Food waste

NJGamerChick wrote: »

shadowconn wrote: »

I buy as much frozen as possible for this very reason. If I buy meat, I cut it into individual portions, bag it and freeze it. If I'm doing meat, I'm either frying it or boiling it. So it can go straight from the freezer into a pan.

This. And if I'm freezing portions, I'm making the packages thin so they stack and defrost quickly.

I will sometimes brown ground beef and freeze it for sauce/taco night, too. And whatever meat I am eating on my own gets poached the day I get home so it's ready for when I need a quick meal, usually chicken, but this weekend I'm playing with some pork shoulder I got on sale for pulled pork.

Leftovers are what goes bad sometimes. The stuff that ends up in the back of the fridge, so I have started making an effort to rotate my fridge.

I try not to do leftovers. I have found that I won't eat them at all . . no matter what it is.

GaleHawkins wrote: »

Our dog is large enough to eat food that we do not eat.

leftovers that I don't use go to my chickens. They LOVE leftovers!

Spinach! I love spinach salad, but hate picking out the gross slimy bits. I buy the big containers because I eat it all, but the stores I buy it from don't seem to have the freshest produce!

I'm terrible with salad fixings. I always buy a bunch of salad greens, cucumbers, etc everything to make salads with the best intentions of making salads every day but the plain fact is I don't. I end up throwing a lot away every week. But...I've gotten more realistic about what I actually like, so am buying less of that and more of veggies I know I'll cook- broccoli, brussel sprouts, cooked carrots....

The only things I waste are things I buy and end up hating. I'm pretty careful to not waste food.

I bought some canned items because we were maybe going to have a storm. Now, we are not having a storm, so I'll donate them.

ahoy_m8 wrote: »

I also buy but struggle to use a 10lb bag potatoes.

potatoes are stored in sheds / bags for weeks on end, why the need to freeze ?

Sometimes the odd lemon will turn rotten on me in the fridge, but I'm usually pretty careful about buying just what we need.

My kids end up throwing away the end of boxes of things like cereal or crackers if they didn't seal the ziploc I've transferred it to properly and it's gone soggy.

I don't like frozen meat. We don't have enough freezer space to do that anyway. I just buy things for a few days then go shopping again.

Limes--I always buy too many when there is a good deal.

Not much else--I will throw all of the leftover into stock, then I freeze the stock in 2C portions.

I don't eat any animal products anymore, so the food I make has a longer fridge life. If I see any vegetables getting a little old ( probably because I got a deal on a large quantity) they get roasted or turned into curry, soup or burger patties. Grains or dried beans are made by the batch for the following few days. . I grow salad vegetables and pick what I need. Sauces, spreads, condiments & spices last a long time. As do nuts and crisps. Preservative free bread probably has the shortest shelf life here. I really abhor food waste. Particularly when an animal had to lose its life for it. I shop for a family of four adults for around $120 a week. I enjoy cooking & make 90% of meals from scratch often in large batches . Why throw away hard earned $$?

If I notice that I've bought something twice or so and not eaten all of it/let it go bad, I don't permit myself to buy it again. I tell myself, "You think you want it, but you clearly don't because you didn't eat it the last few times." It works pretty well!

I'm also extremely picky about food safety. It's probably excessive but oh well. I put meat in the fridge to defrost overnight to cook the next evening (and if I don't feel like eating it then, I cook it anyway and portion into meals for later). A few times I've opened a package of chicken, sniffed and thought, "something smells bad about this," and thrown it away even if it's not at its use-by date. I trust my nose and I know the grocery stores sometimes re-label meats to have a later sell-by date.

One thing that bugs me is that I really like blueberries but I'm so picky about the wrinkly ones in the container. I have to pick out the ones that look sketchy and if mold appears at the bottom I throw the whole thing out. It's one reason I don't eat most fruit, because I get so picky if it looks a little bruised or wrinkly. I have the same issue with bagged salad - I won't eat it if it looks sketchy or doesn't smell fresh.

I also constantly found that milk would go off like A WEEK earlier than its sell-by date on the container (yes, I keep it in the fridge, etc). I don't even buy milk any more because I got so frustrated with it, because I just can't use milk that fast. I don't know if my grocery stores have an issue or what.

I have noticed that stuff I get at the farmers' market lasts way longer than stuff from the store. Usually at my local grocery stores the veg already looks old and tired and wilted - especially the broccoli or fresh greens. I have potatoes right now, bought some at the same time at the farmers' market and at the grocery store - grocery store ones went a little soft and wrinkly, farmers' market ones are still perfect.

tomatoey wrote: »

So many good planners here, excellent

I've been reading a bit about the Miracle Thaw, bc I couldn't find it on Canadian Amazon (though did find similar devices). Someone on another forum asked why they couldn't find the original Miracle Thaw. It was apparently pulled from the market. FDA reasoning was:

A. There is a potential risk of buildup of harmful or unsafe levels of bacteria on perishable frozen food items defrosted or thawed on Miracle Thaw. Miracle Thaw operates at room temperature, and defrosting or thawing perishable food at room temperature, even for relatively short periods of time, increases the risk of harmful or unsafe bacteria buildup.

Is this a danger? People defrost things under running water all the time, how different is that?

B. In many cases, Miracle Thaw will not defrost or thaw frozen food items in the claimed time periods. Defrosting or thawing times will vary depending on several factors, including the size, shape, and thickness of the food item, the number of items placed on the tray at one time, the number of times the tray is reheated during defrosting or thawing, and room temperature. In some cases actual defrosting or thawing times may be three or more times longer than the claimed defrosting or thawing times.

With smaller pieces of meat, shouldn't be a problem

C. Miracle Thaw does not achieve the accelerated defrosting or thawing depicted in the advertisements referred to in Paragraph 8 by superconducting or transferring heat energy from the air into frozen food items. Miracle Thaw is a Teflon-coated aluminum tray that can only achieve the accelerated defrosting or thawing depicted in the advertisements referred to in Paragraph 8 if it is preheated before use and reheated during use. Similar results could be achieved with any aluminum pan.

I'm going to try it

Supposedly, defrosting on the counter, which would include Miracle Thaw, gives time for bacteria to grow. I do defrost on the counter, and when I do this I do cook it the same day. My comment that you don't have to cook the same day was meant for approved defrosting techniques like doing it in the frig (Which I have found takes way longer than the suggested times.)