Finishing food items

[Downunderduchess]

AIBU to get so much satisfaction from actually finishing food items without any waste. This morning I made toast & was happy to see only one slice of bread left in the bag. I hate waste so I love it when something is 100% used. Feels good economically speaking and environmentally as well.

well done! hehe

Yanbu. I love cobbling together a meal from the last bits of stuff in the fridge and cupboards. ‘Back of the cupboard’ bodge it cooking is one of my skills in life 😂

I had to throw out stuff that had gone off though yesterday & I hated it. Makes me feel terrible when I know there are families much worse off food wise

I hate throwing food away as well. I don’t know who the people are, who throw away a tenner of food a week or something.

Oo- I am obsessive about this too!
I will create a meal based something tiny that needs using.
Hate food waste.
It does lead to interesting packed lunches and unidentifiable Tupperware from the freezer!!

I love finishing off things from the freezer - the last veggie burger out of a box etc! Also bottom of the fridge roasted veggies or soup is also v satisfying.

I'm also quite obsessive about this too. I have been known to peel broccoli stalks and store them.in the freezer until I have enough to make soup!

I get quite annoyed with myself if there is anything but tea bags and veg/ fruit peelings in my food waste caddy.

If your last slice of bread doesn't look like it will be eaten then blitz it into bread crumbs and store in the freezer. I mix it with cheese and herbs to put on top of pasta bakes or dry it, when I have the oven on for something else,.and use it when I make nut roast.

I have a tub in the freezer I put dodgy tomatoes in. Then I make a wonderful sauce for pizza or pasta. Hate waste.

@FOJN the broccoli stalks are lovely stir fried or roasted - just remove the outer layer and slice. I often have that part and give the others the florets!!
Also recently realised that slightly mushy avocado is great roasted - I add it chopped to the other vegetables and then portion out. It keeps for a few days when cooked and doesn't disintegrate.

YANBU. I also get satisfaction from finishing dregs of shampoo etc.

One of my use up tasks this year is to use up all the dregs in bottles I'd got bored of, travel sizes, samples etc, as I'm not expecting to need them for travel any time soon. I'm nearly done and then I'll open up the nice new single big bottles, with far less clutter.

In my house I am the one that uses the last of the toothpaste, shampoo. My husband is terrible at throwing things out after sell by date, especially bread and potatoes, I tear off the date, so he cannot go by that. My adult son asked me last night was the bread ok to toast, he’s 24 and has to ask. I said it was fine unless there was any green on it.

i make a meal and have a tiny bit of it in my lunch the next day as a salad, ie chicken curry, or something vegetarian.

Yanbu. I love making meals from all the bits that need to be used up. Meatballs are my favorite : the less good bits of meat that I didn't use to make a stew? That slice of stale bread? Tomatoes that are starting to go mouldy? A few hours later there is a delicious meal on the table.

We also have "leftover days" where everyone picks something from the fridge that needs to be eaten, but there is not enough to feed the whole family.

There’s being savvy and not wasteful and then there’s being tight for a virtuous buzz. If you are really poor it’s a different matter.
Each to their own.

I agree I don't like food waste either. But we buy the amount of fresh food we need/will use - so no waste is pretty much just automatic and not something I really notice. If you think it's a big deal that you've not had to throw away any of the bread this week, maybe consider adjusting your buying/eating habits, or freezing some?

@RoyalChocolat

Yanbu. I love making meals from all the bits that need to be used up. Meatballs are my favorite : the less good bits of meat that I didn't use to make a stew? That slice of stale bread? Tomatoes that are starting to go mouldy? A few hours later there is a delicious meal on the table.

We also have "leftover days" where everyone picks something from the fridge that needs to be eaten, but there is not enough to feed the whole family.

I chop and freeze peppers going a bit soft, that third of a can of baked beans that nobody wants, that sort of thing and every so often, pull all these bits out of the freezer and throw them in a chilli. That's quite satisfying.

YANBU, I must admit I'm obsessed with reduce, reuse, recycle and it pains me to waste stuff. I'm currently using the remains of my moisturiser where it seemed empty but when I cut the end of the tube off found there was loads left!

I keep eggshells and the contents of tea bags for my garden, keep left over curry sauce from takeaways (there's always more than I want) to make another curry later (mmm, chicken tikka masala), and reuse the plastic containers from takeaways to put my home made meals in for the freezer.

The only food I find difficult not to waste are beansprouts which always go off before I can finish the pack. Some things are not sold with single people in mind, but I plan to sprout my own so I can have just a few at a time.

We call DH the Ready Steady Cook cook as he uses up whatever is in the fridge. His finest hour though wasn't the pizza with green beans on it

dh left half a tin of beans in a saucepan over night, i never thought of suggesting he freeze them, he had to throw them away!