Just a few weeks ago I was telling a friend how she NEVER needs to throw away a banana, because brown bananas can be peeled, broken into chunks, and frozen for smoothies. They'll last that way in the freezer for months. Using that method, we never have to worry about buying too many bananas, and always have plenty of smoothie ingredients.But what should be done when a banana actually ROTS and grows mold at the end? I think that's the time to toss it. Or in my case, save it with my bag of scraps I'm collecting for our new compost pile, my baby steps project for July.
This was a strange phenonemon, since it was part of a trio of bananas and the other two were perfectly fine for freezing, with just a few brown spots in a normal pattern. So I don't know what happened, but I wasn't going to eat this, or force my husband to eat it either. But he did eat all the leftovers in the Eat Me! section of the refrigerator again. My partner in reducing food waste.
So we had a good week. Other than the banana, we ate our produce and generally had less in the refrigerator to go bad. I skipped a week of shopping and only bought milk and bread, so we'll see how that factors in next week.
If you want to know why I'm obsessing over a rotten banana, check out Jonathan Bloom's blog Wasted Food. He explains why we need to stop throwing away our food waste - it's destroying the planet! Plus, by being part of the Waste-No-Food Challenge we've been saving money on groceries to boot. So head over to The Frugal Girl to see who's wasting what and get all kinds of tips on how to waste less.
My number one tip is still to BUY LESS FOOD. But along the way, I've learned to pay attention to leftovers, organize the refrigerator and pantry, and create a (flexible) menu plan.
How did you do this week? If you're throwing away TONS of food, you're not alone. I used to do it, and so do most Americans. But you CAN change your habits- if you want to save money, eat better, and even help the environment. Please leave your tips and advice, questions and concerns, wins and setbacks in the Comments section. And really, would YOU have eaten this banana?
9 comments:
How strange! I've never had a banana do that before, but like you, I always try to peel and freeze them once they go brown so I can use them for baking or smoothies.
I agree that tracking food waste helps cut down the grocery budget a bit--when we're eating food we already have on hand, we don't need to buy as much. But of course paying attention to leftovers and the contents of the fridge/pantry/freezer helps, too.
I've never had that happen, either. I would've cut off the rotten part, then seen if the rest was edible or freezable.
(I haven't forgotten I promised you a compost primer.)
I don't know that I've ever had a banana grow mold before either! That's so weird.
I would totally have composted it. ;)
Yes, the rotten banana is going straight into the compost bin that I'm starting today!
William- Thanks so much, I think I'm confident to start today using all these tips plus the Frugal Girl's tutorial (including You Grow Girl). I'm going to shred newspaper, add leaves, and then my produce scraps, a bit of water and set it out in the backyard. I'll decide about worms later- based on how fast it's filling up and how slowly it's composting. Some people say worms may find it because the bin I got from the city has holes drilled in it.
But if you have anything to add that hasn't been mentioned, or that I might not have thought about, I'd love your input. Thanks for writing the other night- the comment that was lost in the blogosphere!
Done! It's kinda long. Do you want it here or in the composting section?
Hey William! You can put it anywhere that's easiest, but maybe in the composting area would keep it all in one place, in case I want to go back and get an answer to a question...
Composting post it is! Fair warning: it's long.
3/4 of that banana's still good! I'd mash it up in a bowl, add a cup of SR flour, and egg and then enough egg for a good batter and make some pancakes, the mashed banana makes them stay moist even if you make them quite thick, and they are the best!
han_ysic- It's hard to tell, but really the whole banana was rotten. I've never thrown a banana away, I always use brown or even black bananas for bread or freeze them for smoothies. But this one had actually rotted and molded, and the whole thing was like mush.
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