Amanda C

Points Total

0 Today
0 This Week
220 Total

Participant Impact

up to

14

pounds of CO2

have been saved
up to

2

pounds

food waste prevented
up to

56

pounds

waste composted

Amanda 's Actions

Shopping

Stick to Your Grocery List

I will bring my grocery list that accounts for what I already have in my fridge and cupboards and only purchase the items on that list.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Planning

Take a Food Inventory

I will take a fridge and pantry inventory to stay up to date with what I have at home before I go grocery shopping.

COMPLETED 3
DAILY ACTIONS

Community

Start Organics Recycling

My household will sign up for organics recycling service or start using a drop-off site to compost food waste and food-soiled paper.

Completed
One-Time Action

Shopping

Scrutinize Deals

I will resist the suggestion to buy the quantity advertised on sale and only buy what I know I will eat.

COMPLETED 1
DAILY ACTION

Storage

Befriend Your Freezer

I will freeze 1 leftover food items or meals for later. The freezer is my food-waste-reduction friend!

Completed
One-Time Action

Storage

Create an Eat First Area

I will create an "Eat First" area in my fridge to prioritize food that needs to be used right away for my household of 1.

Uncompleted
One-Time Action

Storage

Properly Store Food

I will store food and organize my fridge based on best practices to prevent food from spoiling before it is used.

COMPLETED 0
DAILY ACTIONS

Storage

Be Smart About Food Labels

I will learn about food labels and not throw food out just based on date on the package, but instead check the smell and color to see if it has gone bad.

Uncompleted
One-Time Action

Feed

Amanda C 10/07/2020 12:11 PM

Successfully dropped off organics recycling. So cool that the city offers this! While it does mean food waste, it's good to know that it is being used for something and not just sitting in landfills.

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Reflection Question
Shopping Stick to Your Grocery List

What are some of the things you typically buy that you weren't on your list? How do you think you might limit some of those purchases?

Amanda C 10/07/2020 11:53 AM

I definitely struggle with wanting to buy everything I come across at the store. I think I'm typically in a mindset of 'well yea, I would eat that', when it should be about if I actually will be able to eat it (in time before going off, etc.). Just recently I realized if my list contains only that which I know will actually get eaten, then I will have everything that I need. I don't need to buy every possible thing! So- make the list make sense, and stick to the list.

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Reflection Question
Storage Befriend Your Freezer

Do a bit of research about foods that freeze and revive well. What can you put in the freezer that you didn't know you could?

Amanda C 9/28/2020 12:02 PM

Scraps to make veggie stock once I have enough!

I also cut up a cayenne pepper and froze that to throw into whatever!

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Amanda C 9/26/2020 11:46 AM

Ugh... I spent a good chunk of time preparing and roasting what seemed like a perfectly good butternut squash, only for it to come out tasting awful- very bitter. It was not especially old and looked totally fine, so must have just hit some hard weather / growing conditions. I've been having some bad luck with produce lately. I bought kale not too long ago that also looked totally fine, but tasted awful, again very bitter! I guess there's a chance it could just be me, but I've eaten other things without any issue and normally quite like bitter tasting things. It's really disappointing because this is food waste that is out of my control. Anyone else having issues with great-looking but awful-tasting produce?

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- Amanda C 9/28/2020 12:00 PM
  
  It is odd! I don't think so... all new or newish ingredients and everything else I've used has tasted fine. Hopefully just a one-off. I'm even storing things like I normally do and have no problems with.
  
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- Amy Maas 9/28/2020 11:46 AM
  
  Oh no! That is super disappointing, and odd. Did you use any of the same herbs/spices with those two dishes? I wonder if it was something else that went bad. Maybe you used an oil that went rancid? I have never had bad flavor from veggies that looked fine, only weird flavor or texture if butternut was looking spongey and I don't think I've ever had bad kale.
  
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Amanda C 9/24/2020 8:10 AM

In going through the inventory I wrote out I wrote down the reasons why I tossed some of the things I did. As I expected most of it was because I didn't have a clear plan for the produce. For example, I bought spinach to make a curry with, but didn't have the rest of the ingredients needed so it didn't work out. On my last shopping trip, I was careful to plan out how I would use the produce ahead of time and only purchased what I had a plan for. Hopefully it works!

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Amanda C 9/16/2020 11:39 AM

I have written out an inventory of all of the foods I've purchased so far this month and created a color coded system whereby I can cross things off as they are consumed or thrown away. This way I can see clearly what I am actually eating and what is getting thrown away. Unsurprisingly it's the things that I bought randomly with no plan for (or without the other proper ingredients for) that are getting tossed! My plan is to base future shops off of the 'green' items: things that have been fully consumed (not tossed or partially tossed).

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Reflection Question
Planning Take a Food Inventory

Are there food items you have been better about using up and not wasting since you started keeping an inventory of what's in your fridge?

Amanda C 9/15/2020 12:25 PM

This is a big change I need to make- have a plan for produce and don't just buy things because they sound good. I have a load of broccoli and kale and nothing to go with either of them. Thankfully they are both still good, but I need to get creative and quickly... I'm thinking kale chips and roasted broccoli. This doesn't really answer the reflection question but it's something I need to start thinking about more seriously!

To actually answer the question, I did prep all of the bok choy I bought so I was able to easily throw it in stir fries. None went to waste!

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- Kyle Samejima 9/16/2020 11:12 AM
  
  I need to start doing an inventory system and would love to hear how people are tracking their inventory.
  
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Reflection Question
Community Start Organics Recycling

What kind of organics recycling did you start and how is it going for your household?

Amanda C 9/15/2020 8:49 AM

I've been putting all of my scraps in compostable bags that I keep in the freezer. When my freezer drawers are full, I bring the bags to a local drop off point for organics recycling. Keeping everything in the freezer means no mess or smell and it's easy to transport as everything gets frozen together!

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