Food Waste Friday and True Food Confessions--May 23, 2014

It's time for Food Waste Friday, when the Frugalgirl encourages us to post pictures from the previous week of wasted food from our household. This accountability hopefully will help us to be more careful with our food and maybe save some money. Also, I am using this public forum to encourage us to eat out less which includes better meal planning. You can follow how we are doing in this endeavor by reading True Food Confessions. 

This Week's Food Waste

a Carrot

One lone carrot shriveled up beyond hope this week. Luckily, the rest in the bag were good, but I promptly used them so they wouldn't have the same fate.

This Week's True Food Confessions

Years ago, Ward's grandmother gave me a set of microwave specialty cookware. She bought it for herself with great ideas that she was going to be doing all kinds of complicated cooking in her microwave. She had never been much interested in cooking, but microwave cooking (fairly new at the time) piqued her curiosity. However, she was already in her 80's and decided that if she had limited energy, she would use it to take care of her collies and tend her gardens. Thus after a little while, she passed the set on to me. I wasn't sure that I wanted it, but I took it anyway. I experimented a little and made potato chips, bacon and a cake in the microwave with some of the pieces  However, I couldn't see myself using it with any regularity, so I gradually gave it away piece by piece. The last to go was the microwave pressure cooker. Now, I am totally comfortable cooking with a pressure cooker, but I had no interest in doing that in the microwave. Quite frankly, I thought that pot was a total waste. That was until I gave it to a friend. She didn't ask for it, but she got it anyway. (That's another story.) And she was thrilled. She didn't use it in the microwave, but soon figured out that it was the perfect pot/dish to take to a potluck dinner. You see, it was a good size--not too big, not too small. It was made from thick plastic that provided insulation to keep the food either hot or cold. And best of all, the lid clamped on so it was easy to transport with no spilling. Who knew it was such a perfect pot? I didn't when I thought of it only as a microwave pressure cooker.  But she opened my eyes and then I wanted it back. However, she won't give it to me. :) I guess instead of the pot, I'll have to satisfied that I was reminded that it always pays to take a second look at things. 

Oh wait, isn't a Second Look another one of my themes? That's a little ironic, isn't it? :)