food waste friday - about 50 cents wasted

Today I'm participating in The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday.  Since our grocery bill has been crazy expensive the last couple of months, I'm working to eat what we have and to serve leftovers for lunch and the occasional dinner!

We didn't do too bad this week!  Much to my children's chagrin we ate a lot of leftovers and food that we already had on hand.  This week I'm throwing out half an orange.  I honestly don't know if it's bad or not...it doesn't look so great.  But, I am not sure when I cut into it and how long it's been in the refrigerator.  So...a half an orange goes into the trash and I would guesstimate it's value at 50cents.

Now on with my day!  Today my goal is to wrap up what I started this week.

1.  Finish laundry
2.  Sweep
3.  Hem a pair of pants for my son
4.  Finish up November expenses
5.  Plan December budget
6.  Begin putting bows on wrapped gifts


I have service technicians coming to my house today to:

1.  Reroute my dryer vent
2.  See why my microwave isn't working
3.  See why my heater isn't working
4.  See why my A/C isn't blowing cold air

On top of this, our golf cart is also not working properly and my son's phone was run over by a car this week (don't ask....).  It seems like everything is falling apart and I'm thankful that Mr. Steady is employed and that we have $ in savings to pay for any repairs.  But, it sure is painful to see our savings going backwards instead of forwards.  I'm not sure if we'll make our year end target, but we'll see.  Maybe we'll be close!

So, my friends.  How what does your Friday look like?  Did you have any food wastes this week?

food waste friday - about $3 wasted

It's been a looooooooong time since I've participated in The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday.  But since our grocery bill has been crazy expensive the last couple of months, I'm working to eat what we have and to serve leftovers for lunch and the occasional dinner!  We didn't do too bad this week!  A half loaf of bread went stale before we finished it and I'd marinated a tomato that we never ate.  And now it looks gross, doesn't it?  Anyway - here is our waste for the week!

How are you doing with your food wastes?   Are you throwing too much in the trash each week?  If you are, I encourage you to take note of it for a few weeks and you'll be surprised at what a difference it makes when you're more aware of what you're throwing away!

food waste friday - about $3 wasted this week

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter and (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. I look forward to the day where I have no food waste!

I didn't take a picture of my wastes, but here they are listed!  This week I tossed:

1/2 a head of lettuce = $1.25
2 halves on onions = $1.00
1/2 a bunch of green onions = $.60

I didn't have quite as much wastes this week because my husband is out of town, and I haven't been cooking as much.  So...just under $3 wasted for the week.  Getting better!

And now I'm signing off to go enjoy my "Fun Friday".  I've got some crafting projects that I want to finish up today.  I'm making a chalk board for my craft room and a moss covered letter to hang on my front door.  I'll post pictures once they're complete!

Happy Friday everyone!

food waste friday - about $4 wasted this week

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter and (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. I look forward to the day where I have no food waste!

Well...I did better this week and wasted less!   I threw away some sour cream, yogurt and flatbread that didn't get eaten before their expiration dates.

And Happy Earth Day to you all!  Are you doing anything to celebrate today?  I remember one year the boys and I walked through our neighborhood and picked up trash.  Today's celebration?  I'm treating myself to something that has been on my wish list for almost a year.  My husband refuses to buy one for me even though I tell him that I really want one badly.  What is it?  A compost bin!!  I'm giddy with excitement and thrilled that some of my food wastes will have a place to go besides the trash can!

food waste friday - about $23 wasted

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter and (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. I look forward to the day where I have no food waste!

Well now.  This is embarrassing!  And this doesn't even show all that was wasted.  There was a lot more.  When we were coming home from vacation I had all of our food in a cooler.  The ice packs didn't keep the food cold enough and we had to throw out lunch meat, cheese, yogurt, eggs and milk.   And I'm not finished.  There was some fresh bread from the bakery that wasn't eaten before it started to mold.  

Over the next few weeks, I'm going to guesstimate the dollar amount of food that I'm throwing out.  I think this will really be an eye opener to me once I add it all up over a month's time.  My best guess of what was thrown out this week (including what's not pictured) was about $23 worth of food.  

I've been wanting a compost bin for quite some time now...I think now is a good time to invest in one.  The majority of what I throw out could be composted!

food waste friday & fun friday

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!

So this week I had some broccoli slaw that I ate as much as I could before I just didn't want anymore.  The pork and lettuce...same thing.  Sometimes after eating it for dinner and then again for leftovers, we just don't want it a 3rd time.  There was some deli turkey that I found in the bottom of our cheese/lunch meat bin that was from a month ago!   

I try to make sure when I cook, that I'm making enough for just the 4 of us.   But sometimes we have too much left and either didn't like it enough to have it as a leftover or don't want to eat off of it the entire week.  I know some of you plan leftovers into your menu and have a "leftover night".  I may try that this next week.  The past 2 weeks we've thrown out the makings of perfectly good meals.  

So...what is everyone doing today?!?  Last week I organized my week so that I can "play" on Friday and I was able to scrapbook for a little bit.  I wasn't quite as efficient this week, but after I get a couple of things finished this morning (clean the hall bath, sweep/mop floors and do 1 load of laundry), I'm going to hit the craft room and work on my 2010 Scrapbook!

Let me know how you did this week with your food wastes (or lack thereof!!!) and if you have anything planned for "Fun Friday".



  

Food Waste Friday - the makings of a sandwich!

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!


So...it looks like I have the makings of a what could have been a couple of really good sandwiches!  Rotisserie chicken, tomatoes, 5-grain bread, and basil.   I could have added some cheese to it, toasted it and voila!  yum, yum!  But instead...it was wasted. 


Now for the rest of my day...I DID get all (or most...) of my to-do's finished before the end of yesterday, so I'm off to my craft room to Scrapbook and watch a movie!

food waste friday

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!


It's been ages since I've participated in a Food Waste Friday!  Well...it's time!  I've started Operation Bootcamp and was "strongly encouraged" to do a refrigerator make over!  Below is what was removed on "Round 1" of the clean out.  The cantaloupe and lettuce were a bit "expired" and is why they got tossed.

A post of the entire refrigerator makeover will come tomorrow!

Food Waste Friday

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!

When my in laws came to visit last week they packed a cooler with sandwiches and drinks for their 11 hour car ride to get here.  I think this is a great idea!  When they got here they had sandwiches left over and put them in the fridge.  Six days later they left to head back home, taking with them the same bag of (leftover) sandwiches to eat on the way home.


What do you think?  Would you eat six day old sandwiches to avoid wasting them?

food waste friday and 210 things to do...

First, Food Waste Friday!!!

In an conscious attempt to keep food waste to a minimum, I join The Frugal Girl and many other bloggers each week and participate in Food Waste Friday. I clean out my refrigerator, line up any waste on the counter, (usually) take a picture and post it on my blog. After doing this for a while, I can honestly say that I work throughout the week to eat (or feed my children) what's in the fridge so that I don't have it to post on Fridays!

This week's waste: CILANTRO.

I had hopes to freeze what was left of it today, but it has already wilted when I pulled it out this morning. But that is it! The only thing that is being thrown away!

Now for my next topic, my 210 Things to Do list.

I have several goals on my 210 Things to Do in 2010 List that are health and fitness related. I'm struggling getting motivated to accomplish these goals each week and I truly can't put it off any longer. Swimsuit season is just around the corner! lol! In an attempt to bring my health/fitness goals to a higher priority, I'll be blogging about them at Burn The Swim Skirt over the next few months.

I'll still be here blogging away about personal finance, life and such! Thanks, as always, for stopping by!

food waste friday

I'm participating in The Frugal Girl's Food Waste Friday today! Take a look and see how good, or not so good, you think we did...



The lettuce is actually leftover from February 28. It was still nice and fresh at the beginning of this week and I hoped to use it, but never did. The sausage patty found its way to the back of the fridge and was overlooked all week. The yogurt I'm really bummed about! I had a coupon for a FREE yogurt and got this one. I started to eat it this morning and realized that expired on 3/1/10! (When I bought it, it was already past it's expiration date!). I hate when that happens!!! Sometimes, I forget to double check the expiration dates when I'm taking stuff off the shelf. And with dairy, I hate taking chances -- especially when it's 12 days after the date.

I have LOTS of stale bread that I'm donating to the birds. I need to "google" uses for stale bread so that I can put it to use in the future. (Didn't take a picture of the bread since someone's going to be eating it!)

And, last night we made a made dash to eat leftovers. I'd forgotten we had leftover spaghetti and leftover tacos. So, the kids ate that and I made just enough chili pie for my husband and I. And we didn't have any leftovers from that. And we kinda thru out (fed to the dog)a hamburger patty from Sunday night.

So, next week I hope to do much better. We managed to keep it to a minimum, but I'd love to have a week where we have ZERO waste!

food waste friday

I love participating in The Frugal Girl's "Food Waste Friday". I have certainly become more aware of using up the food that I buy and make so that there is nothing to show on Fridays! There were two things that we were able to use up at the last minute! I had some baked beans left over from Hamburger night on Sunday. They were still good last night and we at them with our pork and mashed potatoes instead of the peas that I'd planned. I have 1/2 a bell pepper (from Monday's pasta night) and decided that I could chop and saute it for tonight's personal pizzas. I can guarantee that had I not been participating in Food Waste Fridays, that those 2 things would've gone in the trash without a second thought! And I know that a couple of servings of beans and 1/2 a bell pepper don't add up to much...maybe $2...BUT, it's real money and real savings by using it and not throwing it away.

Here's my waste for today. If I was DESPERATE, I could make a pretty gross sandwich out of it. ha, ha!

food waste friday

Today I checked expiration dates and found a few dressings and condiments that needed throwing out. Besides that, an onion and ice cream left from Christmas is the only thing going to waste.



Hoping for less waste next week!!

food waste friday

I see several bloggers participating in Food Waste Friday. 1/2 dozen daily is where I saw it first and I thought it'd be fun to try and then see how much I throw out each month.

Here's what went in the trash this morning:




I'm disappointed that I had so much casserole left over. We had it for dinner one night and then lunch the next day. I wish I would have frozen half of it. Besides the casserole, in the trash went strawberry milk, 1/2 can of evaporated milk, lettuce (never used), green onions, 2 hard boiled eggs and 3/4 can of spaghetti sauce. Not including the thrown out casserole, it's about $4 that I'm throwing away. Both milks were both free, so they're not counted in my $4.