April 9, 2010

Food Waste Friday and Favorite Blog Post of the Week

It's Friday, and we've got no food waste. Yay!

Some things we did that helped this week:

1) I bought less at the grocery store because the refrigerator was packed with leftovers.

2) We ATE those leftovers. This is usually quite easy for us when it's a whole meal, like chili or a crockpot creation. It's a little harder when it's bits and pieces. I had one lunch that was black beans, collard greens, and swiss chard. Not exactly a balanced meal, but it used up the leftovers. My husband put odds and ends into a couple of burritos, so those tortillas are coming in handy lately.

3) I gave away some baked goods while they were still fresh.

4) We ate most of the CSA greens right away: sauteed, in Guadalajaran Swiss Chard Quesadillas, and in greens risotto. We'll have more tonight in a salad.

If you want to know how kicking the habit of throwing food away will help the environment and save you money, check out Wasted Food. And go to The Frugal Girl to see how Kristen and a lot of other bloggers are documenting the food they toss in an effort to waste less.

Now on to my Favorite Blog Post of the Week: Catherine at The Vegan Good Life wrote a great post called Economic Stimulus: I Did it My Way. It's about her frustration with the idea that we're supposed to do our part to end the recession by going to the mall. She says there are a lot of ways to support the economy without going on a shopping spree, and then gives examples (with pictures) of going to the movies, borrowing from the library, attending community events, and picnicking. Catherine is also an avid thrift store shopper and restaurant-goer, two other activities that fit the category well.

And while you're there, I also loved this week's post called The Vegetarian Good Life? where she muses on the difficulties of being 100% vegan, disliking labels, and choosing to be honest about the realities of being true to a lifestyle that's still considered exotic to many people.

Catherine's blog is a perfect mix of thoughtful and fun in my book. I love her photos of delicious-looking vegan food, and super-cute thrifted clothing, along with her philosophical take on life.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Please leave your tips for wasting less in the Comments section. And feel free to weigh in on Catherine's posts: Must we go shopping at the mall? Is the vegan life a good one? And is Harry Potter better in French?

4 comments:

Gypsy said...

I've really been enjoying this food waste challenge, and I have really managed this week to cut our waste down to a small handful of spinach (that I had meant to add to some pasta but forgot!) and a lonely carrot.

Catherine said...

Thank you Angela! Since I've abandoned my traditional retail shopping ways, I'm not only richer financially (although by no means am I rich!), but I'm also richer in spirit. I can't imagine going to the mall on a Saturday when I could go to the park with the dog or to my local farm or charitable thrift store.

Thank you for the food waste posts. I'll never forget when I volunteered for a day at the food bank and we threw 20% away of the donations because they were expired. The volunteer coordinator said this was the norm. We have so much abundance in our society, when so many others have so little.

Angela said...

Gypsy- Good for you, as far as cutting down your waste. you can always throw spinach into a smoothie, and you don't even taste it if you've got other fruit in there. It just adds some vitamins.

Catherine- That is so sad that even food banks count on throwing away food. It has been a great lesson for me to try as much as possible to buy only what we need and not to waste, just like people used to do for generations.

Vega said...

The Economic Stimulus by Catherine was really inspiring. I haven't thought of few things she actually did. Also, I enjoy few articles which i already read this past few days(the remaining will be scanned next). I guess being thrifty by any means doesn't mean you were no good to afford expensive stuffs. We have a lot of alternatives like vegan supplements rather than expensive supplements at drugstores or a choice of hearty food instead of heavy meal at food chains.