I feel really guilty when I have to throw away food that have gone bad after a week or so. I feel bad because it either means I was inaccurate in the amount of food I got when I shopped (and therefore, also wasted money), or we ate out too much and wasted the food that we already had. I feel bad because it was drilled into me at a young age that, "there are kids in other countries that are starving and they would love to have your food", and because as an adult I have been to some of these countries and seen some of these very kids. Not to mention, there are people in this country and the U.S. who go hungry every day. Apparently in the U.S., 30-40% of the food supply simply gets wasted, so I always try to make sure our household beats that percentage, ideally by a lot.
As I have probably mentioned before that every other week we have a box of fresh fruits and veggies delivered to us. This lightens the grocery load I have to lug back in my rolling duffel bag, and it forces us to get more creative with our cooking and eating. The negative aspect of getting this box is it makes me more likely to have to throw away food after a week or two. Instead of buying what I need when I need it, we get a box or random stuff that I have to figure out what to do with before it expires, which I take as a personal challenge. There is some stuff that freezes well if we don't get around to cooking or eating it, like zucchini and broccoli, but I've thrown away a lot of browning heads of lettuce and half a squash here and there.
I am proud to say that this week I am well on my way to using up the box without wasting much. It helps when you have a week off work, and thus, lots of extra time to chop and cook. I've even cooked some of the older frozen stuff that was lying around too. I'm eating so many fresh veggies this week while Michael is dining on dehydrated chicken curry and beef jerky.
Have you eaten your veggies today?
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