The Fridge that Ate Cinncinnati

Eric Schmuttenmaer/Flickr/Creative Commons license

Okay, my fridge isn't really the star of a B movie.  But it could have certainly been mistaken for one if you took closeups of the mold and ooze growing there.  I bet what happened to me has happened to many of you as well.

I thought that I had a fair amount of food in the fridge.  But once I removed the desiccated peas, slimy peppers, furry sweet potatoes and other lovely tidbits I found myself staring at a carton of eggs, half a gallon of milk, and condiments.  I did compost most of what I pulled out, so that was some help.  But it was still disgusting and it was still a waste of food.  I'm not bringing this up so I can whine about my first world problem (that I could have enough food that it would actually have time to spoil in the refrigerator).  I'm bringing it up so that I can share the situations that seem to lead to Furry Fridge Syndrome in our house and some possible solutions I've brainstormed.

Situation 1:  single serving leftover

A lot of our toxic leftovers come from when have had a family supper and there is enough food left for one serving (or maybe two).  So we wrap it up and stick it in the fridge.  Then the next day, we prepare an entire new meal because the leftover isn't enough for everyone. Eventually it gets pushed to the back of the fridge and is forgotten.

I've thought about a few different ways to solve this issue, such as freezing the food immediately, or packing it in a plastic container right away for my husband to take into work the next day.  But I really think the best solution is just to prepare smaller meals.  This also means less overeating.  If we are still a little hungry at the end of a meal, we can supplement with something like a piece of fruit.

Situation 2:  the new food

I have been known to buy food because it is something new or unusual.  Sometimes this is a new piece of produce or an ingredient that I've heard about on a cooking show and so I buy it on impulse.  But then I get it home and don't know what to do with it.  And so the strange vegetable or new condiment sits there until it expires and I admit defeat.  The solution for this is simple.  I won't buy anything I'm not confident about cooking unless I've got a specific recipe and a plan to use it.

Situation 3:  overbuying

Sometimes I get a really good sale and buy more than we can eat right away.   Again, the solutions here are simple.  Buy non-freezable things like cucumbers and lettuce in small quantities.  With freezable items, I need to avoid buying large quantities unless I have a plan and the time to divide and freeze everything.

Situation 4:  the feast that doesn't leave
When my family gets together for holiday meals, we have a LOT of food.  I'm sure we aren't the only ones that find ourselves on day 3 of leftovers with no end in sight.  I think the best plan for this must be to create an exit plan for leftovers before the meal is started.  Buy plenty of freezer bags or containers and be prepared to divide and conquer that afternoon.  Also be careful of how many dishes you prepare that don't freeze well and have a short refrigerator life.

Hopefully these solutions will prove useful for your family.  It would be great if you would share the situations that lead to Furry Fridge Syndrome in your house, and strategies you've used to overcome the ick.

Unwrapping the Holidays

Image courtesy of Whitney at Reviving Homemaking

As I write this, the 7th night on Hanukkah is almost here and Christmas is only a few weeks away.  This means LOTS of presents and LOTS of paper.  I'm not advocating a move to naked gifts, but if you are like me it is a little painful to spend all that money for shiny new paper that is going to be ripped to shreds and discarded.  Additionally, according to Earth 911, gift wrap is usually unable to be recycled because of the colors and textures added to it.  (You also shouldn't burn it in a fireplace or stove for the same reason; it clogs the flu.) So about 4 million tons of gift wrap and bags end up in landfills.  Here are some ideas that can save both money and paper.

Image by House of Humble

1. Repurpose other paper.  Wrap gifts in newspapers, old maps, or paper shopping bags.  For a more festive touch, you can dress these up paper cutouts, paint, stickers or stamps.  Look to old magazines for a variety of images and colors.


2. Opt for gift bags and boxes instead of wrapping paper and reuse them.  I have an old suitcase where I store all the boxes and bags from gifts I receive.  Then when it is time to give a gift, I try to find what I need in the suitcase.  I also try to buy gift bags that aren't clearly connected to a particular holiday or occasion.  That way a single bag could work for a birthday, and anniversary, or any other special occasion.


3. Consider making the wrapping part of the gift.  So you might wrap a pair of mittens and hat inside a scarf. Or you could give a quilter a gift wrapped in fabric.


*image by katorisi, creative commons

Junk Your Junk Mail.

*image mirvettium, creative commons

Most people are no fans of junk mail. Besides all the clutter it causes in your house, junk mail can be a big waste of paper and resources. One way to manage all that junk mail is using the reduce, reuse, recycle model to effectively attack the pile.

1. Reduce the amount of mail coming into your house. You can go to the Consumer Credit Reporting website to opt out of receiving pre-screened credit card and insurance offers (for five years or permanently.) You can go to the Direct Marketing Association to request all mail stopped from businesses that belong to the association. Not all companies will be connected to Consumer Credit Reporting or the DMA, but taking those two steps should reduce your volume.

2. Reuse your junk mail when possible. Use the backs of envelopes for shopping lists. Let your kids make collages, papier mache or other crafts. Running it through a shredder adds to the possibilities. Paper shreds can make packing material, hamster cage lining, or campfire starters.

*Paper beads, Creative Commons Image by Bernie Jersey 

3. Make sure to recycle whatever is left. For a doubly positive effect, take your paper recycling to a Paper Retriever bin. Organizations like schools and churches often have these big green bins in their parking lots. The Paper Retriever company periodically picks up the paper and gives the organization a portion of the money raised by selling the paper to recycling centers. That way you have recycled the paper and have contributed money to a good cause at the same time.

 

Leftover Reclamation: Sweet Potato Pancakes

My kids aren't crazy about sweet potatoes.  The baby tried one, and then spit it out and handed it back to me.   My middle guy says "ewwww!" because that's the phase he's currently going through.  My oldest will eat a few, but doesn't seek them out.But they all chowed down on these that I whipped up from Thanksgiving leftovers.  We covered them in honey and syrup this time, but you could make them even healthier and put applesauce or other fruit on top.

Recipe:
2 cups wholewheat flour
2 tsp baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup pureed sweet potatoes
milk, variable (see below)

Mix the dry ingredients and add the sweet potatoes.  How much milk you need is going to depend on how liquidy the sweet potatoes are.  Just whisk in the milk a little at a time until the batter is about the consistency of shampoo.  Then fry them on the griddle or skillet like normal pancakes. 

I don't have any pictures of the process because it didn't occur to me until the batter was already mixed.  But I do have some pictures of the finished product.  I hope you find this recipe helpful, and that you will share your favorite reclamation recipes as well.

 

 

Mr. Ewww

 

 

 

Wasting Food Isn't Very Thankful

In the aftermath of the Thanksgiving feast, most of us still have some leftovers in the fridge.  But it is getting to the point that these things need to either quickly be eaten, frozen, or end up turning into a furry green monster.  Food waste is a serious problem.  According to some estimates, 40-50% of food in America is wasted.

Some of this comes in the field and at the grocery store, but a lot of this comes from waste in our home.  We let ourselves get distracted and burn the rice.  We prepare too much.  We aren't diligent about eating leftovers.  We don't properly store it.  This wasted food causes a lot more problems than a smelly Tupperware container.  It means wasted money, wasted water, wasted fuel, and wasted land use.  With a little diligence, I believe that we can do better.

What are some ways that you have found to cut down on food waste?



*Artist A Hendree for U.S.Food Administration during WWI

Healthy Eating On a Small Budget

*Creative Commons image by Yvon

Recently some folks in the St. Louis community took something called the "Food Stamp Challenge."  This meant that they would be living on the standard food stamp allotment for one week, which worked out to $1.50 per person at each meal.  This made me curious to see what our family spent on food and so I got the bank records for the previous month,  did a few calculations and came up with about $1.19 per person at each meal.  This included my son's school lunches, as well as Thanksgiving shopping.  And while my mom often gifts us with food, such as her special muffins, we did not rely on free food sources this month.

I understand that if my children were older, they would be consuming a lot more food and so some expenses would be higher.  But I also know that most months we wouldn't be spending so much on special foods like turkey, cranberries, chocolate chips, etc.  There are actually places that I think we could cut expense without nutrition suffering, and those go on my future goals list.  At any rate, I think it is safe to say that (by American standards) this is a relatively frugal food budget.

Some people think that with a budget like this our family must be eating macaroni with catsup, but that simply isn't true.  We have fresh fruit nearly every day.  We eat brown rice and whole grain breads.  We eat good quality meat.  We drink fresh milk and use real butter.  We eat lots of vegetables.  This isn't to say that we are nutrition saints that lead lives of diet perfection.  For example, my kids love hot dogs on white flour buns and occasionally they get to eat them for lunch.  But on the whole, we have a very healthy diet.

There isn't a single magic trick for creating healthy meals without a lot of money.  It is something that I constantly work towards.  I'll be using this blog to occasionally share tips, tricks and recipes to eat healthy without breaking the bank.  I look forward to learning more from my readers as I go forward.

Governments need to tend their own gardens (and stay out of ours!)

An Orlando man has been ordered to destroy his small vegetable garden.  You can read more details about this case here but the basic gist is that the city didn't consider his front yard to be "finished" and "inviting" so they ordered him to pull up his crops.  Unfortunately, this is not an aberrant occurrence.  Across the nation, homeowners have been cited, fined, and even had their vegetable gardens mowed down by dictatorial cities and homeowner associations.  The waste here is plain to see.

First, there is the destruction of all that food.  I was raised in a household that always avoided food waste.  We tried to never put more on our plate than we would eat.  Table scraps were given to the dogs (or pigs if we happened to be raising one at the time).  Vegetable scraps were fed to chickens or composted.  Garden produce not immediately eaten was canned or frozen.  I try to raise my family with similar values.  The idea of destroying that much fresh produce sickens me.

Second there is the waste of so many of this man's resources.  This man put together an irrigation system, bought seeds and plants, and put in hours of his time to create this garden.  Additionally, you have to consider all the money he will have to spend in replacing the lost food.  He's also (indirectly) paying the fuel costs for trucking veggies and fruit from distant destinations.

Finally, there is also the ridiculous waste of city resources.  If I was a tax-payer in Orlando, I would be completely disgusted by the idea that instead of spending their time arresting murderers, thieves and crack-dealers, the police are busy cracking down on unlawful lettuce.  It seems to me that city officials, police, and courts all have better things to do with their time.

I recognize that when folks live in proximity to each other, there have to be some rules for the good of all.  But I think those rules should be geared towards basic health and safety concerns, not towards preventing sustainable, health living practices in order to satisfy the esthetic whims of city hall.