Waste list

madmum33

What a great idea! I'm tired of seeing rotten fruit thrown out, and packets of biscuits opened then left to go stale.

Never knew goldfish liked cucumber, could have given some to ours but I found him dead two days ago RIP Fish (aged 7)

madmum33

Judi101 wrote: »

Dont forget to compost any fruit or veg that has gone off before being used. We did try to switch to butter so we didnt keep getting the margarine tubs that go into landfill but its so hard its awful to use on bread and we have gone back to those 'lovelly' tubs. Also when buying fruit and veg at the supermarket dont put it in those little poly bags, and stop the cashier from doing that too. Except for mushrooms, you can compost those paper bags.

Keep butter in an old-fashioned butter dish (I saw one recently that kept butter cool but not cold even in hot weather, think it was Kleeneze?) Or, if you really can't cope with butter, use the tubs to store leftovers in the fridge (the half tin of tomatoes or beans)

I've been thinking about a wormery rather than a compost bin - new pets for the kids

angelatgraceland

Well there was NO waste today. DD even asked me if there was anything to write on the list. Got just half a loaf out of the freezer. OH wanted a loaf but with a little naging he went and put it back. I like the idea of freezing dry bread to collect for bread pudding-there shouldn't be too much now though;+)

dlb

What a great idea, i think i will try this.
We have cut down loads since finding MSE, and meal planning has cut down on our waste and our budget!! I too have noticed a difference in how full our bin gets.
I have a cardboard box at the side of our kitchen bin which all the recycleable things go in and that is one of the kids jobs to sort it into the correct bins/boxes, also have an old mixing bowl that the days compostable waste goes in, it didnt take the kids long to remember to use this.
We now recycle glass,tins,paper and plastic and have a compost bin.
I still throw away to much though, i do use old marg tubs to freeze a small portion of each evening meal, then my dh uses these for his lunch at work, he warms it up in microwave and takes it in a food flask, so that saves on waste and saves on a packed lunch too.

lynzpower

One way of reducing waste is to buy bigger, eg larger bottles of cordial, higher than one pint of milk, big boxes of washing powder, jumbo tups of marg. less plastic. I use plastic trays thst you get veg/ meat in for starting off seedlings- good size for those.

We have a wormery with mixed results, but its a good way of reducing your landfill once you get going with it You can often get them cheap from your local council

I freeze extra portions of rice ( this is one thing I never get right) that we take to work for lunches with a spare portion of chilli/ curry. MArg tubs would be good for this

So far, today Ive chucked out 1/3 mozzerella that we hadnt covered properly. I expect that will be it for the day.

balmaiden

I use butter and keep it in an old fashioned butter dish ( car boot 20p ) I slice of enough butter to last just a couple of days put the rest back in the fridge, keep the butter dish on the breadbin, that way lovely soft butter and it isnt out long enough to go off

exlibris

I buy milk from the milkman. The bottles are recycled through him!!

Bambywamby

On Saturday I bought some reduced price fresh noodles (£1.99 to 56 pence) and today had to throw them away as I never ended up using them...they smelt like gone off fish and had a use by date for the 1st April.

That's 56 pence waste that could have been avoided if I hadn't be blinded by what seemed like a super offer.

Lesson learnt.

angelatgraceland

My family are now looking at the cost of a drink etc as a cup of hot choc nearly got forgotten tonight and eldest dd said "oh dear" that was nearly 10p! Sure, she was laughing as she said it but----she was "thinking" and it got saved. Total waste so far this week £1. Maybe it should be matched with a donation to charity!

angelatgraceland

Bambywamby wrote: »

On Saturday I bought some reduced price fresh noodles (£1.99 to 56 pence) and today had to throw them away as I never ended up using them...they smelt like gone off fish and had a use by date for the 1st April.

That's 56 pence waste that could have been avoided if I hadn't be blinded by what seemed like a super offer.

Lesson learnt.

That is the sort of temptation I am learning to turn away from at last. Unless its for a meal today, forget it! So many times in the past, I did that sort of thing, I bought a bargain which didn't get used. No more though.