ChrisSpark's Journal, 04 Jul 14

Way to go, great!!! You can do it Chris. 

Thanks C67241 ! 

good job! keep it up!! there are just two in our household. i used to shop more often so that we could get a variety without it going bad. 

You have made a very good start. I buy a lot of vegetables, whatever is in season and cheap. I prepare it all on the same day by batch cooking and/or blanching the vegetables and freezing them in portions. Half a day of intensive food preparation makes the rest of my week much easier. I hope this helps you. 

Thanks for the suggestions Gnewfry and ForJandM...I have been freezing fruits and vegetables and that is helping. Shopping more often, sadly, is not an option just now but hopefully we will get a farmer's market in town soon and that will help a lot. Cheers! 

Alrighty!!! We got a Winner here. Great job Chris. 

Thanks C67241 ! I surely am trying. :-)  

I hear you about food going bad, especially vegetables and the greens I find are the first to go...spinach, kale, mixed greens, arugula etc.. man they hate air because as soon as you open them BAM its like how fast can we rot... there is only myself and my husband so we try to shop regular but even then we seem to throw out constantly.... The good thing is I do not allow sugar or flour into my home... I find Atkins has an amazing variety of food recipes and try to find something I like which will give more food choices.... you are doing well with your plans, keep up the good job... :) 

freezing is good. i am not up for shopping more anymore. i think i'm going to head to the farmer's market this week. we moved last year so i had to find a new one. i guess i will see on wednesday how it is. i always buy too much at those though. you can't freeze those leafy veggies, can you? that's what we have the most trouble with. and i am about to go check to see if our broccoli has gone bad. if we don't see something in the fridge right away, we totally forget about it. the broccoli was on the bottom of the asparagus. oh, the broccoli is fine. we'll probably eat that tomorrow before we forget about it again. keep up the good work! 

Thanks Re-energize...I have found some success with separating, washing and drying the greens and storing them in a closed container with some paper towel on the bottom to absorb additional moisture. Bonus - With them pre-washed and ready to go I find I eat them more often too. :-)  

Hi Chris. I also have trouble with the whole natural foods spoiling before I get to eat them. I usually just eat the same meals every day until it's time for food shopping again. In some ways it's great because I can count my calories before I even eat them. So when I buy a head of broccoli- that's what I eat until it's gone... It helps me save up for special treats that I should avoid- like a beer by the pool. 

Hi Gnewfry...I have found you can buy frozen spinach and I think you might find kale and broccoli too. It might be more expensive that way but I think with all I would end up throwing out that it works out cheaper in the end. I live in an apartment with a small fridge, so not a lot of room to freeze things according to some instructions which say to lay them out on a cookie sheet to freeze and then bag...no room. I recently followed the suggestions on the internet for freezing garlic and ginger by mincing them and freezing them in ice cube trays (I bought some expressly for this purpose so flavors wouldn't transfer to my ice) and then storing them in the freezer in ziploc bags. Makes handy little single recipe pieces ! I can just take out a "ginger cube" and throw it in my smoothies. The frozen spinach comes in handy little "pucks" that you can use the same way. 

I don't know if you heard of "Green Bags," it helps keep produce from spoiling. It keeps out the so called "gases" that the fruit and veggies emit. They can be found in Walmart and most Supermarkets. That may help you hold on to your produce a bit longer. It usually keeps stuff good for 7 days. 

Used the "green bags" myself and found that they do what they claim they do. I'vd saved a lot of money avoiding spoiled vegies. 

the bags work great! 

Oh thanks for the reminder C67241 and for the endorsements alphabitch60 and Margaleona ! I had heard about the green bags but completely forgotten about them. Will try to pick some up and try them out.