A Waste Of Food
And here was me thinking I had gotten on top of this pantry of mine. Yesterday I decided to check my staples as a way of eventually keeping my grocery bill down, I took everything off of the shelves washed then down and put all my flour, sugar, cereals and pasta into containers in fact anything which was loose in now in labeled containers.
So why am I so angry ? Because I found dessicated coconut which was about a year out of date I found Porridge oats which had passed there use by date and I also found sultanas which I could have used in my scones the other day hidden away at the back of a shelf which I keep my little used electrical appliances on. So what is going on there ??? Has the pantry imp been up to mischief again or is it the two women in the same kitchen scenario ?
Whatever it was that caused me to throw unused food into the bin I am not happy about, got to keep a tighter rein on what is happening in my own kitchen....
I have nothing to report on the financial front as I have spent most of the last couple of days in the garden weeding and repotting. My Herbs are doing so well in the spot I have put them in and my Veg. although growing well is getting eaten especially my cabbage leaves. I want to keep this garden as organic as possible so if you know of a way of keeping my veg from getting eaten please let me know.
Yesterday blogger was playing up really badly for me and it has been a couple of days now since I was able to post, so I have had to put my blogger interface back to the old original settings just to get my dashboard to work, how frustrating is that. Although I found out that this was my problem by googling the error number I kept getting and I ended up in a chatroom where this seemed to be a problem affecting a lot of bloggers, so if this is an issue for you try going into your dashboard and clicking on the little gear icon top right of your page and clicking on the original interface setting. Although I am still finding I cannot highlight any of my words so I cannot change sizes colours or font Grrrrrrr
Off now to do a little grocery shop, hoping to catch up with the baby tomorrow, see you all around...
Try putting a leg of worn out pantyhose over top. It also works on broccoli, cauliflower and some other head type vegies. Partially fill a buck with water and a bit of tobacco (if you can get a cigarette or two off someone who smokes)then hand harvest the bugs and dump them in the mixture. The tobacco stuns them long enough till they drown. Try companion planting - there are some really good books out there about that subject. Also try planting various types of flowers in with the veggies. Soem like marigolds will keep the bugs away, while others will attract the bugs and the bugs will in turn leave the veggies alone. Hope this helps. We use these methods in Canada. Jean
ReplyDeleteJean thanks so much for such a comprehensive comment, I will try and scrounge some pantyhose off my neighboursIi myself hav'nt worn them in over twenty years....
ReplyDeleteApparently garlic will keep many pests away too, though I've never tried it myself. Either planting garlic near the plants you want to protect, or whizzing a few cloves up in a food processor with water to make a garlic spray. I've also heard chilli can be good for this also.
ReplyDeleteDon't you just hate wasting food? At least you're onto it now and can keep an eye on things. Nothing nicer than a well organised (and stocked!) pantry :-)
Thanks for the tips i haveplenty of garlic so maybe this will be the answer I am looking for.
ReplyDeleteNow that I am baking and making all my food from scratch a full pantry is going to be a godsend....
How nice to have a clean pantry, healthy herbs and a growing garden. I wouldn't be too hard on yourself - sounds like there wasn't much out of date and you are now all organized.
ReplyDeleteI am pretty organised, so from now on in there should be no unexpected surprises like last week when i went to make my chocolate cake and I had 1 egg and the recipe calls for 2. Maybe hens might be a good idea for the garden....
ReplyDeleteTruthfully I think there is a troll that lives in my cabinets and hides food that I am looking for or is close to it exp date! I cleaned mine out the other day so I am hoping it stays this way for awhile
ReplyDeleteJudy
So it's not an imp it's a troll, that explains everything....
ReplyDeleteYour post made me sigh because it's been quite a while since I've been to the BACK of my pantry. I think it's a natural tendency to use up what we can SEE and not explore and use what you can't see.
ReplyDeleteI remember when i was doing some baking for Christmas and bought icing sugar for my shortbread cookies...when I put the bag away I found THREE more bags of icing sugar that I hadn't used!!! Talk about feeling stupid. And I have no one to blame but myself!