Food Waste Friday, again

It's hard to imagine wasting this delicious watermelon, but there was so much fruit in our house, and this watermelon was so big. But I wish I'd known we weren't going to be able to eat it all and given some away. At least we did eat most of it, and the rest of the fruit as well.

Being conscious of our food waste, along with getting a CSA delivery, is making me think more about sharing our food. I just have to get better about thinking of it BEFORE something goes bad instead of AFTER the fact.

This week I did manage to give away some carrot cake to our neighbor, right after I'd baked it. My husband claimed he didn't want any and didn't even like carrot cake, so I didn't want to eat too much myself. Of course, after my husband tried it he loved it, because it was delicious. Duh. I guess he hadn't had good carrot cake before, but I love most carrot cake. Oh, and I baked the carrot cake because I had some carrots getting a little limp and didn't want to waste them, so I just boiled them and mushed them up and found an easy recipe.

If you're new to this blog or the whole rather wacky concept of photographing rotten food, the idea is to be accountable for what we throw away in an attempt to waste less. The concept was started by The Frugal Girl, and it helped her so much that she shared it on her blog and invited other bloggers to join in. It's a little like keeping a food diary when you're on a diet: you might not inhale a pint of Ben & Jerry's if you have to write it down in your diary. In this case, you might be more likely to keep track of and use the food you already have if you have to photograph what's going into the trash.

In our house, we're using a number of tricks to waste less food. The first is to label the leftovers so they don't get shoved to the back of the refrigerator. Another is to create an Eat Me! section of the refrigerator for stuff that needs to be eaten right away.

We also buy less food and eat out of the pantry more often. And having a home delivery of organic produce really motivates us, because it's fresh and delicious and so we hardly ever waste it (notable exception above).

To learn more about the impact of wasted food on the environment and our pocketbooks, check out Wasted Food and The Frugal Girl.

How did you do this week? Also, a question: can seeds go in the compost bin? Some seeds, but not others? I've been avoiding putting avocado pits and watermelon seeds in the bin, but didn't worry about the cantaloupe and other melons until a friend mentioned it. Does anyone know about this stuff? I mean, what's the worst that could happen? Please weigh in by leaving a Comment.