Food Waste-not Strategy

Cleaning out the fridge is by far my least favorite part of being an adult. I love to cook, and this means that I normally have a well-stocked refrigerator, bountiful with raw ingredients and half-eaten leftovers. Although my family does well to eat most of our leftovers, a few things inevitably end up unlabeled at the back of a shelf...for a long, long time.

Mold and slime...gross. I'm appalled at not only how much gross stuff I find in my fridge when I do clean it out (roughly every six weeks--not nearly often enough), but at the sheer waste of how much food is thrown out that was perfectly edible and nutritious.

To combat my food waste problem, I've got a two-step plan:

1. Better meal planning. I'm a pretty good cook, and I like to eat a variety of meals through the week. Although I don't mind having leftovers for a single meal or two, I hate eating lasagna for the fourth day in a row.

Instead of making one big casserole or soup and eating on it all week, I've begun to have a roast or grilled large piece of meat on Sunday and use the leftovers in a variety of other meals.

For example, a large roasted chicken can be served with your choice of vegetable and starch, then the leftover chicken can be shredded and put into reusable storage containers. Burritos, chicken pot pie, chicken and dumplings, wraps, and homemade pizza. A large beef roast or pork loin does the same thing, allowing variety without waste.

2. My second strategy is to introduce compost into my yard. I've been hoping to do this for a while, and I have been researching various types of compost. I've finally settled on setting up a small vermicompost system. Vermicompost is worm compost, and although worms slithering all over one another does creep me out, I'm willing to face my fear for a life that has a smaller pile of trash every week.

It is now well into fall, and I'm not sure if this is the best time of year to introduce worm compost into my yard. There are indoor systems, but those tend to be pricier and--let's face it--I don't want to think about having a box of worms next to my stove. I'll check into it and let you know how it goes!