Food Waste for the Week

I thought I was going to do so well but I forgot about some food I left in my call room in the hospital for the last several months...or years. The salsa had become a science project and the container of dehydrated "instant" chili had been there for years, waiting for a time when I would have forgotten to bring my meals from home and been unable to face the offerings in the cafeteria. (In 15 years of working in hospitals I have only eaten the food one time.) The "best by" date on the chili is 2/11/04!


So now there are absolutely no more skeletons in my pantry!

The other item is pizza dough that we made for dinner over a week ago. We were just starting to spread it out on the pan when G, our 3 1/2 year old son, asked for a piece. (When we visited friends in California they took us to a pizzeria that gave all the kids a piece of dough to play with at their tables - they had so much fun!) I gave him a small piece and he said, "No, I want that piece, please." pointing to the rest of the dough. I looked at D and said, "What do you think?" and he said, "What will we eat if he plays with the dough?" I said we had whole wheat pita pockets and could make a crust from them and he said, "Then give him the dough." I was curious about how long he would maintain interest in the dough and was quite surprised and delighted that he played with it for hours that night and has played with it almost every night since. (If you look at the picture of him from our party Saturday night you will see that he has a small ball of it in his hand.) It has finally gotten pretty hard and smelly so I will bake it up and give it to the chickens tomorrow. D doesn't think it should count as waste since it has provided a wonderful source of entertainment for G and only cost pennies (for the flour and a small amount of yeast), but I think it was *food* waste and we had to use up the pita to replace it, which also meant consumption of food energy before its intended time. I think it was a delightful use of the dough and completely worth it, I also think it is food waste. What do you think?

So there you have it! And again, I'm hoping for zero food waste next week.