Happy Friday! It’s time for another edition of Food Waste Friday. Every Friday I link up with The Frugal Girl and/ or Simply Being Mum for Food Waste Friday. I’ve been environmentally conscious about food waste since I was in college and this is a great way for me to keep tabs on what we waste in our house.
Here is how we did this week:
Food Waste Successes
1. Rosemary bread
When I repotted my herbs I realized that my rosemary was so sad and almost dead that it wasn’t worth repotting. It had overgrown and become too woody instead of leafy. I had just enough fresh rosemary left to make the Macaroni Grill rosemary bread copycat recipe from The Mother Huddle.
This was such an easy and tasty recipe. I highly recommend you make it! It made two loafs, and I ate almost and entire one in a sitting. It makes me so happy to use food, even small amounts like this rosemary, to make something delicious.
2. new life for stale cereal
I’ve had a box of off brand cereal getting staler and staler for weeks. I foolishly bought the Publix brand of Cheerios one week and Robert hated them. I have to admit, they don’t taste nearly as good as real Cheerios. Even my husband refused to eat them!
I finally bought some marshmallows to make off brand cereal treats. We had a few tablespoons of almond butter, and Reese’s Spread left too so I threw those into the recipe to make peanut butter cereal treats instead of throwing away the stale cereal. The play date kids loved them, they didn’t even realize the cereal was stale.
3. leftover veggies in frittata
Last week we had fajita salads and had a few peppers and onions left over. Instead of dumping them I made a frittata for dinner and it lasted several nights. I love using leftovers in quiche and frittatas, it’s so easy!
Food Waste Losses
4. mac & cheese
Every so often I make a box of mac and cheese for Robert. When he was a little baby he had a milk protein allergy and since then we have avoided milk, ice cream and yogurt. He seems to handle cheese alright, and we give that to him in moderation. Unfortunately I found out through trial and error that ice cream doesn’t work well with his stomach. We got a cone at DQ last week and he did not feel well afterwards.
I knew I could have let him continue to eat the mac and cheese but I didn’t want to upset his stomach more. I threw it out instead. Sometimes it is worth throwing out food.
5. fruit gone bad
We found only 1 mushy strawberry this week! Not bad. Tom also found this papaya piece that went bad. I bought it in a container of mixed fruit and only had to waste this once piece.
How did you do this week?
Your pictures are beautiful. How do you manage to make your food waste pictures look good?!
I love frittata and quiche too. I also baked bread this week but the kids like mine plain. I have a friend coming for lunch next week so I’ll probably try to make something more “sophisticated” like a savory bread.
We did have some food waste and I made a decision that will actually increase the food we “waste” in the coming weeks. You can read all about it here: http://imperfectlyfrugally.blogspot.com/2015/03/food-waste-friday_27.html
Thanks, Nathalie! The “losses” pictures are usually with my iPhone. I break out my DSLR for the “successes”. I’m trying to take better pictures because it is something I like to do. It makes me feel good to know that you think they turned out well!
I say Job Well Done for recycling some things! I love doing that. I add the last bits of cereal no one will eat into Compost Cookies. http://cannaryfamily.blogspot.com/2011/09/compost-cookies. The boys never realize it’s that old cereal following them around…
Compost cookies are a great idea! Thanks for sharing.
Your bread looks beautiful! And do I spy an Ikea towel behind the bread? It looks like the ones I own.
You’re right, Ikea towels for the win! I love those towels so much.