When in doubt...don't throw it out?

[MauEvig]

Found this interesting article on certain foods that we might throw away that we might think have gone bad...but turns out there are still good uses for them after all. I think the banana bread is the obvious one...and when I read it I almost thought they were implying to use the food waste in a compost for a garden (and that works too, technically you're not wasting it, you're letting the nutrients return to the Earth that way)

http://www.eatbydate.com/usable-trash-food/

I'll have to keep this in mind myself especially since in today's economy we always have to stretch our dollar.

[Murfreesboro]

That's a useful blog, although I have way too many coffee grounds to be making that much granita! Of course, I have heard that coffee grounds are excellent in gardens. I guess that would be especially true if the plants were a type that liked acidic soil.

I wonder about that law in Seattle--no food in the garbage, all of it in compost. But you can't use meat in a compost pile, can you? So what happens if you have left-over meat that goes bad?

[MauEvig]

Well since I use a keurig, I'd probably have the save the coffee crumbs from each little cup, and I think that would be a pain after a while. I think using them in gardening is a good idea.

Yeah that's an interesting point of view. It's really no good for anyone to use, I won't even give bad meat to my pets since it'll make them sick. Guess it's a good thing I don't live in Seattle.

[Murfreesboro]

I'm sympathetic to the movement to recycle/compost whatever we can--my husband and I pay for a recycling service to pick up lots of trash twice a month. But I am not keen on making everything required by law.

[MauEvig]

Same here, although I found myself recycling more when I lived up North, and I think that was partly because you'd have to pay a five cent deposit on pop cans. In Virginia you don't, so in the trash they go.

I have no idea what they'd use spoiled meat for myself. According to this article it can be used for compost...if buried right. http://www.motherearthnews.com/organic- ... z1311.aspx

[Murfreesboro]

That's a good article and common sensical, for the most part. My only point would be that I'd have to dig much deeper than I feel comfortable doing to bury meat, I think. Digging is hard work! The other thing--he mentions something called "humanure" that he used to get from some type of composting toilet system. But I thought it was way too easy to catch diseases from human waste? I know that occasionally we will hear about diseases getting spread through vegetables that have been fertilized in that way down in Mexico. So I would be leery of that advice.