I’m pretty disappointed (annoyed) with this week’s waste because a) what more can I do with grains besides store them in a sealed container? and b) I searched for this stuff – bulgar wheat – in three different stores before I found it, and c) it’s only a few months old!
So, I don’t really know what I could have or should have done differently. I haven’t found that much difference between containers or jars I bought before I was doing The Compact and these old spaghetti jars. We use glass containers for nuts, rice, and grains, and most of the time it works, but occasionally the moths still get in. Moths! I have traps, I use containers, what more can I do?
This is turning into a very whiny post, so I’ll stop now. But if you have any ideas I can use and pass along on this blog, please let me know. I could use some help.
Otherwise, we did a good job this week of eating out of the Eat Me! section of the refrigerator, especially my husband, who was a champ at coming up with strange combinations for his lunch burritos. He told me lentils aren’t that great in burritos, even with cheese. I would never have even tried it, so kudos to him for having an open mind.
This week I stopped by My Zero Waste, which tells the story of the Green family and their quest to produce just one trash bin for the year. While there, I happened upon this article from the London Times about a family in Britain who realizes how much food they’re wasting, and their attempts to do something about it. It’s well-written and entertaining. My favorite part is when the father drags the food waste out of the trash and makes family members ‘fess up about what they tossed and why. It’s like a police line up, but with humor and affection, and without the threat of incarceration.
Doing this experiment has made me realize what a luxury having any food waste at all really is. I don’t remember ever throwing ANYTHING out when I was a college student and always broke. And there are certainly a lot of undernourished people around the world who can’t imagine throwing away perfectly good food because you forgot about it, you bought too much, or you weren’t in the mood for it that night. Which goes back to my number one tip for wasting less: buy less food in the first place.
Please leave your tips, advice, and questions in the Comments section. Especially if you know how to outsmart those tricky moths, the ones that are immune to the moth trap and work their way inside a tightly closed jar.
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