Happy Food Waste Friday!
It’s one of my favorite blogging days because I get to talk about food waste, a subject near and dear to my heart. Every Friday, I post about my weekly food waste and I link up with Simply Being Mum and The Frugal Girl.
A couple of weeks ago I made a comment in a blog post about why I’m not allowed to have a compost bin anymore. Some of you wanted to know more about that story, so here it is.
I’ve always been a big fan of composting. Why not, right? It’s an easy way to waste less food, and it makes new food for plants. A few years ago I attending a workshop and received a free plastic fence made to surround a compost pile. I made one hell of a pile. The problem was that the pile attracted rats, spiders, roaches, and burglars. Yep, burglars.
We had the compost bin against our fence that was padlocked. Turns out it was the perfect height for someone to stand on our side of the fence and pass large items, such as a 38 inch television, over the fence. The footprints on the compost pile were our proof.
While I’m confident that the burglars would have been successful even without the extra boost from the compost pile, Tom disagrees with me. He is certain that I aided in the success of all of our electronics being stolen.
Because of this, he refuses to let me try again. Pretty harsh right?
He likes to say that the burglary is the reason why I can’t compost, but in reality it is because my pile wasn’t the best. I’m a lazy composter. I like to throw everything in the pile, turn it every so often, and let time (and worms) do the heavy lifting. I think I need a bunch of land in order to compost my way.
Still, I want to compost. It kills me to throw out food scraps that could have been made into new soil. Just the thought of food taking up landfill space is enough to keep me up at night. I’m serious.
So, I’m thinking of getting a bin like this.
I’m positive that my old school compost pile is against HOA regulations for our new home. But a bin like this? I think I could get away with it! Now, I just have to convince my husband that this would work better than my old pile.
The reason I need it is because the majority of my food waste is something that could have gone into a compost bin. Here is my waste for this week.
The onions were slimy after being in the fridge for too long. I used what was still good and tossed the rest. I wish I had found them earlier so I could have put them in the freezer. The asparagus ends did not roast well. Usually I trim my asparagus and save the ends for soups, but I was too lazy this time. Turns out trimming them is worth the extra time. They were way too tough to eat. I’m trying to clean out my freezer for the move so I threw them away instead of freezing them for later.
Do you have any compost bin tips? How did you do with waste this week?
I never thought to keep the asparagus ends for soup… what kind of soup do you make with them? I just compost mine and it always kills me because I feel like I’m wasting half of the whole bunch!
Interesting story about your pile, I had been wondering how the heck it contributed to your house being burglared! I agree with you that the thieves would have found a way to break into your house any way, but it sure made their job easier too.
I have a composting bin that I bought at Aldi earlier this summer. It’s a large, tall plastic bin that sits on the bare ground. I wanted one of the tumblers that you are looking at but several comments I read on them made it sound like some models are very hard to turn once they get fuller. I’m lazy.
I also rarely turn my pile. The bugs seem to have done a good job on it this summer, though, without my help. I only compost fruit and veggie scraps (and then to keep most of my veggie scraps for making stock, actually) so it’s been slow going, though, I might have enough for one garden bed in the Spring and that’s it.
My composting bin sits near my veggie garden. Our house isn’t fenced in anyway.
I think the $79 cost with Prime shipping is pretty good, by the way. If you have any Amazon gift cards from Swagbucks, it would lower your cost even more.
Good luck!
Confession: my veggie soups are never any good! I need to work on balancing the flavors. I’d like to get enough asparagus ends to make a creamy asparagus soup. I’m mentally working on that one.
I’m so happy to hear that I’m not the only lazy composter. It’s not easy to keep up with it even though it sounds so easy.
I’m SUPER curious about those rotating bins. Buy one and do a review do I can figure out if I should buy one! Ha.
Great idea! Maybe I should send out a pitch to some sellers and see if I can get one free for a blog review.
My compost bucket didn’t work at all. The worms kept dying, I have no idea what I did wrong, but will try again next year. Now, all food scraps go outside in the backyard close to the edge of the forest. My chickens will pick out what they want. The rabbits pick what they want at night (who will be dinner come November) and then the bugs come and get the rest. Nothing is ever left by the next day. So, it’s working out well!
We are still getting better with our food waste. Which I attribute entirely to you! As I was reading I was going to suggest the plastic composting bin that you turn. A fiend of mine had one and he swore by it.
I was robbed once in high school, they took my laptop and my Xbox. And they got in from my roommate who left her window open! Ugh so frustrating! What a terrible feeling.
Yay! I’m so happy that your food waste is getting smaller.
My new MacBook Pro was stolen. I still haven’t saved up enough money for a new one. It saddens me.
Composting is a great way to use the food waste in a way that can be useful. I also have a compost and in the spring I use all the decomposed food waste as fertilizer for my flowers. It is a pity that you had burglars at your home. I hope that it never happens to you again. This is awful. Thanks for the post!
I really need to get serious about ordering a small one for my back porch!
It is very unfortunate that something like this have happened to you because of your compost bin. It is really a pity but this can happen to anyone. You just had bad luck. That definitely shouldn’t stop you from composting! I also try to reduce the waste at home and especially the food waste. The compost is a wonderful solution! :) Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for the encouragement! I’m still looking into getting one for our lanai.