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Throwing away Food!

tiredretired

tiredretired

The Old Salt
Does it piss you off? It sure does me. I forgot a good pound of my pulled pork I made over a week age. It got pushed back in the frig and then it slipped my mind. I found it this morning all green and hairy and nasty looking. :yum:

Damn, that was good pulled pork too with my homemade BBQ sauce to add insult to injury.

Damn, I hate throwing away food. :hammer::brows::biggrin:
 
Yep, pisses me off as well.
I have a teenage son so it hasn't happened in quite awhile. That boy eats about 6 full meals each day. Breakfast + he buys 2 full lunches at the school + a full meal after school + dinner + whatever he can find at about 8PM.

If there is leftovers, my daughter actually puts her name on them (to call "dibs!") if she wants a chance of eating them herself.
 
This is a continuing problem at our house. We're both 68-years old and really don't eat that much anymore. Added to that is the fact that my wife is a great cook but never has learned to cook for two people. If you want someone to cook for 50 or a 100 or more, which she does quite often, she's your girl.

Compounding the problem is the fact that we have so many freezers and fridge/freezers (3 of each). It's a nightmare rotating stuff in and out of them. And .... during a power outage of any length, I have to dedicate one generator to do nothing else but keep them all working. I so need a whole house generator but every time I get ready to bite the bullet, something else happens. Ah well!!!!! (sigh)
 
EastTexFrank said:
1Compounding the problem is the fact that we have so many freezers and fridge/freezers (3 of each). It's a nightmare rotating stuff in and out of them.
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Hey, I resemble that!!!

4 deep freezers, 2 fridge/freezers and 2 fridges.

I have had to go to a "his and hers" setup on the freezers. I can't find crap in hers.
 
Was at a Scout camp in Oregon a couple of times. For each meal, they brought out fresh cartons of milk. If the cartons were opened, even for 1/4 cup of milk, they had to dump them. I never saw such waster. It was same with some other items. Great camp, food was good, but the waster in that dining hall was amazing.
 
It is hard to cook for one or two. Most recipes are for more than two servings. Even buying meat etc, things are packaged for more servings.

EastTexFrank said:
This is a continuing problem at our house. We're both 68-years old and really don't eat that much anymore. Added to that is the fact that my wife is a great cook but never has learned to cook for two people. If you want someone to cook for 50 or a 100 or more, which she does quite often, she's your girl.
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RNE228 said:
Was at a Scout camp in Oregon a couple of times. For each meal, they brought out fresh cartons of milk. If the cartons were opened, even for 1/4 cup of milk, they had to dump them. I never saw such waster. It was same with some other items. Great camp, food was good, but the waster in that dining hall was amazing.
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I was raised by two depression era parents who both had to pretty much eat dirt most of the time growing up. It wasn't until WW2 when my dad joined the Navy and my mom worked in a defense plant did they get three squares a day.

Needless to say, food was NOT wasted in our household. You finished what you put on your plate or you did not take it. None of this bullshit about not liking the bread crust or not liking the vegetable of the day.

My son growing up got to enjoy the same mindset. :yum::clap:
 
I too was born poor to depression era parents. No food was ever wasted.

Grandpa put it this way, Something died so you could eat. Have respect for that life and consume it all, waste nothing.

Today I see folks dumping food at a restaurant or at home, it really irritates my senses. Even the garnish decorations. I never, and I mean NEVER bring a dirty plate back to the kitchen.

As for the stuff in the frig/ freezer, that is a problem to keep rotated. And try as I might it sometimes goes off before I can use it. That's where the compost comes in. I know they say not to but I even put meats and dairy into the compost. I just cannot see it wasted.

As for portions,,, I find it almost impossible lately to find a one pound or less package of ground burger. With just me and the missis I have to divide what I buy I half. Sometimes I just grind my own from prime cuts. But that's a lot of work with the extra cleaning.
 
FrancSevin said:
As for portions,,, I find it almost impossible lately to find a one pound or less package of ground burger. With just me and the missis I have to divide what I buy I half. Sometimes I just grind my own from prime cuts. But that's a lot of work with the extra cleaning.
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Have you talked to the guy at the grocery butcher shop (or any other butcher shop)? That shouldn't be a problem. We'll buy a pork loin out of the counter then ask them to cut it into chops and they seem more than happy to do it.

We put over 10# of roasts/stew meat in the slow cooker last weekend. It was gone by Tuesday.
 
TiredRetired said:
I was raised by two depression era parents who both had to pretty much eat dirt most of the time growing up. It wasn't until WW2 when my dad joined the Navy and my mom worked in a defense plant did they get three squares a day.

Needless to say, food was NOT wasted in our household. You finished what you put on your plate or you did not take it. None of this bullshit about not liking the bread crust or not liking the vegetable of the day.

My son growing up got to enjoy the same mindset. :yum::clap:
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That was my parents, got through the depression in the UK and 5-years of WW11 and the poverty and shortages that came with it and after it. I was born in '47 and growing up was just as you said. You wasted nothing!!!! In many ways, I still have that same mentality. To a large extent it's shared by my wife. I usually say that she's more Scottish than I am. :)
 
bczoom said:
Hey, I resemble that!!!

4 deep freezers, 2 fridge/freezers and 2 fridges.

I have had to go to a "his and hers" setup on the freezers. I can't find crap in hers.
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Darn, you're worse than I am. Never mind, come TEOTWAWKI we should both be in good shape, at least for a while. :yum:
 
We aim to do a leftover night once a week. Seems that over the week we always end up with leftovers. So rather than waste either we do that or my wife will take stuff for her lunch at work the next day.
 
I have teens and a 10 year old I'm the only one eating left overs we throw nothing out if the kids don't want the left overs they go hungry. if shit sits in the fridge too long we have 4 dogs that will fight to eat it rather than have gravy train. the cool part about the dogs the veggie of the day docent bother them they even eat asparagus
 
I was very disappointed in the waste. Camp staff said it was Or state law; they could not re-serve the milk opened at lunch, at dinner because it had been opened.

TiredRetired said:
I was raised by two depression era parents who both had to pretty much eat dirt most of the time growing up. It wasn't until WW2 when my dad joined the Navy and my mom worked in a defense plant did they get three squares a day.

Needless to say, food was NOT wasted in our household. You finished what you put on your plate or you did not take it. None of this bullshit about not liking the bread crust or not liking the vegetable of the day.

My son growing up got to enjoy the same mindset. :yum::clap:
Click to expand...
 
I do most of the cooking, and make enough food for two meals. We eat the leftovers the following day. I, too, grew up with depression era parents. We ate everything on the animal but it's squeak, grunt, or whatever noise it made.

Most days I eat some sort of leftover for my lunch...not much goes to waste.i had a taste for chicken salad today, so I popped four chicken thighs in the pressure cooker. When they were done and cooling, I turned the remaining stock and turned it into six cups of soup with some celery and carrots that we're getting soft. Even used up a couple partial bags of pasta shapes to add some bulk. Had the soup with chicken salad sandwiches for dinner. DW was pleased to have the bonus soup.
 
pirate_girl said:
Waste not, want not - My Grandma
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Oh my, we don't want to talk about my grandma. She was all of 4' 10" and the meanest woman that ever lived. My father used to joke that she was the only person thrown out of the Gestapo during WW11 for excessive cruelty. :hammer::hammer::hammer:
 
You wanna talk about wasting food, the government is the worse at it.

I volunteer for the local meals on wheels program. The apartment complex that I live in is one of the centers that will prepare the meals in our kitchen that go out to seniors. And, since this is a seniors apartment we also have a senior nutritional program where seniors can get the same lunch for a $3.00 charge. It is the same lunch prepared for meals on wheels.

We have a regular group in our complex that comes for lunch, about 25 people. The program always has left over food, sometimes quite a bit, but the leftovers will not be given to anyone, it is all thrown out. I have seen gallons of soup go down the drain, and piles of spaghetti get tossed in the garbage. It's sickening to see so much wasted.

I have talked to the woman who works in our kitchen and she now lets anyone who wants leftovers take it. I have two gallons of spaghetti sauce in my freezer along with a gallon of soup. If the county supervisor would get wind of this she would be fired, but she agrees with me that wasting so much food is s sin.

I think all food programs are like this across the country so I can imagine that tons of food is thrown in the garbage everyday. I really think that if the state governments would give the left over food to a soup kitchen nit would help many people not go hungry.
 
We also hate to waste food. We always try to cook enough of the meat course to last for two days (sides are usually limited to one day) that way we only have to come up with side dishes for the second day, or if we have a roast its samaches the next day and if it's fried chicken (one of my favorites) I get to eat it two days in a row, and we don't use as much power in cooking the second day.
 
EastTexFrank said:
This is a continuing problem at our house. We're both 68-years old and really don't eat that much anymore. Added to that is the fact that my wife is a great cook but never has learned to cook for two people. If you want someone to cook for 50 or a 100 or more, which she does quite often, she's your girl.

Compounding the problem is the fact that we have so many freezers and fridge/freezers (3 of each). It's a nightmare rotating stuff in and out of them. And .... during a power outage of any length, I have to dedicate one generator to do nothing else but keep them all working. I so need a whole house generator but every time I get ready to bite the bullet, something else happens. Ah well!!!!! (sigh)
Click to expand...

I cook most often for one, and being a Costco fan, I more often buy for 10. I also tend to cook in large quantities and freeze.

I found a solution. Every 6 weeks or so I stop buying food. Meals created only from what's on hand.

The last few days the cooking can get creative, but the freezer gets emptied.
 
jimbo said:
I cook most often for one, and being a Costco fan, I more often buy for 10. I also tend to cook in large quantities and freeze.

I found a solution. Every 6 weeks or so I stop buying food. Meals created only from what's on hand.

The last few days the cooking can get creative, but the freezer gets emptied.
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I like it!

I enjoy going to the pantry where nothing seems to be there for a normal mean combo, and still coming up with something. I came home one night too tired to go shopping. I found the dried heel of a smoked ham(about four ounces of leftover fatty Easter meat), instant mashed potatoes, some small shriveled red potatoes, and a can of slice carrots abandoned for years in the pantry. About two inches of celery in the crisper. Made an excellent cream of potatoe soup.

Great recipe and I make in now on purpose.
 
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Oh Lord, at times I hate my wife!!!! She can't resist a bargain!!!!

Our local grocery store had a "teaser" sale on brisket the other day, buy one and get one free or something like that. She came home with 6 briskets, we're talking 70 lbs of meat. Now I'm going to have to fire up the smoker, spend all day smoking brisket, spend more hours slicing it, packing it vacuum bags and freezing it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. :biggrin: I love doing it :clap: and the though of having some of the best brisket that you have ever tasted in the freezer, ready to eat when when you want it ... priceless!!!!
 
I too am older (71) my wife is 67. I do all the cooking and I do abhor waste. Until a few months ago, I had two labs. Every time I prepped veggies, they saw that the trimmings did not go to waste. I miss them for way more than that, but, throwing trimmings away just seems to be a waste.

I have tried two remedies for cooking too much. first one is to portion the leftovers out into one serving meals that can be put into the fridge if I don't feel like cooking or one of us wants a snack. I also put pieces of meat in snack bags for "Snack Meat". Better for me than other junk.

There is also cooking for four and eating it the next day.

Both work depending on what is being made.

Since I do the shopping, the first part of grocery shopping is to clean out the fridge. Anything that just laid around and spoiled, does not go on the shopping list for a few weeks or months.

Oh!!!! Things that fall off the plate - There is the five second rule in effect. Now since I don't have my two second labs.
 
EastTexFrank said:
Oh Lord, at times I hate my wife!!!! She can't resist a bargain!!!!

Our local grocery store had a "teaser" sale on brisket the other day, buy one and get one free or something like that. She came home with 6 briskets, we're talking 70 lbs of meat. Now I'm going to have to fire up the smoker, spend all day smoking brisket, spend more hours slicing it, packing it vacuum bags and freezing it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. :biggrin: I love doing it :clap: and the though of having some of the best brisket that you have ever tasted in the freezer, ready to eat when when you want it ... priceless!!!!
Click to expand...

If you have an problems with that stuff, My crossfire puts East Texas just a day's ride away!:clap:
 
EastTexFrank said:
Oh Lord, at times I hate my wife!!!! She can't resist a bargain!!!!

Our local grocery store had a "teaser" sale on brisket the other day, buy one and get one free or something like that. She came home with 6 briskets, we're talking 70 lbs of meat. Now I'm going to have to fire up the smoker, spend all day smoking brisket, spend more hours slicing it, packing it vacuum bags and freezing it.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. :biggrin: I love doing it :clap: and the though of having some of the best brisket that you have ever tasted in the freezer, ready to eat when when you want it ... priceless!!!!
Click to expand...

FrancSevin said:
If you have an problems with that stuff, My crossfire puts East Texas just a day's ride away!:clap:
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We're about the same distance away as Franc, Frank. If you end up with excess smoked brisket we can help you get it
out of the house so it isn't wasted! :whistling: :biggrin:
 
It's never wasted!!!! :biggrin: But thanks anyway for the offers of help!!!! :biggrin:

I must admit though that I am researching smaller electric smokers. Dragging out "Big Bertha" to smoke a dozen sausages is 'way too much trouble when there is just the two of us. A small digital electric smoker would meet our normal, every day needs and when my wife is feeding the "masses", I'll fire up the "big gal".
 
EastTexFrank said:
It's never wasted!!!! :biggrin: But thanks anyway for the offers of help!!!! :biggrin:

I must admit though that I am researching smaller electric smokers. Dragging out "Big Bertha" to smoke a dozen sausages is 'way too much trouble when there is just the two of us. A small digital electric smoker would meet our normal, every day needs and when my wife is feeding the "masses", I'll fire up the "big gal".
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Digital "electric" Smoker.????
Blasphemy!!!!:hammer:
<OH THE HORROR>
 
FrancSevin said:
Digital "electric" Smoker.????
Blasphemy!!!!:hammer:
<OH THE HORROR>
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I know, I know. That's why I've been using "Big Bertha" for over 20 years. But I have a friend who has not one but two Bradley smokers and he swears by them. I don't think that I want the Bradley and their hockey puck wood biskets, or whatever they call them, but a little Char-Broil to cook for two people sure would be convenient ... and quick ... and easy.
 
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