I’m on a mission to reduce my food waste and I’ll be checking in regularly on how I’m doing as part of #FoodWasteFriday. Since I kicked this off on 21 January 2017, here’s my progress:

My food waste – 4 plums
Demerit: I wasted four plums. This was pure laziness. My mum and my neighbour both gave me plums. I should have frozen some of them straight away, but I didn’t want to get red hands fiddling to get the stones out. I took a gamble we’d eat them before they went to over-ripe mush and I lost. I felt particularly bad about this as I was reading Everyone Brave is Forgiven (great book), which is set during the siege of Malta and its accompanying starvation. Must try harder.
Gold star: I made my first batch of vegetable stock using vegetable trimmings and peelings which I’d been saving in the freezer. I’ll share the results in an upcoming post.
On the Use It Up shelf
I keep the bottom shelf of my fridge clear, except for items that need to be used up immediately – my Use It Up shelf.

My Use It Up shelf – 10 February 2017
On my Use It Up shelf currently is:
- Turkish Bride soup (made with lentils, not bride’s) – I intend to eat this over the weekend, I’ve already frozen some individual servings
- Salad greens from the garden and a bit of dressing leftover dressing – we are having this with dinner tonight
- Plums – yes, more plums! I don’t even like plums and have instructed the boys to eat them. I’m am contemplating making a plum sorbet, but I’ll probably just chop them up and freeze them.
Join me
Feeling inspired to join me? I’d LOVE to have some buddies. Simply subscribe to the blog (it’s on the sidebar), get notified of my new posts and comment about your own progress. I’ll use the hashtag #FoodWasteFriday when I share my progress on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
Also, you may want to check out the new Reduce your food waste! Facebook group . The group is co-ordinated by Zoe Morrison of Eco Thrifty Living and offers lots of support and encouragement, along with practical advice.
8 Comments
Catherinny
February 10, 2017 at 12:03 pmHow are you finding getting the family on board with this? Do you end up with some pretty strange meal combinations or is it helping you plan ahead? This is definitely an area I need to focus on improving!
Amy @ More Time Than Money
February 10, 2017 at 12:22 pmOverall, they are really good. I do a meal plan each week and shop from that. That helps a lot. I’m having to be a bit of plum pusher at the moment! I think the toughest area is that we are all going to have to get better at accepting that occasionally we might run out of one of their favourites.
Amy @ More Time Than Money
February 10, 2017 at 12:23 pmThis is how I approach meal planning – https://moretimethanmoney.co.nz/2015/09/11/planning-for-flexibility/
Catherinny
February 10, 2017 at 12:03 pmHow are you finding getting the family on board with this? Do you end up with some pretty strange meal combinations or is it helping you plan ahead? This is definitely an area I need to focus on improving!
Amy @ More Time Than Money
February 10, 2017 at 12:22 pmOverall, they are really good. I do a meal plan each week and shop from that. That helps a lot. I’m having to be a bit of plum pusher at the moment! I think the toughest area is that we are all going to have to get better at accepting that occasionally we might run out of one of their favourites.
Amy @ More Time Than Money
February 10, 2017 at 12:23 pmThis is how I approach meal planning – https://moretimethanmoney.co.nz/2015/09/11/planning-for-flexibility/
Suzanne Jones
February 15, 2017 at 7:17 amCould you please subscribe me to your blog? 🙂
Suzanne Jones
February 15, 2017 at 7:17 amCould you please subscribe me to your blog? 🙂