Food waste Friday and challenge week Day 5

Filed in Blog by on October 9, 2009 10 Comments
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Tomatoes from the greenhouse

Tomatoes from the greenhouse

We’re doing great!

I just read back over my last food waste Friday posts and it’s definitely time to celebrate here at zero waste towers.

Yesterday was straight forward on the food stakes – and to be honest this is what annoys me most about myself. Once I set myself the awareness and the challenge I can do it easily and that’s the frustrating part.

Why not do it easily every week?

Why not put a stop to food waste forever with a little more time and care. It benefits me too because I save money!

Anyway, enough of the beating myself up and on to the good stuff.

Yesterday’s breakfast was apple, banana and custard

Lunch was left over vegetable soup with fresh soda bread (I’d run out of bread flour and decided to use up some other stocks of flour. Let’s face it, you can pretty much get away with any old flour for soda bread) and of course, guacamole to use up the avocado and one of the lemons!

Little Miss Green was out at tea time and took a picnic with her – she had soda bread sandwiches, a few crisps, mango and raisins and some home made biscuits. I popped down to the greenhouse and saw we still had loads of tomatoes on the vine. The nights are getting much colder so I decided to do a little experiment in the kitchen:

TADA!

home made tomato ketchupYes, my very own tomato ketchup -I’m feeling very virtuous this week!

And regarding food waste for this week – we don’t have any; yipee!

How have you got on; have you created any new recipes to use up your food waste this week?

If you blog about your food waste, remember to pop over to Kristen’s Frugal Girl to tell her all about it!

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About the Author ()

I am a long time supporter of the Green and Sustainable lifestyle. After being caught in the Boscastle floods in 2004, our family begun a journey to respect and promote the importance of Earth's fragile ecosystem, that focussed on reducing waste. Inspired by the beauty and resourcefulness of this wonderful planet, I have published numerous magazine articles on green issues and the author of four books.

Comments (10)

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  1. Bonjour Mrs. Green! What recipe did you use to make the ketchup? I’m very interested. And congratulations on your excellent challenge week!

  2. Alea says:

    You have had a fantastic week with lots of delcious meals.

    I am still trying to use up my tomatoes (have had to toss some). I would love to know how you made your ketchup! I am paying way too much for organic, HFCS-free ketchup.

  3. Mrs Green says:

    @SavvyChristine: Hi Christine and Alea. I wrote a confession on Alea’s blog this morning! I have turned this house upside down looking for the scrap of tomato splashed paper I wrote this recipe on. I had a piece of paper and pencil next to me as I was cooking and jotted things down as and when – but you can guess the rest of the story.

    I’m very annoyed with myself as my two loved it and I’m eager to make more. I know it had onions, peppers, tomatoes, agave syrup, cider vinegar, tamari sauce (soy sauce), with cinamon, allspice, paprika and garlic with mustard I think. but as to the quantities I have no idea. Sign

    I will keep looking and post it up if I find it …

  4. LJayne says:

    My husband declared our green cone “dead for the winter” this morning lol. I don’t know what we’ve done wrong because we tested the drainage as per instructions when we installed it, but it has never worked totally accurately.

    Anyway that means only compost ingreds can now be kept and I have to work on the throw away stuff that has been going in the green cone. Some of it will be difficult, I have 3 small children whose appetites fluctuate A LOT! I guess leftovers for lunch is going to become more of a scene in our house.

    Well done Mrs Green.

  5. John Costigane says:

    @LJayne: The winter slows down the Bokashi as well but it still can process meat waste etc, but the Green Cone is outdoor and open to the full chill. Are there no instructions for winter usage?

  6. sandy says:

    I too would be interested in the green cone. adn where i can purchase one.

  7. Hazel says:

    I’ve never had a green cone, but I made my own ‘dog loo’ after reading instructions on the net. I’d rescued a (brand new) plastic dustbin from a skip (along with a new bag of gravel we needed to finish off our drive, an enormous unused plant pot the local reception class grew runner beans in, a bag of smart clothes and an as-new Barbie and Barbie bus/dresses etc. Not a huge Barbie fan, but honestly…) Anyway, I dug a large hole, sawed the bottom out of the bin, drilled some holes up the side and stuck it in said hole. Put a few bricks (rescued from nextdoors skip after drive work) in the bottom and voila! I add some water everyso often and some septic tank starter. You should add some soil occasionally too, but I don’t as the excavated soil is solid clay and the water I use is usually from the duck pond when I clean it out, so it’s liquid mud!
    Even better is that now I have a bokashi I use the liquid from that so I don’t have to buy any more septic tank stuff :o) Very satisfying!
    Not sure if it would work like a green cone, but it seems to be dealing with the dog poo. We have two largish dogs and there’s been no smell at all. (I dug it at the beginning of August). I’m slightly concerned about drainage as we are on clay, but we’ve had a couple of downpours with no flooding, so fingers crossed!

    Hazel

  8. Alea says:

    @Mrs Green: LOL, that sounds like me! I write what I do on scraps of paper, so that if it works I can replicate it. Then a little helper will come along and toss the paper into the recycling bin…

    I was wondering how you sweetened it. Knowing that you used agave is a big help. Thanks!

  9. Mrs Green says:

    @LJayne: Our compost heap slows right down in the Winter, so perhaps the green cone needs heat to activate it too? Can you wrap it in bubble wrap to try and get it going again?

    @sandy: Unfortunately the councils in the UK have just stopped selling composting bins and equipment, but you can contact green cone direct http://www.greencone.com/

    @Hazel: Sounds like a great solution to Ross’s question – thank you for sharing your experiences!

    @Alea: Hi Alea, I have now got a unit which is supposed to house all my bits of paper until I need them – fingers crossed!

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