Category: Waste

Turn Your Waste Into Want

I used to do a post on Wednesday’s called Wednesday Waste.  But honestly I have gotten so particular about waste, I mean to the point where the Z Man gives me the side eye and just grins, and I know he is thinking “what is she doing now”.  It got to the point where I really didn’t have much to talk about in the waste posts, or so I thought.

Kitchen waste in the past year has minimized because of our chickens.  They get all of my vegetable scraps, well the ones that don’t get tossed into the freezer for soups.

Anything that doesn’t go to the chickens or freezer and isn’t meat goes into the compost pile.

Anything that is safely burnable goes into the kindling box.

However, as with most things, there is always room for improvement.  I know I’m doing better than I was a year ago, but honestly, I’m just scratching the surface compared to some.  Take a look at the picture below.  This is taken by another Non Consumer Advocate follower.  She turns her chicken feed bags into reusable tote bags.  This is genius!  I fell in love with this idea as soon as I saw it and immediately contacted Dawn and asked if I could share it.  She takes 50lb feed bags and turns them into something reusable instead of them ending up in the landfill.  I love it!

This idea gives full credit to thinking outside the box and that there is always room for improvement.  The point of my Wednesday Waste post was to cut back on waste, which was fine, but now my perspective has been changed, thanks to Dawn.

How can I turn my waste into a want?  That needs to be asked along with how can I keep this out of the trash.  After all, they say one mans trash is another mans treasure.

Thank you Dawn for allowing me to share your picture, and giving me a new perspective on waste.

Now, I’m off to feed the chickens and make some bags.

Till Next Time,

Lori

Shaking My Head In Frustration!!!

Get this, so not very frugal of me but I had to buy lunch out today.  I went to Subway and ordered a 6″ sub.  The person waiting on me pulled out  (what I assumed was) a 6″ bread to start making my sandwich.  Then he cut about 1″ off of it and threw it in the trash!!!  He would rather waste food and throw it in the garbage instead of giving it to a paying customer.  Honestly the bread then looked more like 4″ or 5″   He could tell the frustration on my face as I do not have a poker face.  I’m standing there with my mouth wide open and he says what would you like on it.  I changed my order to a chopped salad, when what I should have done was walk out the store and not given them my business.  I am seriously thinking about calling the manager of the store, but one thing is for sure I will not be going back there, ever!

The reason I had to buy lunch out was because I had no leftovers in the fridge.  I had an eye appointment yesterday and my eyes were still dilated by dinner time, which meant no cooking as I do value all of my fingers.

So, do you think I’m over reacting?  What would you have done?

Till next time,

Lori

Wednesday Waste

I made quinoa for the first time last week.  And while we loved it I have to say it was a bit deceiving.  You see it’s these little teeny tiny grains that look like they aren’t going to amount to much, so I made the entire box and it made a mountain of quinoa.

 

We really liked it and we had it for lunches and dinners for what seemed like forever.   Needless to say that we got quinoa(ed) out.

 

Spring Blog Pics 005

 

It’s in the larger bowl, but all you can really see is the radishes, carrots, and edemame but there is quinoa in there too.

A few more lime slices got tossed.

One of the things I struggle with is sauces.  I made tenderloin bites last week and I made a yogurt horseradish dipping sauce to go with them.   I tend to make too much sauce from time to time, so it got tossed out too.

About a cup of rice that never got repurposed went too.

This has not been a good week for waste.

I’ll admit that it is harder to stay on top of everything now that I’m working longer hours, but being able to report it here at least help keep me honest about it, and keeps it a little better than it could be.

Most of this stuff went into the compost bin, and some got tossed in the yard to feed the birds, which makes is not as bad…  But, I’m still a bit disappointed in our waste this week.

How about y’all.  Are you finding ways to reuse, repurpose and recycle?

Y’all Take Care!

Lori