Food Waste Saturday

No waste this week! Oh yes, victory is mine...
Noah and I were a reclusive pair this week, didn't venture out much due to the drabnabbit snow. Plus, Noah had a little cough and runny nose. So, we were home playing card games, watching Alvin and the Chipmunks (the show- haven't seen the movie), and apparently eating up all our leftovers.
I almost let a jug of grape juice go to waste, but luckily I saw a post over at The Frugal Girl's blog on how to make Grape Jelly. Hooray! Grape Jelly! I made it today. It was easy peasy.  I just keep my laptop right there on the kitchen counter and follow instructions. I love the internet.

Notice how the label says, "Madona's Pumpkin Butter"? That jar is from when I rescued my Halloween pumpkins from becoming food waste too. And that was some awesome stuff, if I do say so myself.

Have you signed up for Crunchy's Food Waste Reduction Challenge? Have you checked out how Kristen or Angela try to prevent food from being wasted in their homes?

Food Waste Friday

Kristen at The Frugal Girl photographs and reports what food she has wasted for the week in an effort to be more aware, and therefore reduce her food waste.
Also, Deanna at The Crunchy Chicken has dared her readers to participate in the Food Waste Reduction Challenge this month. And I have accepted the challenge.

I thought I was doing really well last week.
But this week...not so much...

Here is a photo of my food waste for the week:

What you see before you is about 1/4 of a Banana Cream Pie (with fresh blueberries and banana slices on top) and about 1/4 of a cup of Vegetarian Chili. Sigh.
The Banana Cream Pie was delicious. However, I didn't know that my husband didn't care for Banana Cream Pie in general until AFTER I had already made this beautiful pie. I love pie. All pie. Especially Chocolate Cream Pie or Pecan Pie. But I'm only one woman and just couldn't tackle the entire thing by my lonesome. I learned something new about my husband though- Banana Cream Pie- he's not a fan. So, I won't make it again, and therefore, I won't waste it again! And if we ever happen to find ourselves on the Newlywed Gameshow and there happens to be a question like- what pie does your husband hate- well, then we are totally winning that all expenses paid trip to Acapulco.
The Vegie Chili. We enjoyed it, froze some leftovers. But the little bit remaining was pushed far in the back of the fridge and forgotten. Next time, I'll just freeze all the leftovers.
This isn't too too horrible. But I didn't include food that my 3 yr old wasted. For example, I sent a handful of grapes in his lunch yesterday for co-op (preschool, sorta). He usually loves grapes. Yet, yesterday, his class had a little Valentine's Party and he filled up on rice crispy treats, cupcakes, and lolipops. By the time the grapes made it home, they were brown and mushy and Noah wouldn't touch them. They will be composted, but I would have rather they be eaten.
Do you monitor your food waste? Are you participating in the Crunchy Chicken challenge? Have you checked out The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday posts? How do you use it all up?
Happy weekend!

February is Food Waste Reduction Month

I've been reading the Crunchy Chicken blog for a few months now, and I think Deanna is great. She challenges her readers to do all kinds of crazy stuff...the craziest being the Golden Showers garden parties...in which you use your pee to nourish your plants. I'm not kidding. She's done the research on this. There's also the Freeze Your Buns Off challenge...in which you turn the thermostat way down. She has a naughty sense of humor, but a serious focus on the environment. Read her blog!
Anyways, I've not summoned the courage to join one of her challenges until now.

February is Food Waste Reduction month, which is pretty self-explanatory-
reduce the amount of food you waste.
I can do that. In fact, I'm cheating a bit here because I've been trying to reduce my food waste already.
I also have to give credit to Kristen at The Frugal Girl blog for first making me think about my food waste as a financial issue. She takes pics of her wasted food and posts it on Fridays. Read her blog too!
Not only do I want to reduce my food waste for thrifty reasons, I also want to reduce food waste for environmental reasons. Here's where Crunchy enlightened me. A bunch of food waste (50% edible!) sits in landfills giving off methane like a motha. Also, when you throw away your food, you waste energy...all the energy that it took to grow, harvest, transport, package that food.
I never really thought of it that way.
With this in mind, here's an example of what I did this week to reduce my food waste:
On Monday, I cooked a delicious (if I do say so myself) Veggie Chili for Meatless Monday. I made much more than needed for me, my husband, and 3 yr old. I put half of the leftover chili in the freezer. On Tuesday, I made Spaghetti Marinara...and acrued more leftovers in the fridge. On Wednesday, I made pizza dough from scratch and we enjoyed homeade pizza. On Thursday, I assembled an awesome Chili Pasta dinner out of the leftover chili (Monday), pasta (Tuesday), and mozzerella (Wednesday). And I will easily find something to do with my leftover marinara sauce...maybe throw in a few meatballs and make meatball subs.
I will tackle fresh produce and other perishibles in another post. Perhaps I'll take some pics of my waste (a la The Frugal Girl) on the way out to the compost pile. 
Anyone care to join me on this challenge? Anyone care to share creative ways that you reduce food waste? I'd love any help I can get!
 

Beer-Infused Wasted Food

Last night, I whipped up this beautiful Pot Pie.

Unfortunately, it was inedible. In fact, it was disgusting.

These things happen sometimes when I 'go rogue' in the kitchen'...sigh.

Everything was going great. The veggie filling was sauteing, the bottom crust was golden brown, the roux was standing by .

And then, a very stupid thought entered my mind, "Hmm...maybe I could add BEER to this?!!!"

Have you ever heard of a beer-infused veg pot pie? Nope, me either...I was being a maverick, blazing the trail for epicurians everywhere.

We happend to have some Saranac India Pale Ale. I purchased this ale because it was made in 'the foothills of the Adiorondacks'...and I am compelled to be a locavore whenever I can...especially with beer and wine. Nothing like supporting the local economy and getting a buzz to boot.

But, alas, the Saranac Pale Ale is a wee too bitter in my book.

And the potatoes and carrots completely absorbed the bitterness like little sponges. Bleh! Blick!

The worst part of all of this?

Not my husband's loss of faith in my cooking abilities.

Not the fact that we ended up feasting on Honey Bunches of Oats for dinner.

Not the pain of seeing such a gorgeous golden brown pie crust,

crunchy and flaky, and then not being able to enjoy a single bite.

Nope, nope, nope. None of that.

The worst thing about this is the wasted food.

I lose sleep over food waste.

Wasting food is like throwing money away.

I was trying so hard to not let the baby carrots in the produce drawer shrivel any further, and the celery was going limp, and the potatoes were growing new eyes. So the pot pie was (would have been) an awesome and delicious way to rescue those veggies from the sad fate of the compost pile.

O! The tragedy of waste!

Don't be me.

I could really use a beer now. Beer Therapy. Anyone have any suggestions?

I would prefer to try something from the central/upstate NY area...but not anything sucky.

Thanks.

Cheers.

Hmmm....I wonder why so many of my posts involve some kind of failure on my part?

Maybe I should change the name of my blog to something like...

Confessions of an Un-Domestic Goddess!