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| Use Older Vegetables First |
You've probably read about the
quantity of food wasted in the U.S. each year in articles like this one from NPR. We
waste enough food to feed us all.
The Natural Resources Defense Council
suggests that 40 percent of all food is wasted in the United States each
year.
Arriving home with the groceries may
be the end of the shopping trip, but is just the beginning of the organization
required to run an efficient kitchen. You need to rotate your stock so you don't
have all the new purchases in the front or on top. Old cans can swell and burst,
and the mess can be worse than you imagine, in addition to the loss and waste of
food. Fresh fruits and vegetables lose flavor and spoil over time, creating more
food loss and money spent needlessly.
An easy way to rotate your pantry
stock is to pull all the old products to the front of the shelving and place the
new items in the back.
Remove the fruits and vegetables from
the crisper drawers and place the new items in the bottom. When you buy fresh
vegetables and fruits, chop the old ones and place in the freezer, or cook
something that uses the older produce. Chop older celery and bell peppers and
freeze in plastic zipper bags for seasoning for soups and stews. Tomatoes can be
chopped and frozen as well. Use apples and citrus fruits in a fruit
salad.
Your frozen food can be handled the
same way. Freeze your newest purchases, then place them on the bottom or behind
similar items that are older. Your oldest products will be on top and easy to
locate.
Make country fries or scalloped
potatoes with the older potatoes. For country fries, wash the potatoes and slice
lengthwise unpeeled. Place a single layer on a parchment paper lined cookie
sheet with a tablespoon of oil. Season and bake at 400 degrees for 40
minutes.
Peel the potatoes for scalloped
potatoes. Slice and season in a greased oven-safe baking dish. Add some milk and
Velveeta or similar cheese to cover the potatoes. Bake at 350 degrees for about
an hour until the potatoes are tender. We have an ebook on Amazon with tips and recipes if you'd like more recipes and information about frugal living.
Efficiency and frugality in the
kitchen starts when you come in from grocery shopping. In addition to rotation
of stock, ignore most date codes and dates on food products. These codes are for
manufacturers and retailers to identify recalls and rotate the shelf stock, not
for you to discard the products after the "best by" date. The federal government
regulates coding on some baby food, but all other codes are optional. Use your senses of smell and vision to determine if foods are still palatable. Most are good long after the "sell by" or "use by" dates.
Wasting food is wasting money and
contributing to the landfills. You can save money, food and the environment when
you return from grocery shopping. Your kitchen will be better organized and you may save yourself some cleanup.
See you soon!
Linda
cajunC
