Friday, April 12, 2013

I Waste Produce Every Week

Here's one of those lingering guilt issues I deal with regularly.

I waste produce. Every single week.

It may be a quarter of a cucumber or half of a somewhat soggy onion. Two black bananas (yes, I freeze old bananas but I have limits on how many at a time!). A pile of shredded brown lettuce. A bunch of mushy baby carrots.

Have I thrown away an entire pineapple with mold on the bottom because I waited too long to cut it? Yes, multiple times.

I loathe wasting food, but every Monday, I'm tossing the contents of two or three Tupperware containers, the wilted, grody stuff in the veggie crisper, and a few slices of stale bread.

Two black bananas are staring at me as we speak. Do I throw them in the trash? No. They stay on the counter, mocking me, adding to my irritation with myself.

Why didn't I eat them for a snack when they were ripe?

I know why. I chose m&ms instead.

So that brings on an entire new layer of guilt. Not only am I wasting food, I'm also eating unhealthy. Great. Guilt on multiple levels. :)

Do you throw away more food than you'd like? Does anyone have a good compost solution for a small, suburban yard?

Have a terrific weekend!

14 comments:

  1. I do and I feel guilty too!!! :-( But I try to console myself that I'm feeding the little rabbits in the yard and also that it's biodegradable.
    I'm not suburban, I'm a mix of rural and almost suburban. :-) No solution, but good luck!

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    1. I like the idea of feeding the bunnies. Our neighborhood has tons of rabbits! You're a good woman!!

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  2. Not to be like Sue Ann Nivens, but you can salvage the bananas. Peel them, break them in half, put each half in an individual fold and close bag, put all the halves in a big ziplock and freeze them. I use the frozen bananas mostly for smoothies, but I've also thawed them to make banana bread, muffins and pancakes. Have a great day!

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    1. Thanks for the great tip, Betsy! I usually throw them in the freezer with their peels on and all, but they would take up less room using your method. I'll give it a shot--thanks!

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  4. I do this same thing. Buy it but eat chocolate instead. For the love of Mike, I need a pig in the back yard.

    My father made me a small compost tumbler a few years ago and that worked out pretty well. We just moved and I haven't set it up yet for this summer, but I think the "rolling over" of it all allows the food to break down faster, less bugs, less smell.

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    1. I like the idea of a small tumbler. And I'm all about aiming for fruit and settling for chocolate! Ha!!

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  5. I used to compost, until I set it our plastic one fire on February and burned it, and the neighbour's fence. Don't put woodstove ashes in your composter. Way to go, Martha.
    The thing we toss the most would have to be old lettuce.

    And yes, the nice firemen wouldn't look at me because they were laughing so hard.

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    1. I am using this as my excuse NOT to compost--it's a fire hazard!! Ha! Love it!!

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  6. Funny enough, I just threw away a quarter of a cucumber today. I have issues letting food get old. Bad me. Need to work on that!

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    1. You obviously are in good company here! I need to work on it too. :(

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