Don't Throw Food Away Challenge 2012

Turkishdreamer

I would like to join the challenge this month. Lurked and learned loads in January. Managed to get by with just throwing away half a homemade small brown loaf (I would estimate 26p for that).

Hubby was away for 2 weeks of the month, but he is back now and is dreadful for chucking stuff out, so going to set myself £5.00 this month.

Looking forward to participating and catching up with the other 'threaders'. Good luck everyone.

Mrs_Veg_Plot

Girls did not like the Welsh rarebit on crumpets I made for tea so that was about £1.00 wasted which is a really bad start to the month. It was wasted because they threw it away before I could do anything with it.
As I was trying to not throw away more than a ppunds worth of food for Feb this will be a real challenge for me.

JARUS

Hi

I'm sorting out my cupboards to try and do a proper stock check. I keep finding things that are well & I mean years out of date.

Would anyone use out of date tins. Rice pudding 2008 Custard 2009
Custard powder 2009, tinned peaches 2008.!!!

& I thought I checked my cupboards. I think I put the new stuff at the front

Help could be another high count on the throw aways............

Jarus xx

Oscar_the_Pug

Firemunchkin wrote: »

I'd have taken that bag back to the store and gotten a refund!

Well I did buy them at the end of December, so not too bad really!

Oscar_the_Pug

JARUS wrote: »

Would anyone use out of date tins. Rice pudding 2008 Custard 2009
Custard powder 2009, tinned peaches 2008.!!!

Well I definitely would use those!

Maybe you should set yourself a mini challenge and use one a week?

I'd probably do the tinned peaches alongside either the rice or custard. And it's perfect weather for crumbles and custard for pudding, nom nom.

I'm going to have a stab ata trifle soon - I have some boudoir fingers, custard and jelly (all of which, like yours have been in the cupboard for a while), just want to get some suitable fruit and cream...

I forgot to set a new limit for this month - would be great if I could beat January's £1.55, but I'd settle for £2!

JARUS

Oscar_the_Pug wrote: »

Well I definitely would use those!

Maybe you should set yourself a mini challenge and use one a week?

I'd probably do the tinned peaches alongside either the rice or custard. And it's perfect weather for crumbles and custard for pudding, nom nom.

Thank you - challenge sounds like a good idea.

Since I posted I have also found other items .So here is my full (current) list with a couple of cupboards still to do of my out of date stock over 9 months old. I have ignored items less than 9 months out of date for the moment, that would be just to depressing.

Atora suet December 2009
Dried yeast December 2009
Prunes in fruit juice x 4 pots December 2008
Delmonte tinned peaches December 2008
Glace cherries March 2010
Small tin rice pudding Aug 2010
Small tin Prunes January 2008
Birds custard powder October 2009 - unopened
Birds Custard Powder June 2010 - unopened
Devon custard December 2010
Carnation Rice Pudding December 2009
Ambrosia Rice Pudding January 2010
2 x Skinny cow hot chocolate sachets October 2009
Cornflour february 2010
Mini marshmallows February 2010

I hang my head in shame. Call myself a wife, mother & housewife. What a disgrace!!!!

I must be the worse offender yethttp://images2.moneysavingexpert.com/images/forum_smilies/frown.gif

Jarus xx

JARUS

Now that I've got that off my chest here is what I have actually thrown out

1 x Morrisons deli salsa
1 x Morrisons deli guacomole
1 x Morrisons deli soured cream and cheese

all dated end of december

I think they were 2 for £1.50 so I make that £2.25

Also in stocktaking I discovered a whole packet (oh no) of canneloni unopened with bugs in it - had to go in the bin £2.29 ( i've just looked on the website

I make that £4.54 and we're only on the 2nd February I think I will set my February target at £10 & my whole year target at £75 - sounds a lot to throw away, but I decided allow £10 per month for Jan/Feb/March, then £5 for next 6 months then £2.50 for last 3 months of the year. By that time hopefully I will have educated myself.....

On a better note I used up the following

Weetabix Crumbs: My DS eats choc chip mini weetabix for breakfast and there are always lots of broken ones at the bottom of the box which go in the bin. What a waste. I googled weetabix recipes and came up with 2 brilliant recipes. One from this site called "Delicious Weetabix cake" & delicious it was. Even DH really liked it and he's not a cake lover. Still lots of weetabix crumbs waiting to be used so definitely make that again. Also found a recipe for weetabix flapjacks - also a hit.

Banana Bread Loaned the Good Food Magazine (february 2012) for the week from the local library. There was a recipe in there for banana bread which had chocolate chips in ( I had some out of date ones in the cupboard!) & also nuts (we don't like nuts so I used less than fresh digestive biscuits. This was also hit, so will be making this again.

So not all bad, but still a lot of work to do to cut this waste.

Thanks for all your inspirational posts they have certainly kept me on the straight and narrow in January. I have been out and done my shop for february having done a big meal plan for the month. Let's hope I can stick to it.

Jarus xx

Wellyboots6

Hey Jarus

I don't suppose you have the banana bread recipe lurking around do you?

I have 3 bananas that have got around 9 hours left before they go past my very strict banana eating deadline. I don't think I could stomach 3 bananas at the moment so they may have to be baked with rather than eaten 'raw'.

JARUS

katy721 wrote: »

Hey Jarus

I don't suppose you have the banana bread recipe lurking around do you?

I have 3 bananas that have got around 9 hours left before they go past my very strict banana eating deadline. I don't think I could stomach 3 bananas at the moment so they may have to be baked with rather than eaten 'raw'.

Hi
If you go to https://www.bbcgoodfood.com website and type in Banana, walnut and choc chip loaf.

As I said I used digestive biscuits instead of walnuts.

Hope you enjoy

Jarus xx

Firemunchkin

Am planning next week's food - we're moving at the end of the month so want to get through as much of the freezer contents as I possibly can as frozen stuff doesn't travel well.

So:

- several portions of chicken soup which we'll start getting through this weekend and during the next couple of weeks to fill in for light suppers (I'll also throw in the 2 bread rolls in the freezer with this for a weekend lunch)
- 1 x portion shepherds pie for a weekday at work lunch
- pitta bread - with homemade humus using the tahini paste and chick peas in the cupboard, together with a homemade salsa using the tomatoes in the fridge and onions etc
- apricots and nectarines - have decided not to make the liqueur cos I just didn't think it would work. Have made cherry liqueur before but not a white fruit. So, I'm going to cook it up like a coulis and blitz it over something to make a cake or something - not yet decided!
- chicken stock - made the other week from a few LO carcasses and have used 2 portions of it in a stew and in a soup. Will make an effort to use more but apart from soup, stew or risotto I'm not sure what else to use it in.
- LO vegs - have saved these for a stock, only a small amount but will use what I have for some stews in the next couple of weeks.
- wholemeal bagel (sliced in half before freezing, so great for toasting) and a slice of smoked salmon - will have this for lunch at the weekend.
- tomato & goats cheese tart made last weekend, well we'll have this if we get peckish, probably over the weekend!
- I'm slowly using up the soya beans in various meals. The OH is keen to get rid of them too so he's happy for me to put them into stew etc! Only have 1/4 of a bag to go.
- processed beef burgers - still haven't used them, but I do plan on defrosting them with some normal mince on Friday, mashing it together and using it to make a favourite spicy noodle dish
- I'll use up some of the strawberry coulis alongside a small apple tarts using the two apples in the fridge and the small bit of LO pastry in the freezer.

I do really need help with from this lovely forum of wonderful ideas:

- green olives: I have some super salty small ones and some normal brine pickled ones. I simply cannot find any fun sounding recipes - and green olives don't work well in bread.