Compostable Future

Clearly I haven't been as diligent about tracking food waste (or blogging in general) as I had hoped. However, I have an excuse in the form of a 30-inch tall man who really likes attention! And lots of it. Also, smacking mommy's keyboard while she's typing, leading to interesting results. (The craziest was when we apparently hit ctrl+alt+up all at the same time, turning my display upside down. That took a bit of neck craning and Googling to figure out.)

It's now spring, though. Oh, spring, how I delight in you! Open windows, fresh air, and making all things fresh and new. After getting a bit stinky (the fridge, not us), we purged the fridge last week (it was due in part to baby not yet being a fan of whole milk and me not being on top of it enough to do something with the milk before chunks - yes, chunks - formed). No pictures, but a fresh start at least.

And even though we did toss a fair bit of food, I do have a few victories to report: chocolate pudding made with precisely two cups of souring skim milk, potatoes au gratin made with four cups of skim milk before the souring began (note to self, don't forget to buy Lactaid!) ... and a compost heap!

I discovered a 3'x3' chicken wired area behind our shed when we first moved in, half-filled in with dead grass and with weeds growing out of it. Clearly a compost heap, but I had a) no idea what to do with it, b) no idea what to do with compost, and c) way too many other projects to care. But, I really like the idea of things not going to landfill, and the compost heap has been niggling at the back of my brain for the almost four years we've lived here now. This spring, as I was putting together my very first legit, planned-out garden (another post for another day), I decided to go for the gold and start using my compost heap.

First step: obtaining a pitchfork (listed as a "garden fork") via Craigslist for $10 - way better than the $35 the big box stores wanted. Second step: strapping on my garden gloves, pulling the weeds out of the heap, and poking the fork in while being ready to run if anything skittered out. No critters, surpringly enough/thank goodness. Whew! I initially thought I might have to clear all of the old stuff out to make way for a fresh heap ... but then I figured, isn't the point of a compost heap to biodegrade old waste? So I just mixed it up and started putting in my food scraps.

Composting lessons learned via Google thus far: no cooked foods or dairy or meat or fats, toss the heap weekly, cover fresh food scraps with grass/leaves to keep smell down, keep the mix balanced between food and (mostly) yard waste. I thought briefly about buying a special little compost bucket to keep in my kitchen to throw scraps into, but why? $20+ for something that's really just supposed to be airtight, small, and provide a receptacle between counter and heap? I grabbed a yogurt container from the recycle bin, and so far so good.

Anyway, all that to say - I think it's awesome that I no longer have to throw away/garbage disposal things like kiwi skins or the blocky base of a head of lettuce. I think it'll be at least marginally helpful with food waste. And we're getting a fresh start here, people! That, and it'll be really nice if I can save money on compost for my veggie garden next year. My compost heap cost thus far has been $10, which is maybe 2.5 bags of compost. Come on heap, get to work!

food waste "friday" #2

a month later, i cleaned my fridge for the second time.  ahem.  i think i keep telling myself that if i don't clean out the fridge, that the stuff moldering in there isn't *really* there.  i'm sure there's stuff that we threw away in the interim, but i tried to restrain myself until i was ready to take a picture, so hopefully it's fairly comprehensive.  (i did have a few failed cooking nights, which i don't think i'd necessarily count as food waste.  the saddest was 6 potatoes, 1 onion, and 2 bell peppers that turned into glue rather than hash browns for breakfast burritos.  there's just nothing you can do with that.)

not as bad as i thought it might be!  we have a cup of sauteed mushrooms that matson didn't like and that i couldn't find a cover for ($1), so they shriveled in the open fridge (whoops), a cup of cut up mango with wheat germ that mats wasn't in the mood for and that i forgot to address later ($1), a container of bitter quinoa because i forgot to rinse it before cooking ($2), some bits of baby finger food that mats kept not eating and finally got stinky ($negligible), month-old pureed spinach ($1), leftover rice ($negligible), a bit of steak fajita that got shoved to the back of the fridge ($2), and some leftover ground beef that HAD been in the freezer but was thawed for mac n cheese but not used in full and left in the fridge ($1.50).  the beef didn't stink, but it's been in the fridge for long enough that i wasn't going to risk it.

on the plus side, i get a lot of leftovers containers back!  on the down side, according to my ball-park estimates, that's $8.50 wasted.  i just checked my last post, and would estimate that one at about $6 wasted, which brings us to:

2012 cost of food waste: $14.50

food waste friday #1

my friend kelly and i decided to take the frugal girl up on her invitation to join her on food waste fridays, wherein you clean out your fridge/pantry each week and take a picture of the food that has gone bad that you have to toss.  the idea is that by taking a picture and sharing it, you'll be motivated to waste less food - and also that you'll be going through your fridge regularly enough that you'll find food to use before you waste it.  perfect in keeping with my #7 resolution to finally get my grocery budget under control!
anyone else care to join us on this endeavor??

without further ado:

in sum: a few random black olives from a looooong time ago, half a container of homemade pesto from one of my sisters-in-law (it was so good, too!  darn me), a bit of vanilla yogurt still lingering from my friend alison's visit when mats was 6 weeks old, some gravy from thanksgiving, half of a lime, a bunch of cilantro (let's be honest, who can ever finish one of these bunches??), one crunchy taco shell that i was going to save but that got cracked when i was wedging it back into the pantry, and the saddest part: most of a container of goat cheese.  (i got two containers from whole foods as a topping option for grilled pizza bar for tapestry lunch a few weekends ago, we used one, and while i tried mightily to use this one on subsequent dinners, it was blue and just smelled off this evening when i went to use it for salad.)

really, not nearly as bad as it could have been!  i did discover a few lurkers in the back corners of my fridge, though, so hopefully i can stay on top of it and have a good showing next week!

(this is also a good motivator to get my kitchen cleaned up!)