Confession: So truth be told, I've been failing at abstaining from waste. I don't know how people do it. I don't know how Cathy manages to not eat out. You know, if I buy one bunch of cilantro, I've got to put cilantro in, like, five dishes to use up a whole bunch. And I don't have time to cook five dishes in a week.
I've been really trying hard -- my freezer is stuffed to the brim with prepped food. I buy one loaf of bread and slice and freeze half of it. I've got a batch of blueberry muffins in the freezer that are almost finished. The second the strawberries start turning, I hull them and freeze them. I spent the morning watching Wimbledon and pitting sour cherries for the cobbler I probably won't want to make until September. I even froze the apricots and berries leftover from our pitcher of picnic sangria; not sure what to do with them yet, but at the very least I can probably make some kind of dessert sauce or frozen cocktail with it.
But to truly not waste the fresh ingredients I love to buy, I'd have to come home and cook every day, which would mean sacrificing some of my other activities. Either that or I could just eat slices and packets of prepared food everyday -- but those come with lots of packaging waste.
I want to be a more responsible consumer, but it's really hard to manage ingredient proportions when you are
A.) single and not that hungry
B.) like to cook dishes that require more than 3 pantry ingredients
and
C.) only have time to cook two or three times a week.
Here's what I've found I shouldn't really buy:
I think I need to resist impulse shopping a little better. This leg of the Abstain Project feels a little joyless.
I've been really trying hard -- my freezer is stuffed to the brim with prepped food. I buy one loaf of bread and slice and freeze half of it. I've got a batch of blueberry muffins in the freezer that are almost finished. The second the strawberries start turning, I hull them and freeze them. I spent the morning watching Wimbledon and pitting sour cherries for the cobbler I probably won't want to make until September. I even froze the apricots and berries leftover from our pitcher of picnic sangria; not sure what to do with them yet, but at the very least I can probably make some kind of dessert sauce or frozen cocktail with it.
But to truly not waste the fresh ingredients I love to buy, I'd have to come home and cook every day, which would mean sacrificing some of my other activities. Either that or I could just eat slices and packets of prepared food everyday -- but those come with lots of packaging waste.
I want to be a more responsible consumer, but it's really hard to manage ingredient proportions when you are
A.) single and not that hungry
B.) like to cook dishes that require more than 3 pantry ingredients
and
C.) only have time to cook two or three times a week.
Here's what I've found I shouldn't really buy:
- Herbs -- do I have to live without herbs because I can't use them up in time? I know I should make pesto with that basil, but I don't really like pesto. And it makes such a mess. I lack the energy to cook all evening and clean all night. And cilantro -- if I ate Southeast Asian food and Mexican food every meal, I might be able to use a whole bunch in a week.
- Lettuces -- I can manage longer shelf-life cooking greens much better than I can manage salad greens. In fact, I've got a bunch of swiss chard in the crisper that's been guilt-tripping me for two weeks now.
- Berries -- I have a serious berry problem. I can't resist buying them. But my freezer is already so packed with berries that I'll probably be making jam til October. And when the peaches come in, forget about it, I probably won't be able to resist those, either.
I think I need to resist impulse shopping a little better. This leg of the Abstain Project feels a little joyless.
Windowsill herb garden!
I suppose your freezer space is spoken for, but if you have room for a few herbs in there, they do freeze well: http://gardening.about.com/od/vegetablepatch/a/FreezeHerbs.htm.
They won't be quite the same as fresh, but for soups and sauces, they should be just fine.
Yes, an herb garden is the answer to having herbs on hand without having half a bunch wilting away.
Here's a suggestion - you could try inviting friends over and cooking dinner together to help you use up all the food you're hoarding. I somehow found myself with a surplus of leafy greens this week so that's what I'm going to do, cook for a friend.
RR: re: windowsill herb garden -- the last time I tried to have indoor potted herbs, I wound up with lots of tiny flies and dead herbs after about 6 weeks. I'm not so good with the plants. Any tips on indoor herbs?
Patricia: Freezing herbs is a great idea. I try to dry herbs, too. But I am often lazy.
Julia: Re: cooking for friends, I should do that more often, but our apartment is quite warm right now. It seems cruel to invite people over to sweat it out. Maybe I need to befriend more people with central a/c. How do you all handle cooking in the heat?
You could stop buying so much :P
Well, on a more serious note, I agree, fresh herbs are impossible to buy the appropriate amount of to use in time... I do have a basil plant now that's thriving but I don't even use it that much...
There's also a suggestion I haven't seen yet. Find a similar-situation single female (friend or, if you really need to, Craig's List) and split groceries with her. I've been lucky, I can buy some items in bulk and give half away easily. Other stuff, not so much, as my choice in grocery-partner doesn't eat Western style food so much, but I'm learning to balance and just feeling better that I'm not completely wasting.
Hi Ganda,
I have been reading your blog for quite some time now. I was a bit weary when you strayed from the usual overindulgent lifestyle and did this abstain project. I thought it was finally time to commend you for the abstain project. For three months, I have been doing a bit of the abstain project myself as with not eating as much meat, reducing waste, and producing my own energy. I did find that I waste a lot of food. And, it bothered me since it was a lot of waste. Fortunately, I have the luxury of a porch living in San Francisco. So, I bought an automatic composter which has now a permanent home outside. I don't recommend putting this composter inside although it boasts that it can be kept indoors. I know your space is completely filled and the heat is just another factor to add on. But, if you are willing to forego the smell, your landfill problems have been solved. It's great that you are so conscious about your environmental impact and as a treehugger myself, my food overindulgence was definitely my last frontier. It's been difficult so I can emphatize with you. Lastly, I also think it's pretty cool that you are a fellow SGV ex-patriate, I get to visit Covina during holidays. Lastly, if you're ever interested in producing your own energy with a pedal-a-watt bicycle let me know, since it can be costly if you don't build it yourself. Hope to hear more about your adventures.
Hm, good point about the heat. I've never lived in central AC so I'm used to sweating it out. And I guess I have friends who don't mind either. In the summer I try to focus my cooking on the stovetop or grill instead of the oven, and then generally I take a shower right after cooking or hang out in my AC'ed bedroom to cool off. Also, to follow up on Elena's suggestion, an alternative to composting in tiny NYC apartments is to save food scraps in a bag in your freezer and then drop the bag off every week or so at drop off sites around the city. Then they do the work of creating compost for community gardens or selling it back to the public. It's really easy, and I bring mine to Union Square green market every week or two on my way to work.
Haha, I just posted an entry about the same thing on my blog! My solution yesterday was to sweat it out for two hours and just get it done. Of course I was pretty zapped by bedtime.
What I'm really interested in is getting a group of people together to do food trades... That might be a solution. Find other people to cook a communal dish, then get together and swap once a week. Then you're only preparing one or two meals, but end up with a variety of dishes to last through the week.
But so far I have no takers of people who live/work near me. :(
Too much commitment!
or how about pickling?!
Elena -- SGV! Sometimes miss the boba and the dim sum, but don't miss the rice rockets, haha! Thanks for sticking around. I have a friend with a composter. I wonder if she'd take my scraps. She says the earthworms in her garden are getting fat.
Hot Kate -- Oof, pickling requires a lot of heat -- sterilizing jars, bringing pickles up to temp.
I am eating Mint Chocolate Cookie B&J for dinner tonight and it is hitting the spot.
I should compost though. And I think I should get off my lazy ass and start a little windowsill herb plant. Shit, if I could install MT4 on my server, I should be able to take care of a little plant.
or you could get those awesome containers from the sharper image. I have had strawberries in them for over a week and half..and they are still good. Those containers save me alot of money...especially when buying organic, because that shit goes bad so fast.
I face the same problem, as a fellow single girl who likes to cook but can't consume an entire bunch of, say, cilantro before it turns foul. So, question: how content are you with eating variations on the same dish several times in a week? That can help a lot with the fresh herb problem, I've found, and also with the lettuce problem. A stir-fry or curry will last reasonably well for a week, and even though eating leftovers can be boring, it's not nearly as boring as eating toast every night.
Also, while herbs don't freeze well on their own, if you pulverize them with a tiny bit of whatever oil you deem appropriate you should be able to repurpose them later.
Finally (this is getting long!), if you don't mind slightly weird breakfasts, consider trying to dispose of fresh veg that way--breakfast cereal, muffins, etc. take a hell of a lot longer to go bad than whatever is about to liquify in your produce drawer.
I love greens for breakfast. Sauteed water spinach with bean sauce over congee with a little Thai style omelet? DELISH.
Have you considered growing herbs so you can just cut off how much you need?
I find romaine lettuce lasts a lot longer than other varieties.
Glad to hear you're trying to reduce waste!
The very best use for frozen berries is in a smoothie.
I can't imagine "putting up" jams and pickles in a hot apartment.
You should be able to make a bunch of leaf lettuce last a week and use it up in salads and sandwiches. Rinse the leaves (or wash in veggie wash), shake off excess water, roll it in a paper towel and store in a zip top bag with all the air squeezed out.
I never had any luck with indoor gardens. If you have the space, an AeroGarden is one way to go, but they are definitely bigger than a breadbox and cost $150!
I have an answer to your problem. I will send you my kids for a month. you won't have a scrap of food left over.
Seriously though, I second growing your own herbs. Also eating vegetables and fruit that is local to you in season. Freeze dark green veggies and berries to tide you over during the off-season.