Friday, October 5, 2012

Food Waste Friday: Things Have Changed

I haven't participated in FWF for a few weeks, and I've missed it!


FoodWasteFriday


The reason I haven't been around??

We moved across the country, from our little house in Tennessee into my parent's big house on two beautiful acres. Long story, but we're glad to be here! :)
Needless to say, there was food waste.
Food waste from us moving, food waste from lunch meat not being refrigerated and beans getting squished into a paste, food waste once we got here to Washington. (State, not D.C.)

I'm in the process of getting my mom and dad's foodstuffs organized (Think overflowing pantry and huge chest freezer with stuff in it from 2009 and condiments in the gigantic fridge expired in 2005...)

So there was a LOT of waste.
Two garbage bags full.
Old meat, corn with freezer burn, blackberries from 3 years ago. Horseradish that should've been thrown out 7 years ago. SEVEN. That's how long I've been married!! It's amazing what can hide in the fridge on the condiment shelf.

I'm trying to get it under control, and get my parents and brother on board with FWF so that they can save some $$ and some food too!

The next thing on the agenda is to write up a menu so that we have a list of meals to pull from- the secret weapon of preventing food waste, along with making meals out of leftovers to further our reduction of wasted meals.

Does anyone have any tips on how to reduce food waste from a family who is used to throwing out this, that and leftovers?
I need help! :)

Thanks in advance!


This post is linked to The Frugal Girl, who is the brains behind all of this food waste documentation.

2 comments:

doo said...

I think maybe daily "gentle" encouragment and for them to actually see what could be saved and made into interesting and tasty meals. I always thought that for some people all it takes is for a "seed to be planted" in the mind and it will eventually take root and grow :-)

Becca Swan said...

Good idea. :) I was thinking maybe have them write down whatever they throw out on a white board, then at the end of the week they can see how much they (we) actually throw out.