I'm sorry I don't have a photo. We did have a little bit of food waste this week.
My husband cleaned out the pantry and found some breadsticks, mini toasts, and a small bag of pistachios that the moths had gotten into. He threw it out before I had a chance to take a picture.
On the good side, my husband cleaned out the pantry (yay!) and made a great system for our recycling in there so it doesn't sit out in the kitchen. And we're making progress because usually when we clean out the pantry, we have A LOT more stuff to trash than that.
Once again, the problem was TOO MUCH FOOD. My new plan is to make at least one pantry dinner per week, maybe more. And I'm going to get to a point where the pantry is about half as full as it is now. I need to strike a balance between having things on hand and not forgetting about and wasting what's there. I'm starting to realize we don't need quite as much variety. Three or four choices of cereal, or nuts, or dried fruit is enough- we don't need to always have on hand every single possibility that might strike our fancy.
I found a great article about food safety and leftovers on Delish dot com. Click here to take a quiz about how long you can safely leave food out on the counter before putting it in the refrigerator, how long you can keep cooked chicken in the refrigerator, how long to wash your hands, and a lot of other questions.
And one more thing... our house guest left soy milk in the refrigerator, which I don't like very much, and I still have a head of fennel that frankly frightens me. I learn so much from you all, I'd love some suggestions on what to do with soy milk and fennel (not together!) so I can avoid seeing them in my food waste photo next week! Please leave your ideas in the Comments section, and thank you in advance.
June 26, 2009
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9 comments:
Use the soy milk in any type of flavorful baked goods and you won't taste it. Something like carrot cake, cinnamon spice muffins, pumpkin pancakes, banana bread, etc.
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-3839392875667667999
She seems to know what fennel is all about :)
Soy milk in porrage or rice pudding is fine - you can mix it with cows milk if you're concerned about the taste.
Also it is ok in a smoothie with a banana. Or, as Alea said - in a cake you won't even taste it.
Fennel is great sliced raw into salad or stirfried, but the taste can be pretty strong.
Well done on your food waste, it's not so bad when you compare it with the 'average family' :)
I'd make a latte with the soy milk--or use it for making hot chocolate. Any of those drink powders have so much sugar in it you won't taste the difference in the type of milk you use.
Thanks for all the great suggestions!
I was all set to use soy milk in mashed potatoes, banana bread, and smoothies- and then my husband told me he LIKED soy milk! But I probably will still use it for those things.
And that fennel video is awesome! For dinner, raw fennel in salad, plus the bulb cooked in the oven, au gratin style! Thanks hiptobeme!
I was going to suggest baking with the soy milk too. You'll never even taste the difference that way.
Soy milk goes perfect with a brew of chai tea, in fact I think it suits chai better than normal milk, it's the spices. I guess cooking would work too.
I think soy milk is great in fruit smoothies: 1 banana, 1 cup frozen strawberries, 1-2 cups soy milk. Stick it in a blender until smooth and drink up.
I agree with you about cleaning out the pantry. Unless you ahve a big family or have trouble getting to the store (maybe you live in the country or something) there's no need to have a lot of your money tied up in "inventory" (ie food).
Frugal Girl, han_ysic, and Wildermiss- thanks! The soy milk is long gone- I used it twice in smoothies and my husband used it a couple of times with cereal.
I've never made chai tea at home, that's my occasional Starbucks splurge (twice a year or so).
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