Just a few weeks ago I was telling a friend how she NEVER needs to throw away a banana, because brown bananas can be peeled, broken into chunks, and frozen for smoothies. They’ll last that way in the freezer for months. Using that method, we never have to worry about buying too many bananas, and always have plenty of smoothie ingredients.
But what should be done when a banana actually ROTS and grows mold at the end? I think that’s the time to toss it. Or in my case, save it with my bag of scraps I’m collecting for our new compost pile, my baby steps project for July.
This was a strange phenonemon, since it was part of a trio of bananas and the other two were perfectly fine for freezing, with just a few brown spots in a normal pattern. So I don’t know what happened, but I wasn’t going to eat this, or force my husband to eat it either. But he did eat all the leftovers in the Eat Me! section of the refrigerator again. My partner in reducing food waste.
So we had a good week. Other than the banana, we ate our produce and generally had less in the refrigerator to go bad. I skipped a week of shopping and only bought milk and bread, so we’ll see how that factors in next week.
If you want to know why I’m obsessing over a rotten banana, check out Jonathan Bloom’s blog Wasted Food. He explains why we need to stop throwing away our food waste – it’s destroying the planet! Plus, by being part of the Waste-No-Food Challenge we’ve been saving money on groceries to boot. So head over to The Frugal Girl to see who’s wasting what and get all kinds of tips on how to waste less.
My number one tip is still to BUY LESS FOOD. But along the way, I’ve learned to pay attention to leftovers, organize the refrigerator and pantry, and create a (flexible) menu plan.
How did you do this week? If you’re throwing away TONS of food, you’re not alone. I used to do it, and so do most Americans. But you CAN change your habits- if you want to save money, eat better, and even help the environment. Please leave your tips and advice, questions and concerns, wins and setbacks in the Comments section. And really, would YOU have eaten this banana?
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