Food Waste

Following on with the ideas to not have any waste I have been looking at how to eliminate food waste.

As a family we do pretty well anyway not to have food waste, any that would normally go in the bin is given to the dogs at Dave's work.

But things can still be improved.

I had a couple of things in the veg box from last week which were getting past their best and needed using as the new box is delivered each Wednesday, these would have ended up in the compost bin.

There was half a cabbage, a small cauliflower and a small leek.

I had some chicken stock from boiling up the carcass from Sunday's lunch, so all veggies were shredded/diced fried off in a bit of butter, then added to the stock, simmer until nearly cooked, whizz up to a chunky puree, add in a handful of pearl barley(last bit in packet) and a handful of orange lentils, and some leftover mashed potato for thickner.

Serve with hm bread and a sprinkling of grated mature cheddar.

Lovely lunch for me for the next couple of days and a couple of portions for the freezer as well.

Weekly Weigh In 3

This weeks landfill rubbish weighed in at 270g

This consisted of:
the usual twisted and knotted crisp packets (14), (David is still not eating crisps);
a waxed cheese wrapper,
a butter foil paper,
a sliced ham packet (boys wanted wraps for snacks this last week),
3 plastic bags which can't be recycled,
3 meat wrapper from the PO butchers which again can't be recycled.
a bag from the basmati rice ( I do bulk buy this but do have a bag every so often)
a spagetti wrapper
a yeast wrapper (dove farm - can't give me full info for recycling this)

The compostable bin was approx half full, and the recycling bin is also half full .

Happy Birthday Almost Mrs Average

Today is the 1st birthday of The Rubbish Diet Almost Mrs Average has been blogging about her exploits and championing the rest of us to follow suit.

Please go and have a wander around the blog, it is full of inspirational posts and important links and information.

Well Done Karen!!

Weekly Weigh In 2

Todays weigh in is 240g

This consists of some twisted and knotted crisp packets, a couple of plastic bags which can't be recycled even at the HWRC, and a waxed cheese wrapper.

Thumbs Up!!

I have today received a parcel from Ethical Superstore, this was a cardboard box into which they had put my goodies and then had used brown paper as the filler.

On the box was a label asking that all be recycled once finished with.

The best part about this type of packaging is that the brown paper was left in a large piece, which means I can just iron it and then reuse as wrapping paper myself, and if I send it to the right person they in turn can probably reuse also.

The only blip was the parcel tape which they had to use to seal the box.

Weekly Weigh In 1

The landfill bag weighed in at 434g.

This is not good but not too bad either.

The majority of the contents were plastic wrappings which can't be recycled, and some bits and pieces found whilst clearing out a couple of boxes from the shed.

The recycling bin had the usual, cans plastic bottles and paper and cardboard.

There is also a box of recyclable items to take to the Recycling Facility when I next go that way.

This is now a way of life for us and I am determined that our landfill bin will be emptied the minimum amount of times during the coming year.

Bulk Purchase Mince

I always bulk purchase my mince from the butchers in 5lb bags; and then usually bag up into meal size potions.

This then creates the main bag plus the individual bags as they are used.

I have been thinking about this for a while and then hit on the idea "Why not use my margarine tubs".

So instead of individual meal portions in bags they are now frozen in the margarine tubs, which although can be recycled at the HWRC, are better being reused as much as possible first; and a 500g margarine tub just hold the right amount we need for a meal.

This also means that they can be stacked neatly in the freezer.

And the best thing only one bag to put into the bin rather than lots of little ones.

Our Weekly Weigh Ins

My aim is to try not to have more than 300g-350g of normal landfill rubbish going into the bin each week.

This may or may not be achieved.

However any progress made during the year is good progress.

I will be logging our progress weekly to keep a check on the amount we are putting into landfill.

New Beginings

I have today collected all the recycling and landfill rubbish ready for the bins going out on Monday.

Although the recycling bin is overflowing so extras will have to be put into a box as well, the landfill bin is approx three quarters full, which considering this includes all the Christmas rubbish, is good as it also has 3 bags of fire clinker.

The bins will both be emptied on Monday and then we will begin again in earnest at reducing the amount to go to landfill.

Welcome

Welcome to one of our new blogs for 2009.

This year we as a family are concentrating on 2 things:

Savings and reducing our outgoings and

Recycling and being Green