Using Up Veggies-or "It's Not Frugal to Throw it Out!"

Yesterday Anonymous commented on my post about making lettuce last:

I start to get “produce guilt”. I’ll actually get stressed
out if I have fresh veggies in the fridge too long. Rotten food is just not
thrifty.

Throwing out food is one of the banes of my existence. It really irks my frugal soul. And yet I still do it far too frequently! I blame it on my upbringing.

Now, don’t get me wrong-my family did not waste food growing up. The problem is that I grew up in a family of 7, and even thought I have been out of the house for over 16 years I only recently have begun to truly fight my innate urge to shop and cook as though I have 6 other individuals in the house to feed. When you cook for 7 and really only have 2 adults and 2 small children (granted, children with very good appetites-but still between the two of them they do not usually eat a full adult portion) you wind up with lots of leftovers.

Personally I am like a dog. I could eat the same thing for days on end. Cook a 9X13 pan of lasagna and I’ll eat lasagna for a week. The fam is not necessarily so happy to do the same thing.

So, what to do? Today we will address what to do with the raw ingredients, such as veggies. Later I’ll hit you up with a few ideas for what to do with leftovers. Here we go.

Try to control your impulses.

If possible, buy less. I have started to think really hard about how much my family really will eat in the time allotted between shopping trips. I tend to shop once every two weeks. So I need to look at buying about two weeks of fruits and veggies, then realize that I always overestimate and put some of it back. Because despite all of my good intentions, I will not wind up using it all up.

If possible, send someone else to do the shopping.

I am married, which is convenient in a myriad of ways 🙂 One of them is that Yankee Bill works in town and passes several of the grocery stores on the way home. Although Yankee Bill is not likely to do a price comparison when it comes to shopping, neither is he likely to impulse buy things that are not on the list. Therefore I know that if I run out of fresh produce, I do have the option of asking him to stop on the way home and pick up items that I need. He will actually go into the store and pick up ONLY THE ITEMS THAT I ASK FOR-which is apparently something I am genetically incapable of.

I know that this strategy is not possible for everyone-Anon himself is single, and some people have spouses who are awful impulse shoppers. However with some willpower you can use the first idea (buy less) and then if you run out of fruit and/or produce you can go to the store between scheduled trips and ONLY BUY what you have on the list. Period. Or else do without.

Keep track of what you have.

Now this depends on the person. Some people are really good at remembering what they have in the fridge. Then again, if you are that kind of person you probably don’t need to read this article. Me-I usually remember pretty well only because I cook daily so I am in and out of the fridge frequently and keep seeing what is in there.

If you have a hard time keeping track you may what to consider posting a list of some sort on the outside of the fridge to remind you what type of produce you have in there. When I used to do this for my freezer it worked really well and I rarely “forgot” that I had a roast tucked in the back of the freezer. Since I’ve fallen out of the habit, well, let’s just say I have some lonely food. . . .

Use your freezer.

If produce or veggies are starting to get “iffy”, and you can’t think of a way to use it up right now-well, then it’s time to freeze it. I usually have an assortment of bananas and apples in my freezer (mine are half eaten remnants from the kiddos) stuck into gallon sized zipper bags to be used in cobblers, smoothies, muffins etc. Just thaw and use.

Veggies can be processed for freezing in two ways. First, you can chop them and then “flash freeze”* them and keep them in separate freezer bags. For example you could have a bag of onions, a bag of peppers, a bag of carrots. This tip also works well for produce you see in that “marked down for quick sale” bin at the supermarket. Now in any recipe where you need chopped peppers you can just take out your frozen chopped peppers and toss them in. Works great in casseroles, stirfrys etc. Some veggies, such as broccoli, you may want to blanch first. However, if you are just throwing them in soup or casseroles later I wouldn’t stress over it.

The second way is to keep a “soup” container or bag in the freezer for Stone Soup where you just chop up and chuck everything in together. When the bag (or container) gets full, you throw it in a pot, crockpot or other cooking receptacle along with broth, bits of meat etc etc, and you are on your way to a pot of soup.

Consider a Sealer

I own a Foodsaver. Now, I don’t know if I would recommend that everyone go out and buy one. they are kind of expensive-usually costing over a $100. The bags and accessories aren’t cheap either. There are several brands out there, but I wasn’t really sure if I was saving any money or just succumbing to flashy advertising. Until I found the canning jar attachment.

I now rarely use the bags. As a matter of fact, the only thing I use the bags for is to freeze produce from the garden. In that case I don’t really look at it as saving money over regular frozen and canned food, but as a comparison to Organic frozen and canned food, as I garden organically. In that case I felt the bags were worth it.

For everything else, I use regular glass mason jars with the canning jar sealer attachment. This does not replace regular canning. It simply sucks the air out and makes things last longer. So if instead of putting leftovers into Tupperware I put them into a glass canning jar, and then put a regular flat canning jar lid (not the screw on piece) on, then use the attachment and suck out the air-whatever is in the jar lasts about 3X as long in the refrigerator. So you can take those veggies, cut them up, put them in the canning jar, and they will last MUCH longer. Same with leftovers, meat, luncheon meat etc. Unlike with regular canning, you can reuse the flat canning lids over and over and over as long as you are careful and don’t bend them when you pop them off.

If you are going to use the food sealer over a long period of time, such as I do, then even with the cost, the cost of the attachment, the cost of the canning jars etc compared to the savings on the food that I have not had to throw out. . . . . well, I am going to guess that it has probably amortized itself by now in the 3 years I’ve been using it this way. I don’t know if I’d recommend this across the board, but if your budget isn’t tight, you might want to consider it.

So there they are, just some of the ways to make sure that all that lovely, fresh, healthy produce doesn’t wind up in the trash instead of in your belly!

*N OTE* Flash Freezing: Clean your veggie or fruit and then chop into pieces and lay on a cookie sheet in a single layer. If you have more than one layer either use more than one cookie sheet or separate layers with wax paper. Freeze for an hour or two. When the veggies are frozen they can be transferred into another container where they will remain separate. In this way you can remove only the amount you need without defrosting the entire batch. This technique is especially great for berries. I always freeze my blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries that I pick this way-when I make muffins or pancakes I can just toss a handful in!

Comments

Kristi says

February 7, 2007 at 4:51 pm

Great tips! I know I struggle with knowing how much fresh stuff to buy. I always used to let celery and red peppers go to waste. Now I cut them up right away, so hopefully my kids will have easier access for snacking. Then if they aren’t getting eaten in a timely manner, I chop them up smaller and toss them in the fridge to use in soups, etc.

Stephanie says

February 7, 2007 at 10:15 pm

Good ideas! I try not to waste, but the rabbits still get more than I’d like!

Tight Fisted Miser says

February 13, 2007 at 3:59 pm

Those are good tips. I always buy very small amounts of produce so I’ll be sure to eat it all before it goes bad. I need to eat more vegetables though.

Alexandra says

February 18, 2007 at 4:06 pm

Good ideas! We mostly use frozen produce, but anything that’s left over goes into a soup.

Allie (Ali) says

June 27, 2007 at 4:33 pm

In my house, we use the “check system” when we’re at the store.

We keep a magnetic pad on the fridge, and when something runs out, it goes on the list.

My boyfriend and I go to the store together. Both of us have serious impulse shopping problems, so we started a system where each person could select up to three items that are not on the list. Each time one of us puts something in the basket that isn’t on the list, we get a “check mark” next to our name (written down on the list). This leads to a competition to have less checks than the other person. It’s embarassing to have more checks than the other person.

This has gone on long enough that we only wind up being willing to take a check mark if it is REALLY important to us to have that item, in which case we probably should get it anyway.

The rest of the time, we don’t get the item. If we even still remember we wanted it by the time we get home, it usually makes its way to the next list.

We’ve been able to filter out most superfluous items this way and curb impulse buys at the same time.

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