Prevent Wasted Food

No more “freeze it and forget it”!

If you were expecting a lurid foodie tale about eager veggies, twisting around each other in the privacy of soil, only to be exposed by a hungry, voyeuristic gardener, that’s an entirely different blog!

If you have forgotten freezer food, you are in the right place!

Many well-meaning freezer users have put good food away for later, but then forgot it there and it froze to death.

This unfortunate habit is just like throwing edible food into the garbage, simply because the outcome is the same… and composting it is only one step better than garbage. 

When you include the cost of running an overfull freezer, plus any gas spent driving it home, the cost of disposal (if you don’t compost it), all the many resources that went into growing it and so on, that forgotten freezer food could become your “kitchen confession”! Wasted food happens to all of us… even our staff!

The easy solution is a Freezer Inventory, one of our many Smart Strategies!  It’s a simple 8.5″ x 11″ form you can download, print out and hang on the front of your fridge or freezer, and change as you go (also en Español). We recommend using a pencil for easier updating.Here’s how to use it!

 

ADDITIONAL TIPS:

  • Another Smart Strategy is our Eat First! signs (also en Español), to use anywhere in your kitchen to help ID which items need to be used up the soonest. Simply print and trim, and apply to any food or shelf containing those items!
  • Overfull freezers function less efficiently! CONFESSION: Recently, my own freezer was too stuffed and the little vent/fan at the back sounded awful! It was working too hard, and frost had built up… if I hadn’t noticed, my whole freezer motor might have failed. Yikes! A lesson to keep it clear and not too full.
  • Items in the freezer door are subject to greater temperature variations, so be more mindful of what gets stored there.
  • Food safety also depends on maintaining consistent fridge and freezer temperatures, so be sure to keep your fridge between 38°F and 42°F and your freezer between 0°F and 5°F to be safe.
  • Remember: most frozen food is safe indefinitely, but be sure to double-wrap food and eat it before it’s freezer burned.

 

I CONFESS: We were still “freezing and forgetting” stuff at home when we started No Food Left Behind – Corvallis. I hadn’t yet implemented this Smart Strategy! Since we did, we’ve had no more freezer-burned food, items are rotated out more often, and everything is getting used. The Freezer Inventory really works and our family is saving money in the process!

Not only that, but our meals have also become more varied as we’ve forced ourselves to get creative with ingredients we might not normally put together. I often consult BigOven.com’s leftovers page, which enables users to type in two or three ingredients and receive existing recipes that use those very items. Just click on “BigOven, what can I make?” – highly recommended! BigOven also offers an app – click here for NFLB’s favorite apps!

Thank you in advance for recommending our Freezer Inventory to any friends with forgotten freezer foods… and if you need one too, that’s okay! This is Kitchen Confessions, and your story is safe with us.  😉  We invite you to share your stories in the comments! Confessions? Or maybe you started using the inventory and want to celebrate? Let us know.

As for those lurid carrots, we’ll have to get to the ROOT of that some other day…

 

Check before you chuck it

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

As we hurtle toward the holidays and the dark days of winter, so many are planning ahead, stocking up and proactively preserving, packing and pickling (as covered in our last posting of “Kitchen Confessions”). Be sure to give yourself a pat on the back for these efforts to not waste food and make the most of your household’s groceries!

So what happens when you head to your fridge, reach for an opened carton of something, a container of leftovers, or that half-eaten something — and find it’s in the last phases of its consume-ability? What if that item that got pushed back on your “Eat First!” shelf/area now looks kind of shriveled, spotty, wrinkled, a tad moldy, or smells a bit “funky”?

What happens when you encounter — omg! — a food package or container with a label informing you that its “best by,” “use by” or “sell by” date occurred last month?? (Three months ago? Or more… That’s happened, for sure, in my home!)

Take a deep breath, Conscientious Food Consumer. Many of those food items do not have to be left behind. The following resources and tips hopefully will inform and reassure you in your efforts to save even more food from going to waste while saving money too!

Food safety is a vast topic, and there is an equally-vast array of resources devoted to it, including food safety apps, books, websites, governmental agencies, advocacy groups and food industry organizations. Regulations for food date labeling also vary from state to state.

As usual, we refer you to the knowledge base at the OSU Extension Service’s Home Food Safety and Preservation program and in particular its publication on food label dates (2013). We also drew from this very informative web page by the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) while researching this blog posting.

About those “Best by/Use by/Sell by” dates

As advised on page 4 of our A-Z Fruit and Vegetable Storage Guide: “a product should be safe, wholesome and of good quality if stored and handled properly.” This is a particularly relevant concern if you’re stretching your food budget by shopping discount shelves or at markets that offer popular brands and other products for significant price markdown due to their impending “Best by” or “Sell by” dates.

Prior to 2018, these dates — and terms such as “Best by” or “Use by” — referred primarily to a manufacturer’s claims for how long the product could be considered at its best for flavor, texture, odor and nutritional value (except for infant formula and some baby food labeling requirements from the federal government). The “Sell By” date helps retailers manage their inventories.

Fortunately for consumers, simplified and more uniform guidelines for food date labeling were adopted industry-wide in 2018 by the Food Marketing Institute and the Grocery Manufacturers Association. They specify that:

  • “Best if used by” refers to a product’s quality; it may not taste or perform as expected after the date, but it is considered safe to use or consume.
  • “Use by” applies to products that are highly perishable, thus involving food safety concerns. Such products should be consumed by the date shown on the package or discarded.

Cases in point: Our cornbread mix pictured above… and I’m still using up a jar of Thai curry paste labeled for 2018!

Check it before you chuck it. Ask your nose: does it pass the smell test? Then apply common sense and trustworthy guidelines like these from “Your Ultimate Shelf Life Guide” at StillTasty.com. It provides comprehensive advice on how long your favorite food or beverage will stay safe, with a searchable database of thousands of food items in every food category.

SMELL TEST: Merely “funky” smelling or looking
(some degradation in quality but not yet a “science experiment”)

  • This is your signal to ACT before it ends up in the compost or garbage! 
  • BREAD: Is it merely stale or is it moldy? Stale bread = croutons or bread crumbs.
  • DAIRY: Even if your milk smells a bit off or tastes sour, it’s still potentially usable for cooking and baking (unless it contains traces of mold). Think pancakes, soups, and fried eggplant batter. Or think of it as buttermilk! Hard cheeses with a little mold can be rescued by cutting one inch in and around the affected area. (Consuming soft cheeses with mold removed is not recommended.)
  • MEAT: Don’t take any chances with raw meat! It’s not supposed to have much of a smell when it is still safe to prepare and eat. Just because it’s no longer bright red doesn’t mean it has spoiled. Example: Is Raw Ground Beef OK If It’s Turning Brown?
  • FRUIT/VEGGIES: In many cases, you can simply remove the bruises, the brown or mushy parts and still use the food item. Wrinkly produce works just fine in many dishes, from casseroles to stir fry and soup! Again, visit StillTasty.com to check your specific item.
  • Check carefully for mold, indicating potential food-borne pathogens.
  • Clean your refrigerator every few months to inhibit bacterial growth, and make sure it is operating consistently at or below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

SMELL TEST: Revolting

Obviously, you’ll want to “chuck” most anything smelly, sticky or slimy, which is an indication of advanced bacterial growth (a.k.a. science experiment)!

But it doesn’t have to go into the landfill if you’re a resident of Corvallis or Philomath (OR), where curbside composting is available. You can toss nasty, spoiled food — including meat, dairy and bones — in the gray Yard Debris (“Mixed Organics”) cart provided by Republic Services. They have a serious industrial process for turning it into a high-quality compost product.

*****

This week’s Kitchen Confession has a happy ending.

Karen Confesses/Lesson Learned:

During the summer, I came very close to composting about two cups of these “ugly” cherries, which had been neglected in the fridge instead of being enjoyed while fresh. (Remembering to practice what I preach,) I “rescued” them from the compost pail, inspected for mold, rinsed them and trimmed off the brown and pitted spots. The remaining parts of the cherries still looked and smelled good, so they got popped into the blender with some frozen blueberries and leftover ice cream for a delicious treat!

$$ Wasted: Zero

So DOES your food pass the smell test? Remember to check it before you chuck it!

 

 

 

 

 

Mind your ‘maters!

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

When was the last time you delighted in the taste experience of a ripe exploding cherry tomato? For many, one of the greatest pleasures of summer is the color, aroma and savory satisfaction of garden-fresh tomatoes, that ubiquitous vegetable (actually a fruit) that gardeners tend to have in over-abundance this time of year. Besides zucchini! (Also technically considered a fruit.)

Tomatoes are the 4th most-popular fresh market produce item for good reason: this versatile veggie-fruit can be sliced, diced, baked, stewed, roasted, sun-dried and pureed for so many of our favorite meals, year-round. Tomatoes are an essential ingredient of fresh summer salsa and many vegetable medley dishes from a variety of cultural and ethnic cuisines.

Of course, they’re also quite perishable and can be pricey, especially premium tomatoes still attached to their vines. Why not take advantage of our seasonal abundance and stock up on locally-sourced ‘maters that you prepped, froze and perhaps canned yourself? They’re sure to be fresher and better tasting than those imported from Mexico or China, not to mention anything you can buy in a can six months from now.

So let’s “mind our ‘maters” and make sure they end up where they can be properly appreciated! Here’s a few tips we hope you will find helpful:

  • Place tomatoes on the kitchen counter to ripen, away from direct sunlight, with the stem end up to prevent bruising. Monitor the ripening, then wash and prepare them for consumption at their height of flavor and juiciness! In a fridge, these qualities will diminish after just a few days.
  • Tomatoes are one of those veggies that naturally emit ethylene gas as part of their plant maturation cycles, so avoid placing or storing them near other produce that you don’t want to ripen too quickly or spoil.
  • Got too many ‘maters? Share with friends, or find the downloadable OLIO app on our website for locating people with whom to share your prodigious produce (keeping COVID-19 concerns in mind). Unfortunately, most local food banks and soup kitchens are currently not accepting donations of fresh produce, so let’s share with each other.
  • Once your tomatoes have spent time in the fridge, let them return to room temperature before preparing and consuming.
  • Ugly ‘maters still taste great! Bruised or cracked tomatoes may not work for the presentation of your bruschetta or for picky kiddos, but they are fine for freezing or canning, or as the foundation of a refreshing cold gazpacho soup, fresh salsa, or tomato juice/cocktail. (Just cut out the cracked areas and use the rest.) Over-ripe tomatoes tend to have black spots, signs of mold or an “off” smell — so off to the compost bin they go.

With COVID-19 keeping us all home more this summer, children will enjoy learning veggie-prep kitchen skills, like how to safely dice a tomato through the kid-friendly recipes and visual learning resources (in both English and Spanish) on OSU Extension Service’s “Food Hero” website. There’s 25 recipes to start with for fresh tomatoes! Numerous other veggies and categories of food can be explored as well.

This Week’s Kitchen Confessions:

JEANETTE CONFESSES: This is one of 3 or 4 portions of shredded pulled pork left from prepping for family meals. Fortunately most remaining portions went into the freezer in baggies, but this portion in the fridge got “left behind” (moldy), forgotten for too long.

$$ WASTED: About $6

LESSONS LEARNED: Either put all extra quantities in the freezer, or make sure small meal portions get onto our “Eat First” shelf or flagged on our Meal Planner so they’re eaten sooner!

KAREN CONFESSES: Before local tomatoes were in season, I bought mild sweet mango salsa which my son likes, and we enjoyed it with one meal of burritos and nachos. He went home afterwards and I placed the opened jar in the fridge door with the rest of my condiments. Since I prefer a green chile-based salsa (a bit more spicy), it tends to get used first and, eventually, I was dismayed to find a “science experiment” brewing inside the mango salsa jar.

$$ WASTED: About $2 (1/2 the cost of full jar)

LESSON LEARNED: Label it with the date opened and note it as ingredient for “Gazpacho” on my Meal Planner. Store opened jar in “Eat First” area in my fridge or encourage my son to take the rest of the jar home with him next time!

Happy Salsa Season!

Hooray for our local “helpers”! And less wasted food.

Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

Now that we’ve all had a number of weeks of staying home and doing our part to fight the spread of the coronavirus, how’s the “new normal” at your house? Besides keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe, healthy and constructively occupied, it’s been a lot about food, hasn’t it?

We’ve gotten a horrific reality check about the pandemic’s disruption of national food production and delivery systems — via news of catastrophic waste from unharvested produce rotting in farm fields, dairies dumping milk and slaughtered animals going into landfills, due to reduced work forces and virus outbreaks at meat packing plants.

As we are part of the EPA’s “Food Too Good To Waste” program, No Food Left Behind-Corvallis received news of efforts to mitigate this disaster such as the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and Feeding America, a national food bank network. But these efforts are just ramping up.

Rising to the challenge, here in our own backyard, is one of Oregon’s largest food rescue, gleaning and distribution organizations: Linn Benton Food Share. This non-profit food sourcing and distribution “hub” — and a Sustainability Coalition partner — has served food pantries, soup kitchens and housing shelters in Linn and Benton Counties since 1981!

The COVID-19 crisis has brought increased food insecurity to our region, and not only among the most vulnerable populations. With the goal of 2500 meals delivered per week, Food Share is mobilizing volunteers to help prepare food boxes at their warehouse. They’re pros at training volunteer food handlers and ensuring their safety. If you or someone you know can help, just scroll down their home page and fill out the short form.

Hooray for “the helpers”! (Hat tip to Mr. Rogers!)

Grocery shopping sure looks a lot different now. We’re reducing our trips to the store, trying to keep the proper distance from other shoppers, or just skipping it and ordering groceries online! Why not supplement your next online grocery order with fresh, locally-sourced food products from the Corvallis-Albany Farmer’s Markets? You can do that with the CAFM’s new online pre-order and pick up system.  Hooray again, for the helpers who are supporting the GoFundMe campaign that supports that effort!

“Eating out” is also pretty different now — more like “taking out” then “eating in” at home. A number of local establishments have switched to the take out and/or delivery business model, but with the phased re-opening of some restaurants, be sure and check the latest updates from Coalition partner Visit Corvallis.

Back at home, the “new normal” means we’re planning and preparing most (if not all) of our own meals, being more conscious with the food we have, and stretching our grocery budgets as far as possible. Some “Smart Strategies” to help you in those endeavors were highlighted in our previous installment of “Kitchen Confessions.”

In my kitchen, I’m juggling four “Eat First” areas in my fridge/cupboard — which means I’m Loving My Leftovers more than ever. Hey — there’s an app for that! Check the “Apps!” area of our website for a wonderful tool called “Big Oven” for thousands of recipes to help you invent new meals from the smorgasbord of your leftovers or least-fresh foods.

Simply start with just three ingredients and a button labeled “Big Oven, what can I make?” Your kids will love getting creative with it, too!

Now for this week’s Kitchen Confessions from our staff:

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Karen Confesses:

I put off inventorying my cupboard pantry for, like, forever! Now there’s no excuse, and I found this package of seasonal baking mix that had been colonized by pantry moths.

$$$ Wasted: $2.99

Lessons Learned: Meal planner to include more pantry checks each week; reorganize pantry with visible “best by” and “use by” date tags with more perishable food items/packages in the front.

Jeanette Confesses:
I didn’t need the whole can for my meal, so I covered it to use it in the next day or two – and forgot it!

$$ Wasted: about $2

Lessons Learned: Once opened, avoid storing acidic foods in metal container. Move remainder into a clear glass jar as a visual reminder.

*****

This “lesson” also highlights the critical issue of food safety. Avoiding foodborne pathogens is right up there with not contracting the virus! Guess what — there’s an app for that too!

Downloadable from NFLB’s “Apps” page is the “Food Keeper” tool, developed by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, Cornell University and the Food Marketing Institute. It’s an authoritative source for how to preserve the freshness and quality of all those precious groceries.

As we head into the next phase of “new normal” in the COVID-19 era, we hope you and yours will stay well, stay connected and stay tuned!