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Wasting expensive food.

July 29th, 2011 at 09:58 pm

My problem is a lot of expensive food waste because menu planning is a challenge.

We have a baby and our ONLY chance to go out is when my or DH's mom decide to come over and watch him. They can never say when it will be. Whenever they don't feel tired, or MIL does not have clients and have an opening... Always at the last moment. And we have to take that chance for our mental sanity.

And since we buy fresh unprocessed foods, it can't "keep". Raw meat, poultry fresh veggies/herbs. Most is organic/ripe and from small specialized companies (mainstream brands don't really produce in a way that is really healthy). So everything expires fast and if I don't eat it on the day it was planned for, it will go bad Frown

But if we were to hire a babysitter for 2-3 hours it would add $50-60 to the cost of our meal out. Which would also be not so good. Plus, we did not yet find anyone we trust with our little one. So a lot of stuff gets waisted and every time I throw it out I feel quite bad. I am also super paranoid about food and won't eat any even potentially "borderline" things.

Posted in Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

3 Responses to “Wasting expensive food.”

  1. snafu Says:
    July 29th, 2011 at 11:18 pm 1311981530
    1311981530

    If you're seeking a solution...you can bake chicken either whole or parts, slice, package in zip bags, label and *file* in the freezer section of the fridge. It's cost efficient to buy a roast larger than needed for a typical meals. Thinly sliced, these zip bagged, frozen packs are a fast defrost for a long list of 'plan-overs.' Thick slices cubed and frozen are added to any root veg + sauce or hearty soup. If you use ground, minced [beef] or hamburger cook several pounds/kilos at a time with onion, garlic and spices you prefer to drain, bag, freeze, label and file for the ethnic addition pasta, rice, potato, couscous, barley, bulgar, Quinoa you'll eat.

    Nearly all veggies can be blanched and frozen. you'll lose some nutrients not not so significantly to affect your health. Fruit has been 'preserved' home canned long before it was mass produced. It's not difficult, just more work with best results from slightly under ripe. Over ripe fruit is wonderful for jam or condiment.

    My favorite childhood memory was working with my mom and her three sisters making ketchup from the home grown tomatoes culled from the crop canned the previous day.

    It's inexpensive, fun and easy to grow your own herbs in a teeny, tiny space. A grow light makes up for change of season and deficiencies. Just clip what you need.

    Hope there is something here you find helpful.

  2. LuckyRobin Says:
    July 29th, 2011 at 11:23 pm 1311981827
    1311981827

    We eat a mostly organic, unprocessed diet. Meat can be frozen. In fact, I recommend it when you are dealing with organic, unprocessed meats. I know it's a bit better fresh, but if you throw it out, you aren't eating it fresh anyway. Even if you think you are going to get to it, often times something happens and you don't. It is much easier to microwave thaw something right before you are ready to cook it than to deal with food waste. I do this all the time now unless I am going to cook something that night. If you pre-cook things (like the veggies) they will stay good a couple days longer. As for the herbs, I would recommend keeping a couple of small pots of growing herbs in a sunny window. Then you don't have to worry so much about fresh herbs going bad, just keeping the plant alive. You might want to balance your fresh fruit more towards the long keeper side (apples, oranges, kiwi, mango, stone fruit) and the good freezers (berries, bananas, grapes if eaten frozen), and less towards the fast to spoil. I've saved myself a lot of throwing out by following these rules.

  3. ceejay74 Says:
    August 1st, 2011 at 04:48 pm 1312217314
    1312217314

    Could you craft your menu with an open day or two? That way if your MIL babysits, you still use up all the food you bought. If she doesn't, you can get delivery or carryout for the days you didn't buy food for.

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