4.7 pounds a day

As part of the No Impact Experiment, I moved my kitchen trash can to my garage. My thought was that the extra walk to the garage would heighten my awareness of what we’re throwing away.

Our week’s trash (family of 3):

Our trash was largely what I thought it would be: Plastic.

We recycled more than usual and continued composting our food scraps. I finally called Allied Waste (my local recycler) to get my recycling questions answered.

What did I learn?

• No lids whatsoever. In the past I recycled large plastic lids if they had a number on them, but apparently this was wrong (oops!). No lids.
• Most plastic bags can’t be recycled. Ziploc type bags, food bags, and even bags inside cereal boxes can’t be recycled. This is disappointing. I had hoped that plastic bag recycling had moved beyond shopping and produce bags, but it hasn’t. Since I can’t recycle most plastic bags, I try to avoid them or reuse them.
• Shredded paper can be recycled if put in a transparent plastic bag and tied at the top. This differs from a neighboring city which has you put shredded paper in a paper bag with your yard waste.

Every city has it’s own rules and regs, so it’s best to contact your local recycling company and get your questions answered.

Since so much plastic can’t be recycled, I’ve reduced the amount of plastic that I buy. Beth over at Fake Plastic Fish has lots of ideas on how you can avoid buying plastic. Beth tracks her plastic waste on a monthly basis (4.7 ounces this month). It’s remarkable how little plastic she wastes.

Our trash can is still in the garage. I’m thinking I might put a tiny trash recepticle under the kitchen sink. However, I rather enjoy hearing my daughter explain to guests why there’s no trash can in the kitchen.

The average American throws away 4.7 pounds of trash a day.

I’m working to be below average in this department.

How about you?

Food Waste: Greens revival

It’s Food Waste Friday once again. Time to document the food I wasted this week, so that I can work to reduce my food waste.

Why do such a silly thing? Because I like silliness. And because what you focus on improves, and I’m interested in reducing my food waste. 

Food wasted this week: 

This week I wasted some leftover Indian takeout, some broccoli and some wilted chard. I’m currently trying to perk up some chard using a revival technique I found on Farm Fresh to You.

Submerge the wilted greens in cold water by placing them in a dish, filling it with water, and putting it in the refrigerator overnight. The next day the greens will be revived.

Greens revival? Sounds good to me.

To avoid broccoli waste in the future, I can blanch the broccoli and freeze the results for stir-fries. Blanching is great for vegetables like asparagus, green beans, spinach, cauliflower and broccoli. All too often I forget about using my friend Mr. Freezer when I have too much produce.

What are your strategies for reducing food waste?

Food Waste: Game on!

Kristen from The Frugal Girl is back from vacation and Food Waste Friday is back on again. Game on! (Wayne’s World voices) It’s time for me to see what I wasted this week.

Extreme Close-up

I wasted a bounty of broccoli and a red pepper that looks alright, but tasted mold-like (bleech - you know ‘that grossed out feeling, like you have slugs in your mouth’).

Why account for food waste? Americans typically waste 25% to 35% of the food they purchase, and I’m trying to be atypical (I’m a classic middle child). Documenting my weekly food waste, helps with my tendency to overbuy and forget about food at the back of my fridge.

While writing about slimy cucumbers this week I pondered the temperature of my fridge. My fridge was set to 38 degrees, which most web sites say is safe and appropriate. However, most sites suggest you can go as high as 40 or 41.

Setting your refrigerator between 37°F and 40°F will keep your food stored at a safe temperature without wasting energy. The optimal temperature for your freezer is 0-5°F.

So I changed my fridge temperature to 41. My freezer which was set to -4°, is now set to 2°F.

These small changes may not deter food waste, but should have an impact on my energy consumption.

Have a food waste reduction (FWR) tip? Leave your wisdom in a comment.

Slimy cucumbers

I recently saved a slimy cucumber from a trip to the compost pile. I bravely peeled away the slime, ate the parts that weren’t soft and lived to tell the tale.

Since this fateful day I’ve discovered that slimy cucumbers are topical. My blogging software tells me what people search on to find my site. Here are a few slimy cucumbers searches:

ok to eat slimy cucumbers
is a slimy cucumber still good?
slimy cucumbers ok to eat?
cucumbers that are slimy good
can i use cucumbers if they are slimy

So let me set the record straight. Motivated by my efforts to not waste food, I found slimy cucumbers are OK to eat. Just peel away the slime and eat away.

How to store cucumbers

Most sites I stumbled upon suggested storing cucumbers unwashed in a plastic bag. Cukes don’t enjoy intense cold, so most sites suggested tucking them into a fridge drawer. Moisture causes cukes to get slimy, so one site suggested pricking the plastic bag 5 or 6 times and lining the drawer with a towel. Most fresh veggies are high maintenance – they need a little air, but also need to be covered.

One idea I want to try – ditch the plastic produce bag and store cucumbers in a cotten produce bag. This may stop the slime once and for all. Or maybe this style of reusable produce bags would be better (posted on Sorta Crunchy):

Love for Earth bags on Etsy.com

StillTasty.com sayz cucumbers should keep for a week in the fridge. The slimy cucumber I ate probably sat for two weeks in my fridge. Oops.

How about you? Do you eat food on the edge or play it safe? How do you store your cukes?

Food waste: Another week, another pile

It’s Food Waste Friday once again. Started by The Frugal Girl (Kristen) in March of 2008, Food Waste Friday takes aim at reducing food waste.

Why do such a silly thing? Motivations may vary, but my primary motivation is creating less trash. And, I’ve also saved money. Ka-ching! I’m buying less food, eating leftovers, and digging into my pantry foods before they expire. Imagine that.

Here’s what I have this week: 

Homemade tomato sauce- Too much: This last bit went to waste. 
Chicken bits- Always too much: Not enough carnivores in the house.  
Yellow pepper- Too risky: Touched the old chicken bits.
Beets-  Forgotten: I baked beets in advance for salads and then forgot about them. 

Not bad. No fruit waste this week. Yay!

Want to reduce your food waste? Just follow this simple rule: If you buy it, eat it.

That is, if the it is food. Otherwise, as Gilda Radner’s character would say… never mind.

Have a fantastic Labor Day.

Video clip of Emily Litella (Gilda Radner) – Violins on TV

Food waste: Not my best

It’s Friday. Time for me to reflect on my food waste this week.

This week is definitely not one of my better weeks. It’s unusual for me to waste dairy or even fake dairy.

Soy milk- Oops: Forgot about this 1/4 carton.
Yogurt- Too much: Abandoned in the fridge past its expiration date.
Oranges- Not so good: I got these a while back on sale and they weren’t very good. Should have fed them to my juicer.
Carrots- Too much: My kids like baby carrots, but not the big ones.
Cantaloupe– Low demand: CSA box item. I’m the only cantaloupe eater in the house and I’m not a huge fan. If I cut up a cantaloupe and store it ready to eat, then I’m less likely to waste it.

Why so much concern about food waste? Food biodegrades right? Yes, but there’s an environmental impact to wasting food.

When food rots it releases methane, which is 20 times more damaging to the environment than carbon dioxide (CO2). Our landfills account for 34% of methane emissions in the US. The other equally large methane source is enteric fermentation (mammal gas).

There are many eye-opening statistics on the cost of wasting food. This one is from LoveFoodHateWaste.com:

If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road.

Wow.

My food waste created a fair amount of methane gas this week, but there’s the possiblity of doing better next week.

How do you reduce your food waste? Share your wisdom/experience in a Comment.

Food waste: Journal your way to results

Keeping a journal improves performance. 

What do you want to improve? Your eating habits? Your exercise regime? How about the amount of food you waste?

Keeping a journal helps you reach your goals. Before I joined Kristen’s food waste brigade, I easily wasted 25% of the food I bought. I just did. I over bought, forgot about things in the fridge and purchased things that no one ultimately ate.

14 weeks later, I see improvement.

Here’s what I have this week:

Pears- Too much: I got these in my CSA box and summer fruits got eaten instead. 
Cherries– Too much: Cherry burnout.

Not bad. It’s a little sad for me to waste fruit when smoothies and juice are possible.

Want to improve something in your life? Set a goal and journal your way to results.

Food waste: Slimy cucumber Part II

The stimulating story of food waste continues this week. Spurred by The Frugal Girl, I’ve been working to become conscious of my food waste by meticulously documenting my wasted food each week.

Last week I got a little carried away. I peeled a slimy cucumber and ate it with a ChimiChurri sauce from the farmer’s market. The cucumber was not super crisp, but was completely edible and I don’t recall a single burp (maybe cucumbers mellow with age?).  

This week I disconnected from the ‘Net in SLOw (San Louis Obispo), but I still managed to waste something.

Chicken- Cooking mishap: Some overcooked chicken thighs that my kids wouldn’t eat (smart kids).  
Peach– Yucky: This peach was firm and tasteless. I saved it for a smoothie and the smoothie never happened.
Crisco- Too much: I made two pies with Crisco this year and the rest expired. Anyone have a pie crust recipe that doesn’t use Crisco?

There are many eye-opening statistics on the cost of wasting food. This one is from LoveFoodHateWaste.com:

If we all stop wasting food that could have been eaten, the CO2 impact would be the equivalent of taking 1 in 5 cars off the road.

Wow, that’s a big impact. You can do your part by buying less and eating all that you buy.

How do you reduce your food waste? Share your wisdom in a Comment.

Food waste: Wait, I’ll eat that

I scoured the fridge for dead food and found a pyrex container with leftover chicken and corn. Pyrex? Wiki says Pyrex is a glassware brand introduced by Corning in 1915. Brand name? I use glass and pyrex interchangeably. Oh and I didn’t capitalize Pyrex earlier. Oops! Funny how a brand can lose it’s oomph, like klennex, xerox, or ibm (OK, joking about IBM).

Food waste this week?

Chicken- Too much: I think these are remnants from a complete bird.  
Corn– Too much: I cooked corn on the cob and sheared it from the cob. Sacrilege I know, but my front teeth are less capable these days. Remember The Tooth book by Dr Seuss? “Teeth–they come in handy when you chew or smile”!
Cucumber- Wait!

While this cucumber is slimy, it’s not mushy. So out of the food waste pile it goes. A quick peeling, seeding, and it’s back in the eating game.

So that just leaves chicken and corn, which makes me think of the song Jimmy Crack Corn. Just what is cracking corn? “Cracking corn” is opening a bottle of corn liquor. Jimmy Crack Corn is a story of a slave’s master who died from the sting of a blue-tail fly, despite the slave’s vigilant fly-brushing efforts. Fascinating.

The Internet is simply amazing.

If you don’t see a food waste post from me next week, the slimy cucumber may be the culprit. Or maybe the cracked corn. 

Do you eat things on the edge of spoilage or play it safe?

Food waste: Going on vacation

Another week, another pile of food waste. This week my pile is larger than I’d like, which might be due to house guests or my vacation – and then again, I might just be slackin’ this week.

This week I realized that my pre-vacation activities changed because I’m tracking my food waste. Previously when I went on vacation I would just go on vacation. I never peeked in the fridge. Why would I? I’m going on vacation.

Fast forward to today, before my last vacation. I looked in my fridge for things I could freeze, cook and freeze or eat. My breakfast before heading to the airport was two tomatoes that were about to spoil. I must say I’m pleasantly surprised by this. Documenting my family’s food waste continues to surprise me. 

Here’s my pile this week:

Aerial view helps make the pile look smaller

Cherries- Possibly bad: My daughter had a gastro issue after eating these and I didn’t want to chance it. 
Chard– Too much: So many greens, so little time.
Pasta– Too much: Made too much.
Onion– Forgotten: Found lurking in the back of the fridge.

Need some tips? This week I stumbled on a great food waste post at Small Notebook: 20 Tips to Waste Less Food. Here are a couple ideas that were new to me:

Leftover wine can be frozen in ice cube trays, and then later added to simmering meat dishes or spaghetti sauce. Or if you have an abundance of lemons and limes you can squeeze the juice into ice cub trays and freeze.

Do you have food waste tips, tricks or stories? Post a Comment.