Food waste

[old fashioned]

I try to save nearly all leftovers for a day or two, depending on what it is & how much there is left. We do try to 'repurpose' leftovers atleast once and/or will have an 'eat out of the fridge' night when nobody feels like cooking. Sometimes it goes straight to the chickens. There will always be those 'wasteful' days, but we do what we can to keep those to a minimum.


ETA: I want a pig to take care of those more wasteful days

 

[Boogity]

. . . Chickens. They eat everything except moldy stuff, onions and potato skins. That cut down a LOT on the waste!

I wonder if our chickens don't like many table scraps because they free range all day every day. Sure they'll gobble up some things like there's no tomorrow but many times they would rather head out to the field and eat bugs, mice, and snakes.

I'm gonna pat myself on the back for this one. I started making less food. My portions were way to huge.

Us too. We have done a pretty good job of cutting way back on waste. We only go out to town one day a week to shop and mostly just to get out for a while. We take a 5 gal bucket of recycle stuff (plastic, glass, and tin) and a one small grocery bag of trash. We use the garbage can at the store to deposit our little trash bag. Everything else goes to the chickens or the compost pile - which is very little. Oh yeah, I have a burn barrel, too. But I usually only use it once a month.

 

[gettinaclue]

I'm gonna pat myself on the back for this one. I started making less food. My portions were way to huge. I make the kids plates, no waste there. I eat leftovers every day since I am home and if dh is in the office he takes them as well. Everything else goes to the dog and chickens. I would say I have very little waste.

Ok well maybe I need to start the worm farm again to eat the coffee grounds.

g

I've read they make a great side dressing for roses as well. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm saving up for it.

 

[Marianne]

Nothing goes to waste here. I have one rule - people first. Leftovers get eaten, frozen or made into a different meal (stir fry, frittatas, soup). It's pretty rare that any leftovers go on down the food chain to the dogs, cats or hens. If there's just a couple bites left, then it goes to a critter, but I usually plan on making lots of most stuff so there are leftovers for another meal or to freeze.

 

[~gd]

We cut our food waste down considerably by doing two things.

1) I package up and freeze all "leftovers"....they are repurposed as "lunches" or meals that other family members can just warm up when I don't feel up to cooking.

2) Chickens. They eat everything except moldy stuff, onions and potato skins. That cut down a LOT on the waste!

Your chickens won't eat potato skins? Or you won't let them have skins? A chicken treat usually.

 

[Lesa]

I have read that raw potato skin is a "no-no" for chickens. I either steam mine before I give it to them- or just add to compost pile.

 

[Marianne]

My hens wouldn't eat 'em unless they had sour cream and bacon bits on 'em. I have strange hens. But I also read that you weren't supposed to feed them raw potato peelings. In the past, they've dug up a spud or two in the garden that I missed. One might have a few pecks, but most of the time, they just scratch them out and leave them.

 

[moxies_chickennuggets]

I'm gonna pat myself on the back for this one. I started making less food. My portions were way to huge. I make the kids plates, no waste there. I eat leftovers every day since I am home and if dh is in the office he takes them as well. Everything else goes to the dog and chickens. I would say I have very little waste.

Ok well maybe I need to start the worm farm again to eat the coffee grounds.

g

I've read they make a great side dressing for roses as well. I haven't tried that yet, but I'm saving up for it.

For any of you with gardens, I read where the coffee grounds deter cutworms. We had those this past spring..cutworms. I have been saving up and drying all coffee grounds for the garden next spring. I empty out the filter...let them all dry out in my hothouse, and collect them in a nylon bag..so they get air. I will see what happens next spring. The grounds will end up in the garden anyway..in the long run. The filters, go to the compost piles.

 

[savingdogs]

We cut our food waste down considerably by doing two things.

1) I package up and freeze all "leftovers"....they are repurposed as "lunches" or meals that other family members can just warm up when I don't feel up to cooking.

2) Chickens. They eat everything except moldy stuff, onions and potato skins. That cut down a LOT on the waste!

Your chickens won't eat potato skins? Or you won't let them have skins? A chicken treat usually.

I read at BYC that chickens should not have onions or potato skins, especially skins from old dried up potatoes or JUST the skins.

One time my son dumped the potato skin/onion garbage out for them not knowing I usually throw that stuff away. The next day, one of my chickens was really ill. She could barely move, it was some sort of food poisoning. I finally figured out she had eaten onions and potato skins. She actually was ill for about three days and then survived, but we started carefully sorting our "chicken" garbage after that and leaving onions and potato skins out.

I have given my chickens WHOLE potatoes, cooked, and they seem to be okay with that, and tiny bits of onion that may be blended into something.

 

[valmom]

I dump my coffee grounds around the roses because my grandmother always did, and she had the most amazing roses- even way up in Erie Pa. I also have a worm bin, but it is greatly overstated how much food they can actually compost. Still, the hens like the worm treats.

I do hate wasted food, but I am the only one who eats leftovers. Thank heaven for dogs and chickens and a freezer.