Don't throw food away challenge

BohemianCoast

I agree it's harder to work all the way through a packet if you're on your own, but there are four of us so I ought to be able to manage. We still struggle sometimes, especially because of the market. When they can't shift things you get a huge amount for a quid; sometimes I just have to accept that we won't use them all. If you live near a market like this and you're not shopping for a family, my top tip is to shop with a friend and split all the fruit and veg.

We have a giant fridge-freezer where the freezer is relatively small; I think having a limited amount of freezer space does concentrate the mind a bit and reduce the chance that you'll keep things you are never, ever going to eat. Though I do have a bag of frozen cauliflower that I bought in a weak moment. My kids don't like cauli much at the best of times, and I think that frozen cauliflower isn't very nice compared to fresh. Soup beckons, I think.

rising_from_the_ashes

Grrrr just tried to add this to my challenges on my sig .... too long!

Not sure what to remove.... Sigh .....

[Deleted User]

Today I am getting the broccoli stalks from the freezer and will use them up in soup as the weather is slowly turning and veggie soup is a great lunch time meal or as a small starter to streeetch my evening dinner.I have some celery thats just about coming to its end and some carrots and a swede that I got yesterday reduced to 25p so chunky veggie soup looks the order of the day today I will make and portion up about three litres which will keep me going for the next week Has anyone used lentils in chunky soup at all to streetch it a bit further as I seem to have a couple of packets that i found at the back of the cupboard They are still in date (not that it would bother me that much ) I just want to make my soup a bit more 'hearty' if you see what I mean

rising_from_the_ashes

JackieO I stick either Red Lentils or Split Yellow Peas in my soups (which always have chunky veg rather than being blended) and they work fine.

I don't like barley and not particularly keen on rice (in soup) so find they do add a bit of bulk/thickness. HTH

kittywight

hello everyone,

am back from my holidays

i didnt manage to use up the bits of food that i was planning to before i went away, but you wll be glad to know i didnt bin them gave them to my mum and she took them home, some potatoes and yogurts and cheese , all wouldve gone off and wasted the week i was away

got a beef stew in slowcooker today, will either freeze half or maybe try and turn it into a pie for tommorow

xx

WelshWoofer

Just done the weekly shop and have thrown away about a third of a punnet of grapes that had gone a bit soft - they were 99p originally so I'll call it 33p of waste.
I'm quite pleased though because that's the only thing that's gone in the bin this week.
I have just bought a bag of lettuce, a cucumber and tomatoes and they are usually only half used up and then thrown away so I'll have to try harder to get through them this week.
I managed all of the fruitbowl mountain last week except a satsuma that's still ok so no waste there (the grapes live in the fridge).

mizmir

JackieO wrote: »

Has anyone used lentils in chunky soup at all to streetch it a bit further as I seem to have a couple of packets that i found at the back of the cupboard They are still in date (not that it would bother me that much ) I just want to make my soup a bit more 'hearty' if you see what I mean

Lentils are great in soup and increase the protein level so a veggie soup becomes a meal in itself.

mizmir

No food wasted since the little orange. Doing better than expected - meal planning definitely makes a big difference.

LittleMai

I saw this thread a few days ago and have been reading it from start to finish, all the way through thinking "Well, I dont waste anything, so I wont even think about starting a challenge". I was brought up with the mantra "waste not, want not" and so tried my hardest to never through anything away.

But this thread really got me thinking, and noticing what goes in my bin, and shock, horror! I realised that I threw away the skin from a chicken breast. Usually, when I am with my bf, he saves the skin, and cooks it in the oven/grill to make kind of crackling with it. But as I dont eat the skin, I threw it away. I worked out about how much this cost me, about 30p, and was mortified!! :eek::eek::eek:

After I threw it away, I realised I should have cooked it and given it to the kitty, and saved some money on kitty food. Next time I will do this!!

I also threw away a few grotty leaves from a lettuce, which was reduced in the first place (89p to 10p!), so that was about 3p.

So I would like to join this challenge please, and would like to say that I wont throw away more than £3, as it is only me and my kitty. So far this month I have thrown away 33p.

Thanks to Squeaky for making me realise how much I waste!

sistercas

thanks to betheebee and jackie o (from the os daily ) i have chopped a whole bag of onions and frozen them in portions ( triple bagged) as they would have definitely gone off before i would have used them ( i used DD2's swimming goggles and not a tear in sight )

got chicken for tea but wont be using the skin so will be throwing that away , does that count??