The first incident - On Friday I went and did my regular grocery shop including purchasing 4 litres of milk for $4.59. On Sunday we discovered that the milk never made it from the trunk of my car to the fridge. Unfortunately, the garage was not cold as we had several nice days and by the time we figured out where the missing milk was - it had spoiled. Hard earned cash and milk down the drain.
The second incident - I usually buy cucumbers in packs of 3 thereby making them less than a dollar each as usually the cheapest single cucumber is around $1.50 - $2. We eat a lot of cucumbers so this usually isn't a problem. Except hubby went out of town on business for a few days and on his return purchased a pack of small cucumbers. I found one large very mushy untouched cucumber in the bottom of the fridge yesterday.
Things like these make me crazy. For the rest of the month I am going to be extremely vigilant about ensuring there is no food waste. I will not make too much dinner - causing us to throw out leftovers. I will monitor every single vegetable to ensure nothing goes to waste.
Do you have any food waste horror stories to share? If not how do you do it?
Yes! I scored on a huge ground beef sale one day and about many packages to bring home and freeze. Got home, unloaded and processed all the ground beef__I thought. 1-3lb package had fallen out of the bag and slid under the drivers seat.__in Alabama__in the summertime. I had bought so many I didn't even realize one was missing until a couple of days later when it smelled like something had died in my car.
ReplyDeleteYou win the prize for best story. Meat rotting in the car would be terrible - yuck!
DeleteAw, don't beat yourself up over this. It's not like you have food waster regularly or something. It happens.....
ReplyDeleteWe have enough waste normally - the milk was the worst though. It is bloody expensive here!
DeleteI cringe when things like that happen!!! Right now I have a too ripe avocado sitting in my veggie basket! I MUST be strong and throw it away but I feel guilty! We usually use everything from veggies to leftovers so I guess I will cut myself some slack!
ReplyDeleteAvocados seem to be a common theme here! I used to buy bags of them but now just buy them individually as can't seem to use them up in time before they go bad.
DeleteI bought an avocado and waited to long to eat it...brown and spotty inside...and a waste.
ReplyDeleteJane x
Another avocado. It makes you wonder how long it takes from the time they pick it to the time it gets to your store. Too bad you can't freeze avocados.
DeleteIt gets worse as you get older. I found 2 heads of celery and a pound of carrots in my trunk the other day. Don't know how long it was in there. Fortunately, it hadn't really been warm yet and the veggies were in fine condition.
ReplyDeleteLucky you - I need to store my cloth grocery bags better so things can't hide behind them in the trunk of my car. That was the culprit.
DeleteIf that's what you call screwing up then I don't think you've got much to worry about! x
ReplyDeleteTee hee. It still drives me crazy though :)
DeleteIt's hard to avoid the waste no matter how hard you try :P I got some free groceries lately and we've been feasting from them for a whileI I tend to buy frozen fruit/veg now 'cause the fresh stuff goes so fast.
ReplyDeleteFrozen is easier, and they actually say sometimes fresher since a lot of our produce comes from so far away. I try and buy local when possible but Bananas and oranges just don't grow in Canada.
DeleteSometimes food get hidden behind other things in the fridge, like 1/2 cucumber or an apple and hey go bad. Not often thank goodness
ReplyDeleteUs too. I usually can save a bad banana (bread) but apples are hard to deal with when mushy. If just a little bruised they go into applesauce or porridge.
DeleteSome things you can't help - like when I cut into an avocado and it's spoiled. It's hard to tell! I had to throw out some leeks a week ago - totally forgot I had bought them. Usually they stay good for quite awhile but these turned mushy quickly so think I got a bad bunch. Such is life.
ReplyDeleteTrue, I so hate when I buy an avocado and it is already brown when you cut into it. Too bad we can't grow them here.
DeleteOne time Wayne went to the market and put the bags in the back of the truck. One bag included a nice roast for our dinner. When he got to the cabin, no roast. It was still in the back of the truck. Fortuntely, it was during the cold months so we retrieved it on our next trip to town, checked it out and it seemed fine. We cooked it well through just to be sure. - Margy
ReplyDeleteMy freezer quit cooling and I had two garbage cans of food, mostly meat to throw out.
ReplyDeleteOne warm day, I left several packages on boneless, skinless chicken breasts in the car to spoil. That hurt!