BellaOnline Forums Relationships Married No Kids Oprah today

Gee, this thread would fit equally well over at Frugal Living or Environment! And so often, they go hand-in-hand.

I was raised not to waste food -- but that generally doesn't mean you have to eat it all right then. We have always eaten leftovers. Actually, I love having leftovers available on those busy days when I'm tired and don't feel like cooking. Ahhhh!

> the kids would eat a couple of chips from one bag, leave it, and want a new bag of the same exact chips.

Now those parents should be ashamed! And those kids should be told that chips are a luxury item, and if they want to waste their own hard-earned money on food they throw away, that's one thing, but not someone else's (in this case, Mom and Dad's money.) The kids must have been getting away with it, if they were expecting that.

Though it DOES remind me of a children's book -- I think it was in Ramona the Pest, where Ramona takes a bite, just one, out of an entire bushel of apples, because she heard that the first bite was always the best....

I saw that show and could not believe that these families threw out leftovers. I love leftovers. I make sure to make extra at dinner so I have lunch the next day. Probably because I really not fussy about having a sandwich every day. I used to buy my lunch every day but I found that I could control the fat content and portion size better if I made it myself. Saving money is just a bonus.

My mom is a huge environmentalist. She had us composting, hanging out laundry, using cloth diapers and taking lunches to school in tupperware rather than plastic wrap ever since I can remember.

She is so funny. I was emptying out a pan to put the leftovers in the fridge and she tsk-tsked me and scraped out another tablespoon out of the pan. I have to admit I do waste that last little bit because I don't go around the pan 5 times with a spoon to get it out. My mother does not waste anything. I feel guilty when I throw away produce. It's hard to have fresh fruit and vegetables without having the last one be a bit off in 3 days. I wish I had the time or the inclination to go to the market daily like they do in Europe but I just can't.

Another thing about leftovers is that in a lot of cases like stews and soups, it tastes better aged!

I'm not totally anal about eating every last bite, and every week something seems to get wasted, but still we eat leftovers all the time. A lot of things are even better the next day, like soup. That is a foreign concept to me to just refuse to eat anything called a leftover. If my family said that, I would just change the terminology and sneak the food into other recipes.

On the other hand, my husband's immune system isn't the best, and he gets stomach problems if food is too old.He also can't handle frozen TV dinner type meals, and really processed food. I try to serve any leftovers by the 3rd day, or unfortunately they're tossed to the dogs, the birds, or the compost. The only time that happens really though is if the food I made wasn't that great. I have to really try hard to make things taste good so I'll eat them later and not be tempted to waste them. I don't always succeed unfortunately. I'm an okay cook with tried and true recipes, but not the best at experimenting it seems. I'm much better at baking.

I remember that Ramona story well! I loved those books.

Frieda, I'm your opposite in the kitchen. I experiment with dinner constantly. I don't follow recipes if I can get away with it. If I find a new recipe I think I'd like, I just take the concepts from it and/or adapt it to suit our tastes, time constraints, and the contents of our pantry. Because I'm a "throw together whatever sounds good" and "season it on the fly" kind of cook, I can honestly say I've never made the same meal twice. There's always some variances. It's never exactly the same, but usually comes out pretty good.

On the other hand, even if I force myself to follow a recipe to the letter, I can't bake. Something ALWAYS goes wrong. Like I said, your complete kitchen opposite.

Wow! That's so funny!

Actually, I was just thinking that would be much better. As it is, I could happily bake something every day, but I have to restrain myself to only do it once a month or so, or I'd be big as a house (you could say I'm my own biggest fan in this respect, but the truth is I just have a powerful sweet tooth). But I have to cook dinner every day, so it would be wonderful to be better at it. I have a few great dishes, but it's hard for me to think of new ones, or throw things together if I run out of my old reliable ingredients.

Sometimes it makes me wish for polygamy, because I'd make a great team-wife.

I saw the Oprah show about the wasteful families. What really struck me was after the mom made breakfast, which most of the kids refused to eat, the dad would take the kids to Duncan Doughnuts! I couldn't believe it! Plus, Mom would make a different meal for each family member, since nobody would agree to eat just one dish. I know how that would have gone over in our home when I was a kid! We ate what was prepared, or we didn't eat! (Guess which we did, even if it wasn't a favorite food? We ate!) One girl in the family had piles of clothes, and she was going through them, pointing out clothes she'd never worn, or forgot she bought. The mom would throw away boxes of chips, crackers, cereal that had been opened and not finished before they went shopping to buy more stuff they would ultimately end up throwing away the bulk of. The dad was saying the family was on the point of bankruptcy because of their wasteful habits! It really was an eye-opening show.

Cindy

[quote=Trisharoni]Well, it's 10 miles from my house to work if you drive, sometimes taking a half hour depending on the traffic. Instead, I walk to the ferry dock and take a 10-minute boat trip (part of our local public transportation - it costs me $1.25 each trip), and then walk from the dock to my workplace. I just started doing it this year and I bought a pedometer to find out how far it was - less than a mile each way. I love it! I don't have to deal with traffic, I get more exercise just going to and from work, I meet new people or get a chance to read, and I have more time to really think. Leaving my car at home was one of the best decisions I ever made. The funny thing is, I thought it would feel like more of a sacrifice, which is why it took me so long to do it!

By the way, you can see the foot ferry I take every day here:BellaOnline ALERT: Raw URLs are not allowed in these forums for security reasons. Please use UBB code. If you don't know how to do UBB code just post here for help - we will help out!

I will admit that some of our food gets wasted. BUT - I conserve water as much as I can (we just built rain barrels for the yard so we never have to water with the hose again.) We compost, hang out our laundry, etc.

I have a "candle lady" from PartyLite who does all the parties for my sister and her friends. About a year ago we somehow got around to talking about conservation - I think cause she just had twins and was saying how she's having a hard time with finances. I mentioned some of the things I do. Turns out she always leaves lights on and keeps the TV on all day because she likes coming home to the noise.

I was flabbergasted.

Well, I just saw her at a party last Saturday and she said that after our conversation she started turning off the TV - and now saves $60 a month on her electric bill! She wants me to email her a whole list of what she can do to save electricity.

Changing the world, one PartyLite consultant at a time ...

Ha ha ha! Good for you Lynette. I have to note some irony in someone who sells candles yet leaves the light on. Snort!

Trish, your commute sounds like heaven. Awesome!! It's great when making one change has so many positive benefits.