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The other day our family was out berry picking, and I stumbled upon a a great deal on strawberries. The farmer called them “jam strawberries”, which basically meant that they had been sitting out for a day or two, and were a bit squished from being in boxes or crates. They weren’t bad, they just didn’t look as nice as they do in the store.
I was thrilled to bring them home and get them ready to go in the freezer. The only challenge was that before I bought the 30 lbs of strawberries, I had just bought 30 lbs of raspberries (which are notoriously fussy and demand to be preserved rather quickly or else you will have raspberry soup on your hands).
I was a bit torn, but decided to attack the raspberries first, and somehow the day flew by and I still had 20 lbs of strawberries left to sit overnight. Oops.
The next morning I began my arduous task of gingerly pulling these somewhat mucked-up strawberries out of their enormous box, cutting off their stems, and then washing them so I could freeze them.
My challenge was this… I had to actually restrain myself from not just throwing half of them out into the “bad” berry bowl (which would end up in the garbage).
Sure, there were a few that genuinely deserved the honor of being tossed in. I found about 5 with just a touch of mold, and another good 10-15 that were just plain icky. No big deal.
The problem was that there were a whole lot of other berries that were admittedly a bit smooshed, mildly juicy, certainly not store-perfect or even particularly pretty. But were they actually bad? Bad enough to get rid of?
I really scrutinized and analyzed them for a while and finally I decided that I couldn’t come up with a single thing that was actually wrong with them. The only thing that could probably be said for them was that their imperfections offended my culturally-influenced concept of what “good” food ought to look like.
Shiny. Brightly colored. Completely firm. Beautifully shaped.
No bumps. No bruises. No odd or quirky shaped features. No imperfections.
We are blessed to live in a time and place where we can be so particular about our food. For many people throughout most other parts of the world, food is food, perfect or not.
I’m not saying that we shouldn’t have standards of a point when food is no longer suitable to consume. But I do think that we need to re-think what those standards are. Perhaps much of the food that lands in the garbage can wasn’t really so bad after all and could have been used creatively instead.
I decided to lighten up my expectations of what food ought to be, and welcome my smooshed and juicy and funny-looking berries into the “good” bowl.
It was the right decision. In reality, we will never notice the fact that they were a bit smooshed at the time of freezing. Once we use them in smoothies, ice cream, pancake syrup and other blended treats, all that we will notice is their pleasant sweetness.
I totally agree. After living in northern Africa for a while, my thoughts on keep or toss changed quite drastically. That being said, it’s really easy for me to slip into my American mindset of pristine produce or nothing. While we don’t waste a lot of food in our house, there’s a whole lot more that I end up passing by at the farmer’s market that really is completely edible.
Thanks for posting this. It’s something I needed to be reminded of and so easy to forget.
Thanks for this great post Stephanie. I couldn’t agree more…we in North American ARE most certainly culturally conditioned to waste because we are pre-conditioned to believe that good food needs to appear perfect. I believe this conditioning has come about at least in part because of the industrialization of food (food giant corporations). REAL food sometimes isn’t perfect…sometimes it has bug bites in it (leafy greens) or slug trails on it…fruit grown naturally is smaller, less perfect. But I have come to appreciate these imperfections, knowing that they mean the food is REAL.
Admittedly, we still waste food at times. When I clean out the fridge, there is still some leftover food I end up throwing away, inevitably. But, I’ve schooled myself to try to use wilting/going soft produce, even when I have been taught not to try to use anything in less than pristine condition. I’ll freeze it for soup or use it in a dish where the condition won’t matter so much. When I had kilos and kilos of ataulfo mangoes going soft on me, and they were really too sour to eat anyway, I decided to turn them into mango butter. It turned out to be delicious! And typically, what I can’t use goes into the compost bin, so at least, if we don’t eat it, we return it to the earth where it does good and not to the landfill where it only does harm.
By the way, I’d love to know where you pick your berries. I’ve been trying to find organic or unsprayed farms that offer u-pick in the GVRD but haven’t found any very nearby.
Great post, I agree and you reminded me to think twice before dumping in the bowl for the animals.
I TOTALLY agree!
And I TOTALLY admit to being a food waster!!! I am so guilty!!! An d I HATE it! I need to get OVER these stupid “standards” and eat what is PLAINLY still edible!
AWESOME post! Thanks for sharing!
This makes me think of the line in the song “Big Yellow Taxi,” where they sing “I don’t care ’bout no spots on my apples, leave me the birds and the bees.”
We’re so used to seeing perfectly identical, genetically modified produce lining the shelves its kinda a shock to see ones that look out of what we think is “ordinary!”
.-= Kait Palmer´s last blog ..All Duct Up =-.
I agree totally. I think there is a quote in the front of my “more with less cookbook” that goes something like this: someone says that a ripe guava has worms. The hungry person says “let me see”.
It saddens me how much the grocery stores throw out. I used to work in a health food store many many years ago and we had to literally throw out day old bread. No, it wasn’t taken to someone who could use it, and yes, we did ask if we could. Today at the grocery store I got up the nerve to ask about if the almost at dates (two days away) milk was ever discounted and they said no, they have to throw it out, its company policy (interestingly enough its the same chain that I think you, Stephanie, get lots of discounted milk for yogurt). THey also no longer discount things at my store which they do discount (produce mainly) the same way they used to. About a year ago they switched to 50% off…not .99 cents anymore. More food gets wasted this way, but they think they are making more money I guess. I usually pass it up since its not a good deal especially if its a chance whether the item is still mostly good.
Don’t garbage bad food, at least COMPOST it!
Yes, of course compost! By garbage or huck I simply mean get rid of and not eat.
Great post!
I try to cut the mouldy bits off of vegetables and use the rest. Although if a piece of fruit has any rot I tend to feed the whole fruit to my worm farm because I’ve found the rotten taste usually spreads.
I chuck overripe bananas in the freezer to use later in baking; and overripe apples get cooked up for apple crumble.
I also use Tupperware Fridgesmart containers to store my vegetables in the fridge and this keeps them crisp so much longer than just storing them in the vegetable draw.
I have backyard chickens, dogs, and compost. I throw much less away.
My biggest mistake is giving my children portions that are too large. I constantly have to remind myself they can always have more
Thanks for posting. After I read this yesterday, I made a concerted effort to stop by our grocer’s “day old” / “Less than perfect” section for produce. I found so gems that others overlooked. Apples with a few less-than-perfect spots were turned into yummy, tummy-soothing (ginger) applesauce. Super juicy (somewhat bruised) peaches were turned into smoothies (and frozen) or chopped into chunks and frozen for use later in the fall. All the produce cost me under $3, and I had a blast in the kitchen, coming up with the ideas for my finds. Thanks again for reminding me to try new ways to be frugal. I’m having so much fun on this journey.
What a good testimonial of how you can save money and come up with wonderful, whole foods for your family by being less picky! Thanks for sharing, Kristy!
An intelligent answer – no BS – which makes a plsaaent change
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We ran into this when we started keeping laying hens. The eggs we collected were not all “grade A!” Imagine that . . . not every hen lays a “perfect” egg every time – shocking! Some have bumps on the shell or some weird looking (but harmless) spots on the inside or are strangely shaped or whatever.
It took my whole family a while to get used to that. How silly, though, when thought about properly.
A great post, Stephanie.
Hi Stephanie,
I hope that you are getting settled in well. I have to agree with you. I have really tried to be careful about what I throw out recently. I actually read an article the other day that said 40% of the food that people buy they end up throwing out. I was shocked to hear that. We usually don’t have to throw anything out because our chickens, guineas and ducks are happy to eat our food. However, I have tried to be more careful. If I only have a couple of spoonfuls of beans, I try to freeze them with my other left over veggies for soup later. Plus, since I garden organically I know that healthy, organic food doesn’t always look perfect, but it is definitely good for you. I almost prefer the non perfect looking food even if I have to wash bugs off because I know it wasn’t covered in pesticide first. (-:
I agree about preferring non-perfect food now!
I’ll never forget the day I was making an apple cake with two Russian girls and their grandma (in Russia). I watched them eat the peals and then was stopped before I threw out the cores, and then I watched them eat the cores and spit out the seeds. Clearly they didn’t ever get fresh fruit and they weren’t going to let a speck of it go to waste.
That’s what canning, etc. is for. And the freezer! Love putting up berries in the freezer for smoothies, etc. Strawberry freezer jam is also to die for.
The other day I asked the produce manager at my local health and produce store if I could buy the produce they couldn’t put on the shelves so I could dry it and make fruit leather. I was told they had a contract with the zoo and they couldn’t sell to me anyway, since it was too big a liability. Just this side of too ripe fruit is a liability???? Crazy.
.-= Ella´s last blog ..Chicken and Broccoli Pasta Salad =-.
I admit, I waste a lot of food. I have a tendency to buy too many veggies that we don’t get around to eating. And also making INCREDIBLY large dishes for our small family (I don’t usually follow recipes when I cook!)
I am trying to get better. I will save extra cooked food to reuse into something else. I have my moments that the veggies get all eaten. Part of my problem is telling when something is going to be still usable and when it’s completely wasted. For example, I would have tossed out a lot of those strawberries thinking they were no good. I have no problem saving the smooshy ones, but how do you tell if it’s just smooshy or is starting to taste bad?
This is so very, very true.
I have found that since we have begun focusing on real food, I am careful to waste less because our food costs so much! Thank you for the encouragement to be mindful in this, Stephanie.
.-= Megan at SortaCrunchy´s last blog ..Links for 2010-07-20 delicious =-.
Stephanie thank you for this inspiration! After reading your article, I was brave enough yesterday to recognize an opportunity while buying peaches. I posted about my free half crate of “imperfect” peaches here. Thanks again
http://muminbloom.blogspot.com/2010/07/i-got-free-peaches.html
.-= Sarah @ Mum In Bloom´s last blog ..I got free peaches! =-.