Food Waste

Watching the Early Show. The average American Family has $1,300 in thrown away food every year. I am shocked and appalled. Stunned, actually. The family that they were spotlighting had half of a grass-fed cow that they were throwing away. That is appalling to me.

Food waste. *breathe, must breathe* On the one hand, I do get it. We buy things and we get busy. We eat out. Food goes bad. Truly, I mentally do get it. But emotionally, I do not get it. I simply don't.

If I get food, I deal with it. This means packaging it to freeze, or to store. This means checking dates, looking at what is in the refrigerator from time to time, adjusting meal plans to get rid of what is close to spoiling. If something is "heading over", I cook with it, encourage members of my family to eat it, bake with it, or feed it to the dogs, ducks or other animals (in my mind, if it is consumed, it is not wasted).

Case in point, I was given a partial case of tomato's on Sunday. On Monday, I was busy to my gills with things and couldn't deal with it. On Tuesday, I spent a bulk of the day, skinning the tomato's, stewing them for hours, and then preparing them in three containers to freeze, letting them cool on the counter, and then freezing them. I also used the skins of the tomato's to shine my pennies for my table (double use, no waste). This wasn't "convenient" for me, nor part of my planned week, but it was a windfall, a blessing, so I dealt with it.

I don't comprehend the American mindset of throwing out food. I don't grasp it. If there is leftover food, save it for another meal. Feed the scraps to the dog and then feed them less dogfood at night (and for the record, no, our dogs are NOT fat, I watch their weight closely). If there is A LOT of leftovers, freeze some and make a second meal out of it later in the month.

Pities sake, if for nothing else, you will save yourself money.

Getting off my soap box now.