It’s Friday – Food Waste Friday. I need to report in and account for my food waste, but first I must share – well a new way to share!
Introducing Social Pantry
This week I tried out a new service linking up people with food to share with those in need of food. It is called Social Pantry and it’s a network of community food sharing Facebook pages. The pages connect people who have more than enough food, with people who know someone, or are themselves, in need of a little extra.
My first Social Pantry post
A Social Pantry has just started up in my own community and I am keen to support it. While not the primary purpose of the service, I thought it could also help me solve a food waste problem. I was given a packet of coffee capsules, but they don’t fit our machine. They have been languishing in my pantry as I haven’t been able to think of anyone to pass them onto. Usually they would remain sitting there – probably for years – until eventually being thrown away when are they are long past their best before date and of no use to anyone.
So I listed the coffee capsules – no takers as yet unfortunately.
Monthly results
While I have been slack at checking in with my food waste lately, I have still been taking photos!
Some of my food waste to 6 November 2015
Over the last month I have thrown away:
- 1/2 a chicken breast
- 1/4 of a lettuce
- 3 potatoes
Plus two kiwifruit and four limes that I didn’t manage to take pictures of. Definite room for improvement!
How has the food waste situation been at your place recently? How do you find a good home for food you don’t need or can’t use for some reason?
5 Comments
Nicola @ Eat Well NZ
November 7, 2015 at 6:29 amThat website is such a great idea!! I used to be terrible with food wastage, but I’m getting better. I did just find some left over chicken at the back of the fridge though – annoying because I totally forgot about it and I could have had it for lunch last week. O well…. Good reminder to keep the fridge a bit more organised though!
Amy
November 7, 2015 at 7:11 amYes I think it is a fantastic idea.
Things getting stuck at the back of the fridge and forgotten about used to be a real problem for me. Having regular clear outs really helps. Now I also keep the bottom shelf empty except for food that must be used ASAP – that really works for me.
Frugal RN
February 8, 2016 at 4:14 amHey, I just clicked over here from our mutual Blogging 101 course! Food waste is something that makes me both sad and legitimately sick to my stomach. We hate throwing things out! Thankfully, we avoid it as much as possible and utilize as much as we can (e.g. fruit and veggie scraps and the like) in our compost bin to be used in the garden. Leftovers come with me to work and we find ways to repurpose leftover meat for new meals the following day (i.e. leftover chicken breast gets turned into fajitas or something.) Doing this really cuts down on our waste.
NZ Muse
July 8, 2016 at 12:08 pmCompost, and chickens!
Meat waste is what gets my hackles up the most. I’m pretty anal about freezing meat as I find it never lasts as long in the fridge as the labels say they should. Have wasted too much meat lately this way…
Amy
July 10, 2016 at 8:26 amI hate wasting meat. As I am vegetarian and do most of the shopping and cooking, we don’t buy much meat. I am always threatening my husband that if any goes to waste I won’t buy it again!