Food waste

Although I continue to have some food waste, it is better than it was before I was keeping track. I find myself actively thinking about it and planning accordingly while I'm gazing in to the refrigerator.

Wasted last week:

• one serving size heap of a long grain/wild rice concoction we didn't love when I served it for dinner
• 1/4 cup leftover green beans
• 1/3 bottle Caesar salad dressing
• 2 slices of stale homemade whole wheat bread

Last week's successes:

• baked the last of the sugar pie pumpkins that I bought a couple weeks ago to can. I had filled up the pressure canner before I got to this last pumpkin and didn't want to run another batch. I've baked this pumpkin and will puree it in the food processor and freeze for a pie to be baked later this month.
• used up a bit of bottled lemon juice from the fridge and some poppy seeds that I've had in my pantry for years in these muffins. The texture of these muffins was really great, although the lemon flavor wasn't quite obvious enough for me. I will make these again when I have a fresh lemon on hand and will add some lemon zest to the batter in addition to the juice.
• baked some pumpkin/chocolate chip cookies out of the one jar of pumpkin that didn't seal when I canned pumpkin.

On the menu for this week:

• Apple pie with pie dough from the freezer and apples from the crisper bin.
• Bierocks with filling from the freezer.
• Tacos with ground beef and cheese from the freezer, tortillas from the pantry, and lettuce and tomato from the veggie bin. I am about to lose the lettuce if it doesn't get eaten soon!
• Chicken enchiladas using up the rest of the corn tortillas in the pantry. Also enchilada sauce and bottled chicken from the pantry, and cheese from the freezer. I will freeze half of the enchiladas for dinner another week. I will serve the enchiladas with some tex-mex style rice made with rice, dehydrated onions, and homemade tomatillo salsa from the pantry, and some fresh cilantro paste from the fridge.