Tonight we are having a New Years Eve party and making a big dinner. I cleaned out the fridge yesterday, but tomorrow morning there will be a fridge full. Challenge on!