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total waste!!!!!!!

post #1 of 25
9/20/09 at 3:39pm
Thread Starter 
I'm ashamed of myself.

I bought 3 Aubergines (eggplants) Cheap with a view to making Brinjal ( indian pickle). I stuck them in the fridge and totally forgot about them. They are now in the compost bin. along with a celery heart, 1/2 an iceberg and a fennel bulb...

...When did i get so rich that I could afford to waste food.

I know I'm not alone. But I feel bad every time i clean out the house fridge.

Full of good intentions, but I guess I've a gold paved route to he*l
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post #2 of 25
9/20/09 at 3:50pm
Don't beat yourself up. It happens to all of us. And you've redeemed yourself some by composting them! :D

But let me tell you what I do so that it doesn't happen to me too often: I bought a small magnetic whiteboard (the kind you use an eraseable marker on) that I keep on the front of the fridge door. I list all the vegetables and herbs I have, so that I can always keep track. If I cook some and have leftovers (other leftovers, too), I note what's cooked. When I use something up, I erase it.
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post #3 of 25
9/20/09 at 3:54pm
Yup, to he11 you go lol

I grew up in India and without a refrigerator, so there was no convenient place to put things and forget about them. Now that I have one I find myself commiting that sin at times :D Really I hate to do that.
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post #4 of 25
9/20/09 at 3:58pm
Thread Starter 
You're a virgo arnt you suzanne? Thats just the best idea ever to keep track, but as a wannabee virgo August 29th I simply cant apply discipline to the house fridges.

At work I'm anal. In the house it just gets shoved in there.

Its something i'll mention, but as I'm the best of a bad bunch, I cant see my lot going along with it. Cheers anyway
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post #5 of 25
9/20/09 at 4:22pm
Bughut--I think we must be twins separated at birth! Although--I'm a Cancer.

I too am VERY anal at work....nothing gets thrown out or forgotten about. At home? Well...let's just say I tend to buy too much with the intention of cooking at home and then never do it. Such a waste....and a shame. I need to change my ways!
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post #6 of 25
9/20/09 at 5:13pm
One trick to consider.

When stuff is about to go bad---you know what I mean; quality is too far gone to put on the table, but not really spoiled yet---cut it up and throw it in a large zipper bag that you keep in the fridge. I use a 2 1/2 gallon size for this. Trimmings from prep work also go in the bag.

Eventually it gets filled. You then use it to make a big batch of veggie stock. What's left after straining still goes in the compost.

Not a perfect solution, of course. But is asuages some of the guilt feelings over letting stuff go wrong.
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post #7 of 25
9/20/09 at 7:46pm
Know where all of this is coming from.....for me - its usually the cauliflower or zucchini. If I don't use it the day I buy it....I just know there's gonna be this once recognisable lump of "something" inhabiting a plastic bag lurking in the vegie drawer. The other vegies are screaming out "HELP US!" so the same fate doesn't befall them. Oh dear :(

My Virgo brain says to me "Shame on you, woman!", then my Libran brain says, "Hey, don't sweat the small stuff!". Yeah, I'm a virgo/libran, born on the cusp. Gets real confusing at times.
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post #8 of 25
9/21/09 at 12:35am
Around here, what doesn't go to waste goes pretty much right to waist. I just took out the trash, threw out about two serving of some bbq beef I made way too long ago. Shucks, I forgot about it, that stuff was good!

mjb.
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post #9 of 25
9/21/09 at 2:07am
I'm a haphazard housekeeper and I work and buy food because it looks good but i cook what i feel like eating in the moment (I dress like that too, can't put my clothes out the night before because i have no idea what i'll feel like wearing.)
So, yes, that happens to me all the time.

I live in Italy where housekeeping is more important than anything (people iron their sheets so they will look nice in the linen closet!!! and if they have full time jobs, pay someone else to do it!). And in most houses you can't tell if they brush their teeth or comb their hair because no toothbrushes or hair brushes are visible, and you can't tell if they cook because there is no sign of any cooking implement or small or large cooking appliance in view (even the stoves have a cover, and they actually close them after cleaning the kitchen!).
. So once i was saying in a group "you know when that small piece of cheese gets shoved to the back of the refrigerator and gets frozen to the cooling plate in the back?" and this table of 6 people all said "no."

To me that's inevitable if you have to shop once a week and have small european refrigerators. (Though i used to shop every day and had the same problem).

But for all that, nobody refuses to eat at my house however fussy they are!
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post #10 of 25
9/21/09 at 4:55am
I used to do that a lot more often than I do now, although sometimes it can't be avoided still. I used to have a weekly menu and would stock up on the ingredients once a week but what ended up happening is that there would be too many left overs to consider cooking one night, or we would change our mind about what to eat and then several things would spoil and go in the bin.

I still have my weekly menu plan but I decided I would walk to the market every single day to buy just the things I need. I know it sounds a little obsessive but I got the idea from a book called "French Women Don't Get Fat," which states that many europeans do this very thing. I combined this routine with my daily exercise plan to stay more active throughout the day. I only have as much perishable food as we need in the house plus I log about 1.5miles of walking on my pedometer from this daily little trip.
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post #11 of 25
9/21/09 at 5:07am
Thread Starter 
>but I got the idea from a book called "French Women Don't Get Fat," <

A friend has suggested I read this too. I'm already eating the way the book suggests, but it's not as easy as i thought. I do put my knife and fork down between mouthfuls, but deliberating on the aesthetics of my meal, while chewing forever, just doesnt com easy to one who is used to guzzling, while enjoying conversation round the table.
When I do do it, however, I am always full way before the plate's empty.
So I guess it works
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post #12 of 25
9/22/09 at 6:11pm
Believe me I know the feeling of tossing out food. I am single and live alone and love to cook and on weekends I like to cook a nice meal from scratch and my problem is most recipes I make is just way too much for one person and after day 2 of eating the same things 2-3 times a day I end up tossing the rest out in the trash and I get angry with myself for tossing out food and money.

Sometimes if something comes out really good I will bring what is left over to work the next day and let everyone have at it but most the time no one says thanks so I get discouraged.
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post #13 of 25
9/22/09 at 6:47pm
Maybe they just think of it as leftovers and don't realize you shared your next meal(s) with them because it came out extra good.
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post #14 of 25
9/22/09 at 7:19pm
Honestly I never thought of that and you are probably right but that should not stop someone from saying thanks.
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post #15 of 25
9/22/09 at 9:19pm
Surely they should say thanks.
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post #16 of 25
9/23/09 at 4:29am
Yeah, they should. But it doesn't surprise me that they don't. We, unfortunately, live in a world where the basic courtesies have all but disappeared. :cry:
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post #17 of 25
9/23/09 at 5:04am
Even in the deep south?!

My faux pas is buying for winter storage, then not processing right away....the 1# of basil turning in the fridge, they tomatoes waiting to be roasted then frozen....etc. Today is a great day to deal with all the food crowding the fridges/freezers. I feel like a squirrel.
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post #18 of 25
9/23/09 at 6:32am
I heard you should never put basil in the fridge because it turns brown!
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post #19 of 25
9/24/09 at 11:29am
oh, hi :D

Me..too. have lost quite a few battle against Mr. Trashbin here D: I don't even compost, which is worse, when I think about it :( I wonder what should I do to compost?

it's....rather a wasteful habit of mine. That's why I'm recently learning to cook basically everything with everything possible :|
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post #20 of 25
9/24/09 at 12:17pm

You just described me! I'm also a Virgo born on the cups of Libra (Sept 22).

If life gets busy, I am more apt to forget about things I buy and throw in the fridge. I usually make a menu plan for the week that I can vary according to what I feel like eating or cooking each day. When life gets busy, that plan gets tossed and anything goes so some things end up wasted. I hate to waste food and always think about the times when money is tight and the food budget suffers.
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post #21 of 25
9/24/09 at 5:04pm
Hey Allie - Belated Birthday wishes :) Same day as mine.

Waste annoys the heck out of me...I look for many ways to re-use/re-cycle food once cooked, or if the fruit or veg is turning, the guinea pigs get it.

I had a bad week waste wise this week - the chicken mince turned (only 1# but its WASTE!!!). My poor cauliflower went too brown on the ends to use it - now the pets are sick to death of it. Managed to save the ox livers by chopping, dicing, bagging them up into the freezer for the cats. But the cocktail franks (my kids love 'em as a snack)...well, I won't describe their fate <shudder>. Bok Choy went way past using it for a nice fresh stir fry.

My guinea pigs are getting fat.

My spring onions are going all limp and 'orrible...life gets in the way of preventing waste at times. And this week was a doozy :) I think better try harder this week...Go Virgo!

Ah nuts :)
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post #22 of 25
9/24/09 at 6:59pm
Suzanne, that is a great idea actually. I have had throw stuff out for the same reasons (forgetfulness) and feel sick about it. The worst one this year for me was I forgot my spareribs that I pulled out and they went bad.
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post #23 of 25
9/25/09 at 11:50am
Thread Starter 
apart from the waste. The worst part of things going over is having to scrape yucky leftovers out of bowls into the bin. Blaah! Can be truly disgusting.
Thankfully I bought a few thousand bankrupt stock of disposable salad tubs that we ended up not using. So leftovers go in them. Then when I've forgotten about the beaten egg, or white sauce thats been sitting for a week, I can just bin it.
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post #24 of 25
9/25/09 at 12:38pm
Thank you! I hope you had a wonderful birthday! Mine isn't over quite yet. My significant other was out of town working on Tuesday so we're taking the kids out tonight. A local restaurant/tavern owner we met last weekend said he would make me his "special prime rib" if we'll come in tonight. I actually interviewed for a job there a few years ago and went in last Friday and he said to put in another application so who knows, I might end up with a job.
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post #25 of 25
9/25/09 at 12:44pm
Thread Starter 
Hope you had a gd night Allie. Hope you get a job out of it
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