Use it up!

[catherine]

Honey, you need a dog.

So true! Dogs are the most efficient composters of meat and grain products ever.

[iris lilies]

I’m feeling lighter today because I got rid of a dozen floral containers, ones someone had donated to our plant society. I made flower arrangements in them for our daffodil show and scattered them around the show site. I will walk off and leave them there and the staff who work in that building want them. It is a win-win situation because I got to make floral designs, display them so the public could see them, and I don’t have to go home with any of it.

[Tradd]

I generally buy frozen for any soft fruit (cherries, berries) because it's just me and they go bad so fast.

[nswef]

I feel pretty good about how we manage. I am good at freezer labels, keep all the chicken in one are, pork, beef in another. Then coffee, baked good and frozen meal on the bottom tall shelf. Blueberries in the lower basket. I've even been labeling canned and pantry goods as soon as I get them home by using a sharpie that is in a convenient drawer. My husband does the portion sizing and I label and take down to the freezer. It's worked very well. I hardly ever have food too old in the freezer because it got caught in the back. I put the new stuff in the back and move the oldest to the front. At 76 I finally figured it out!! Now for the rest of the house!!!!

[rosarugosa]

I don't think this is a good enough reason in itself to get a dog, lol. Overall, it would probably be cheaper to continue wasting a bunch of food! Plus, Louie and Raymond would not approve. I actually had to assure the director of the shelter where we got Louie that there would be no dogs in his life. Apparently he is terrified of them, and that's why he was surrendered by his previous adopter.

I do buy frozen berries and that works very well.

I think DH has a harder time than I do asking at the fish counter for 3/4 lb. of something, rather than 1 lb, and "sure, a bit over is fine." With things like chicken and steak, the packages are usually too big for us, so we really need to portion them and freeze some right away. I have not continued with the fun goal of trying new produce items because we are having enough trouble finishing the things like spinach and asparagus that we know and love.

Bananas are another big waste item because I like them slightly green, but they turn so quickly! We joke that they must have green lights over the bananas at the grocery store.

We've talked about grocery shopping more often and buying less each trip, but we don't really like to go to the grocery store, and I think that would end up costing us more and bringing more crap food into the house. For example, every time DH goes to Trader Joe's, he feels compelled to buy one of those honking huge Kringles, and then he eats the whole thing himself within a day.

Nswef: Sounds like we should swap places for a little while, lol. I feel like I have a pretty good handle on the rest of household management, but the food waste thing really bugs me.

I also feel like it's bad enough to waste money and life energy on discarded food, but it's kind of obscene to think of an animal that died and parts of it just went into the waste stream. It's kind of the opposite of the Native American concept of honoring the buffalo by using all parts of the animal one has hunted.

[Rogar]

I have never heard of people using dog poop for a fertilizer or garden compost, but there should be a plentiful supply.

Since most of my cooking is for one, the biggest problem is what others say. Buying in the right quantity to use before it goes bad. I can use up a lot of things in morning shakes or in soups or pizza toppings. I can buy fish at the meat counter in any amount, but fresh greens are usually sold in specific packages. I compost some of what's going bad, but it's still a food waste. I'm looking forward to gardening season where I can walk out the door and get fresh greens. There are certain things like yogurt, canned marinara, tomato paste, that I try to use well past their expiration date, but still end up throwing some out occasionally. I recently bought two for one jars of my favorite peanut butter on sale and noticed it had just past its use by date. I didn't know peanut butter could go bad, but know of people who refrigerate it. I rarely eat out, but suspect my food waste is very small compared to what restaurants must throw out and the expired foods in supermarkets.

[Tradd]

To be honest, what helps me waste less food is to buy what I like. No experimenting with new stuff. Like eggs. I love eggs, primarily fried eggs. So yummy with toast to dip into the yolks. Since it’s just me I don’t really care about the price of eggs and this is a way cheaper meal than fast food or going out.

[catherine]

I have never heard of people using dog poop for a fertilizer or garden compost, but there should be a plentiful supply.

If you're referring to my comment, I didn't mean putting the poop in the compost--I meant that things like leftover beef and pizza crusts go directly to the dog bowl instead of in the garbage. Eventually, it's eliminated as poop, of course.


TBH, I believe it was iris lilies who instructed me that you can't put dog poop in the compost bin... and that we just as we were starting to compost, 13 years ago! I listened, IL!

[Rogar]

Catherine, I don't know if I misunderstood your comments, or was just curious if dog poop could be used as compost. I'd not ever thought much about it. I guess there's a reason why no one does it, but it does seem like a million dollar idea if someone could find a way to make it work. When they do clean ups in the local dog parks they haul away tons of it and it's been a reason to close some of them down. The do sell cow manure as a fertilizer.

[catherine]

Catherine, I don't know if I misunderstood your comments, or was just curious if dog poop could be used as compost. I'd not ever thought much about it. I guess there's a reason why no one does it, but it does seem like a million dollar idea if someone could find a way to make it work. When they do clean ups in the local dog parks they haul away tons of it and it's been a reason to close some of them down. The do sell cow manure as a fertilizer.

Everything you wanted to know about composting dog poop, from the USDA. The only way to compost dog poop is to make sure you do "hot" composing as opposed to cold, and you have to use a thermometer to test the heat of the compost pile to ensure it exceeds 145 degrees in order to kill all the pathogens. IMHO, too much trouble.

https://www.epa.gov/system/files/doc...let-Alaska.pdf

I also read that you can compost dog poop via vermicomposting (composting using worms).