Note the enormous onions, able to successfully obscure the lowly avocado.
I’m getting better and better about my family’s food waste, although there’s always something that slips through the cracks. Today culprit was an entire avocado, which may be a first. Not only are avocados on the somewhat spendy side, but we ♥ them here at casa Wolk-Stanley! In salads, on sandwiches or made into guacamolé, they’re never lacking in affection.
Don't cry for me, guacamole!
But my sister bought two absolutely ginormous onions when she visited last, which then hid this most fattening Omega-3 rich fruit until it shriveled into a sad little inedible nugget. *Sob*
Luckily, I do compost, so the avocado will be spared the humiliation of landfill life. Maybe I need to chop these onions and throw them into the freezer. Because there’s no way I could use even half an onion this size in a single recipe.
Like food, hate waste? Then you need to check out Jonathan Bloom’s Wasted Food site that explores the issues related to food waste. Because the waste of a single avocado is sad, but is a mere pittance compared to how much food is wasted every single day.
Is your food waste getting better? Please share your stories in the comments section below.
Katy Wolk-Stanley
“Use it up, wear it out, make it do or do without.”
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
I am doing soooo much better!! I was able to get…3 pizzas out of one bag of turkey pepperoni, 1 jar of sauce and 1 bag of soy mozzarella cheese and random vegggies that I had on hand at the time..Broken down by cost that is about $3.00 per large pizza verse say the $25.00 we used to spend ordering from Papa Johns…yay!
$75.00 – $9.00 = Wowie! I used to have lots of food waste because I had a just have to have attitude, now I am spending oh say $70 to $100 per week thus saving a womping $400.00 per month..I am going to open an ING account and transfer the saved amount each week into my saving..At the rate that I’m going I could easily be saving $4000.00 per year
OH MY GOD! Thank you Katy for opening this girls eyes..
That is awesome!
Do I get a cut?
Katy
I’ll toss a few coins your way ..”Coin girl!”…Get ready…..Set….Catch 😉
Have a restful Sunday.
Our food waste is also way down over a year ago. I can see into the fridge a lot better now so things are not getting forgotten. My cupboards are no longer jam-packed with multiple boxes of crackers etc. It also helps that we have recently had less money to spend on food. I notice a direct correlation between food budget: the more $ we have, the more we tend to overlook hidden gems in the fridge that could be made into another meal, duh.
carmelize those onions by browning them in a teaspoon of veg oil then cooking, covered, over low heat for 30 minutes…yum!
Our food waste is getting really close to zero around here. With a tight grocery budget and two tween boys who will eat just about anything they can get their hands on, food doesn’t have much of a chance to go bad! Avocados are actually one of the few things that sometimes slip through the cracks, I adore them but NO ONE else here will eat them!! So once I have a ripe one, I’ve got to eat the whole darn thing by myself real fast. I’ve tried freezing it pureed but had unsatisfactory results thus far.
I second the caramelized onion suggestion. I do six pounds at a time and freeze them in small portions. When we want onion soup, pull out and put into a beef or chicken stock, top with stale bread croutons and cheese, broil and—dinner in 15 mintues!
We’ve gotten better about food waste but it drives my husband crazy when we do! He has no issue eating what I call ‘old food’. What goes bad we give to our chickens.
Usually I do well and waste little food. I’m the queen of transforming leftovers into something completely different. Usually I buy fresh produce in limited amounts but today got suckered into buying fifty pounds of russet potatoes because they were so much cheaper that way. We’ll see how the great potato eating challenge goes.
Love the blog post title- hilarious!
I am going to “third” the suggestion of the carmelized onions, and offer this- the easy-as-pie lentil/bulger recipe with the onions on top. It really couldn’t be simpler or more delicious- when you read it you’ll be skeptical it could be good, but the onions make it SO tasty. It is now one of our favorite easy dinners. (The onions become crispy and sweet so children and onion haters like me love them)
http://myyearwithoutspending.blogspot.com/2009/03/pantry-dinners-mjederah-lentils.html
Katy,
Squandering an avocado?? You ARE making me cry, as I’m also a huge fan of the green and yellow goodness. Then again, maybe my tears are due to all that onion.
I’m often lamenting the super-sizing of produce and just the other day I had a hard time finding an onion smaller than Rhode Island, so this story really hits home. It’s a good lesson in that whole ‘out of sight, out of mind’ thing.
Thanks for sharing and for the shout-out.
When I buy granny smith apples, (which are my son’s favorite) I buy the “schoolboy” ones, which simply mean they’re not enormous. Not only do they discourage waste, but they’re 78 cents/ pound instead of $1.39/pound.
Crazy.
However, I appreciate how they’ve found a way to market these instead of letting them go to waste.
Katy
Our food waste is pretty near 0% too. Revamping leftovers into new dishes is considered fun around here!
Dana
This is the one consistent issue that I am a big fat failure at, and find myself tearing my hair out over my failure on a regular basis.
I love guacamole (did you know you can mash and freeze avocado? I know, amazing) and I really love your Fiesta and iron fruit stand there…makes me want to consume.
I’m making a conscious effort to reduce food waste and it feels great! We use our Vitamix daily and almost-rotted veggies and fruits with bruises and dents go right on in and make tasty smoothies and soups! The other day I used wimpy celery and hairy carrots with a little chicken to make a huge 6Q kettle of homemade chicken broth to freeze in smaller containers. I made probably $10 worth of broth (in stores at least $2 carton) for a few cents!! That felt great! Taking a daily ‘inventory’ of the fridge also makes a big difference in what goes to waste. All hail clear containers, too!