Friday, November 5, 2010

Food Waste Friday: Moldy Chickpeas and Pumpkin Pie

Every Friday I post a photo and little story about food my family has wasted in the past week.  Why do I do this? To make a long (Jewish) story short, the mitzvah of bal tashchit (don't waste stuff) plus the Jewish value that G-d is HaZan et HaOlam (The One who provides enough food for all of His creatures) equals any food waste being a total slap in the face to both my tradition and HaShem. Not okay in my book.  This is my self-imposed accountability.

Woe and shame, shame and woe.  Three separate food wastes for three separate reasons.  Let's examine and learn the lessons they have to teach...

Kiddie Pasta. 
IMG_5076
 I cooked this for the boys one night and they barely touched it.  I served it to them for lunch the next day, and noses were upturned. I put it back in the fridge one more time so I could put it in front of them the requisite third time (I have a three-times-then-throw-out rule,) but totally forgot about it.
Lesson learned: Next time, cook less pasta.  This waste probably only amounted to $.50 or so, but it was still unnecessary.

Moldy Chickpeas.
IMG_5306
I cooked an entire pound of these a couple of weeks ago for inclusion in a chickpea-and-orzo dish and didn't use the whole pound.  David will usually snack on these, but for whatever reason these remained languishing in the fridge.  I wouldn't be surprised if they were waiting to become a snack for a month.
Lesson learned: Cook only half a bag of chickpeas at a time, or freeze them for hummus.  Again, about a $.50 waste, but still a shame.

Pumpkin Pie.
IMG_5329
This is probably without a doubt the saddest of the bunch.  Asher had some idea that he wanted to eat pumpkin pie after trick-or-treating, (yes, we trick-or-treated, and I don't think we're cofers, so let's just nip those comments in the bud right now!)  so I grabbed a frozen one since it was so much cheaper than the bakery version.  Turns out that it's tougher to cook a frozen pie appropriately, and it takes a lot longer, than I thought.  An hour and 15 minutes later we had a hot pumpkin pie (yuck!) and a disinterested boy.  The next morning, my rogue fork revealed a disgustingly undercooked crust.  I resolved to at least eat the outside edges and felt better.  The next morning, however, precarious food-stacking practices in the fridge landed this sucker on the floor, which marked its final pathetic end.
Lesson learned:  Just buy the pie from the bakery.   This one was a doozy - $5.79.  Oy, oy, oy.

6 comments:

  1. Ooh yes, I recognize the Lightscoop look! lol

    Bummer about the pie...I hate it when I waste expensive stuff.

    Kristen@TheFrugalGirl

    ReplyDelete
  2. I've got to start doing Bal Tashchit Fridays too! Actually I think I would have written almost the identical post (including casualties of the three-times then toss rule). I love what your explanation of why you're doing this - a big "me too."

    ReplyDelete
  3. Ahh...that pie story is heart-breaking! I hate it when I something new and it fails!

    A trick I've tried with left-over pasta that my daughter's not interested in is baking it. I throw in some grated mozzarella and sprinkle more on top in individual sized baking dishes. I put it in my convection toaster oven for about 10 minutes, and she eats it! It's kept plenty of pasta out of my trash can, but I don't know if it would meet any special dietary goals in your household.

    Happy Food Waste Friday,
    Renee

    ReplyDelete
  4. I try to re-purpose pasta, too. Sometimes I'll throw it in a soup I'm making or add it to a casserole.

    I don't always use it up in time though.

    Sorry about your pie! That is sad it didn't turn out. I would suggest you try making your own pumpkin pie sometime! It's not terribly hard and it's cheaper than buying a pre-made one.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Try this if you make too many chickpeas. It will probably be a hit in your home:

    http://www.ecurry.com/blog/starters-snacks/fried-chickpeas-or-ceci-frito/

    ReplyDelete
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