So I've decided to join another: Crunchy Chicken's Food Waste Reduction Challenge. The gist is: stop wasting so much food. Because it saves the energy involved in making that food and getting it to you. Because it saves you money. And because, as precious as food is, it is just wrong to waste it in the cavalier way we so often do.
Now February is a really hard time for me to do this. Right about now, the apples I picked in October are getting all soft and squishy and I'm almost as likely to discover a black one as I am a red one when I unwrap their newspaper-encased selves. And the squash in the basement are starting to look a bit squashed. And we have started referring to the onions as "the onion garden" because it's a lovely lush landscape of green sprouts.
Add to that 6 children who don't exactly clean their plates. They do scrape those plates into the "chicken bowl" (bowl of scraps for Gertie, Henny Penny, and Rosie), but Crunchy Chicken's not letting us get away with that "I fed it to the chickens" excuse. Nope. We're supposed to use it up, not throw it out.
So, I'm off to go survey my fridge and see what's about to die in there. You know I'm not the most inspired cook around. Wish me luck in figuring out how to save what's in there! I'll let you know if I figure out any good recipes.
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3 comments:
Ohhhhhh! I'm doing her food waste reduction challenge, too! I know it will be alarming and inspiring. She does a wonderful job of challenging me. (Although i am too much of a wienie to do her Freeze Yer Buns challenge!)
This is so cool, I had not heard of this challenge, but I think that it is wonderful. Food waste has been something that we have really been sticklers for with our children. we allow them to tell us what portion they would like, and then we ask them to clear their plates. Sometimes it just doesn't happen, but it is a good reminder of the value of food.
Thank you for sharing this wonderful challenge with us
Yay! I'm so glad others are doing this, too.
Megan, you can Freeze Yer Buns! We did it, and I'd never go back; this feels so much more sustainable and right. You can set your own goal for it--you don't have to actually freeze, just turn it down a few notches! I found that joining the challenge made me turn it down lower than I would have otherwise.
Heather, the kids serve themselves here, and decide when they're finished. I think for us, the problem is often that they stop eating because a friend has stopped and they want to play. I need to work on cultivating the meal-time table conversation so it's more appealing to stay.
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