Use it up before it spoils....what did you make?

[danna]

Catherine good luck with the garlic; I planted two years ago in the fall and went out the next morning and
every last clove with dug up and gone!....Still wondering which animal thought it would eat garlic and if ther
buried them where are they growing....lol

Like most of you been using up the excesses of the fall harvest with roast veggies and soups.

[catherine]

Catherine good luck with the garlic; I planted two years ago in the fall and went out the next morning and
every last clove with dug up and gone!....Still wondering which animal thought it would eat garlic and if ther
buried them where are they growing....lol

Like most of you been using up the excesses of the fall harvest with roast veggies and soups.

Really?? What animal likes to eat whole gloves of garlic? Hmm..I'll keep my eye out.

[SteveinMN]

I have written here many times about my observations of waste, trash, and filth generated by homeless people as well as vast amount of food pantry items found in dumpsters. I never give to food drives as a result. I think suburban do-gooders need to spend time on tne streets to see where some of their well intentioned gifts end up.

The (state-wide) food bank at which I volunteer would rather see people donate money than non-perishables. They work deals with food wholesalers, manufacturers, farmers, and others to greatly extend donated dollars. In fact, they can buy about $9 of food for every $1 donated -- and it's stuff people want to eat, like frozen hamburger patties and fresh raspberries and breakfast cereal. Good food banks have done the research on what flies off the shelf. With donated dollars they can buy it; they don't just pass through. I can't find the food bank's annual report at the moment, but IIRC non-perishable donations by the public are down to no more than a quarter of what is donated and might even be less than that.

More on-topic, this weekend I made a dinner that was leftover chicken bone broth (donated as a gag gift to DW), half a leftover pork chop sliced very thin, and some leftover steamed broccoli that I supplanted with some more frozen broccoli. I don't remember what seasonings I added, but they were pretty stock stuff in this house. It was tasty. Not three-star-Michelin food, but it was nice to clear lots of leftover dishes and not waste food.

[dado potato]

A friend gave a bushel of apples picked from his tree. I did a quick sort, because I assume the apples with issues such as bird pecks or black spots would not keep as long. The apples with issues are in a 10-inch diameter bowl in the kitchen.

The sounder apples are stored in a fruit cellar in the basement (where else?).

So, we are making use of the apple with issues.

Last night, while I was watching TV (Episode #1 of Commodus) I cut one into 8 segments, cored it, and ate it, peel and all, spread with butterscotch-caramel.
Tomorrow apple cobbler is on the menu.

[iris lilies]

A friend gave a bushel of apples picked from his tree. I did a quick sort, because I assume the apples with issues such as bird pecks or black spots would not keep as long. The apples with issues are in a 10-inch diameter bowl in the kitchen.

The sounder apples are stored in a fruit cellar in the basement (where else?).

So, we are making use of the apple with issues.

Last night, while I was watching TV (Episode #1 of Commodus) I cut one into 8 segments, cored it, and ate it, peel and all, spread with butterscotch-caramel.
Tomorrow apple cobbler is on the menu.

DH brought home 6+ bushels of apples from his dad's orchard. I was horrified because I thought he would try to jam them into our already full basement refrigerator, full with 10 gallons of onions. But, no, I was wrong. Bless his little produce-hoarding heart, he spent two days processing those apples into juice. He gave all of the juice to our friend who makes mead.

From that effort, our friend will guve us about a dozen bottles of the mead.

[Teacher Terry]

Thanks for the information Steve on food pantries. I usually donate a few bags when the postal drive occurs. I won't do that again.

[iris lilies]

Cash is ALWAyS preferred by non-profit organizations, and unrestricted cash. Only donors at a significant level should ezpect to dictate terms of their monetary gift.

But humans, being human, love their objects and to many people it isn't a gift that matters if it is not a physical object. We talk about that here in the context of holiday presents. Donating an object is the ultimate feel good action, it probably has to do with the psychology of touch. Anyway, towels and dog food to pet shelters, canned foods to food banks, books to libraries,* plants to the community garden,* trees to the Park committee,* widely published magazines to the historic archives committee of neighborhoods* are typical.

Only 10% of the clothing donated to Goodwill actually sells there. That is the number for our refional Goodwill and I dont know if that is universal.

Knowing that,I am chary about items I dump there. Also I am a regular shopper at Goodwill and it makes me mad to see items of stwined clothng. Who wants to wear that?

In the end, it is a difficult balancing act for non-profit organizations to invite participation from donors and yet bring n useful donations. In order to bring in the good stuff they have to accept the drek.

*I knw about these having been on the receiving end for decades, most of these gifts of no use.

[catherine]

Cash is ALWAyS preferred by non-profit organizations, and unrestricted cash. Only donors at a significant level should ezpect to dictate terms of their monetary gift.

But humans, being human, love their objects and to many people it isn't a gift that matters if it is not a physical object. We talk about that here in the context of holiday presents. Donating an object is the ultimate feel good action, it probably has to do with the psychology of touch.

I agree with you completely, IL. I've been on "Our Needy Christmas Family" committees at church, and they are often way too gratuitous. They have people buy toys and clothes, and then they have a social night to wrap them up, and then the chair of the committee will play Santa and go to the Needy Family's house and embarrass the father and mother. And then they get mad ff the family's gratitude isn't profuse enough.

I've been in the situation of not having enough for my kids. Based on that, I believe that if I were to give a gift, I'd give the parents some money so they can buy their kids what they know will be the right gifts for their kids, and hopefully relieve a little of the stress that they have that they don't have the means to be the parents they want to be.