April 30, 2010

Food Waste Friday plus Free Museums

This post is going to be short and sweet, because... we've got no food waste this week! Yay.

One thing that has helped is buying less when I shop for groceries. The past two weeks I've crossed a couple of things off the list that could wait. This is especially true for packaged items, which tend to take precedence over other food we should be using up from the pantry or freezer. So I'm starting a new policy: only one packaged "treat" per shopping trip. Frozen pizza, cookies, and chips are all included. I'm not cutting them out entirely, but I'm not throwing them into the cart willy nilly anymore either. When we don't have those items readily available, my husband tends to get more creative with what he eats for lunch, and it usually ends up being healthier as well.

This is possible because of our CSA delivery, and a well-stocked pantry. We won't be going hungry anytime soon, so I can cut back on what we bring in a little bit. And buying less food has been the Number One best trick for wasting less. The bonus is that we save money in the bargain.

To learn more about how wasted food harms the environment, visit Wasted Food. And check out The Frugal Girl to get tips from other bloggers learning to minimize their food waste.

FREE STUFF ALERT: It's that time again: Bank of America's Museums on Us program, which lets you into participating museums free all day the first Saturday and Sunday of the month. That's this weekend, so if you're a customer, get out your debit card and click here to find participating museums in your area.

Are you watching your food waste? How did you do this week? Let us know in the Comments section, along with any great freebies you've heard about lately.

6 comments:

Those Tricks said...

Hey Ang,
Speaking of eating healthier because of your CSAs, etc...I'm wondering if either of you guys has lost any weight or seen any other physical changes from the last year's nutrients adjustments?

steph

Those Tricks said...

(have) lost any weight. (not that you need to)
ooooh grammar mistakes bug me.
haha.

Alea Milham said...

Great job! We unfortunately had some more waste this week, but next week is a new week with no wasted food in it...yet!

Marie-Josée said...

You guys have been doing really well with the food waste. I have to thank my husband for his food recycling function in our family. If it still smells good, he will eat most of our leftovers for lunch.

We chose not to sign up for CSA deliveries this summer, and have joined a collective garden instead. We're so excited! I don't know if you have those in L.A., but the concept really touches me. We have many community gardens in Montreal where each person plants their crops in a small plot within a larger garden. In a collective garden, all the gardeners decide collectively what will be planted, and garden together. With Action Communiterre, we have five ''victory'' gardens and donate four hours of gardening time. We have lunch or supper together during those four hours. The gardens are organic, and we plant heirloom varieties, and best of all, part of each harvest is donated to a charitable organization. Our garden is paired to an organization providing shelter and services to young mothers. Sorry to go on and on, I needed to share!

Angela said...

Steph- I can't say we've lost any weight, but I guess at our age not gaining it is good. Most people I know are gaining a few pounds a year. And that would be easy if I didn't exercise as much as I do. I do feel pretty healthy eating this way though. I thought we ate a lot of vegetables, but we eat a lot more now, and they're better for us without the pesticides,etc.

Marie-Josee, I love the idea of your collective garden. It sounds fabulous. Please let us know how it goes.

Marie-Josée said...

Hi Angela, I'll keep you posted.