#Stillgood Decluttering Archives - Eco Thrifty Living

Week 3 of the #stillgood decluttering challenge

Zoe — Mon, 20 Mar 2017 08:00:00 +0000

We are heading into the 3rd week of the #stillgood decluttering challenge and this week the focus is on the freezer! It’s time to dig out those icy relics and use them up! If you know you will never use them give them away or consign them to the compost and try to get a system in place so you don’t forget about your freezer foods again!

Last week was all about decluttering our long life store cupboard foods, like baking ingredients, herbs and spices, tins and cans. Did you join in? What did you find and what did you use up?

I am pretty on top of the store cupboard situation. I do need to make better use of my spices though as there are some that I don’t use. I found some oatcakes that had been crushed at the bottom of a bag and I had put in the cupboard to use at some point but hadn’t worked out what to do with them. I asked the members of the Reduce your food waste Facebook group for suggestions of what to do with them and they had some great ideas:

Cheese cake base – sweet or savoury!
Crumble topping on an apple or vegetable crumble.
In a nut roast
Use instead of breadcrumbs in meatballs or burgers
Add to falafels

I really liked the idea of making a savoury cheesecake or savoury crumble, but I already had some mince in the fridge and so it made sense to make meatballs with them (see my meatball recipe here – I substituted the breadcrumbs for the crushed oatcakes and used dried herbs instead of fresh ones). They actually tasted really good, so if I ever have a crushed oat cake problem again I know what to do with them.

Come and join in with our #stillgood decluttering challenge over in the Reduce your food waste Facebook group or comment below on how it is going for you! Hope you all have a great week!

Coming soon – look out for my blog post on Thursday about why we have decided to make the switch to Oct opus Energy (affiliate link – this won’t cost you any extra to use, but if you click through and sign up I will make a small commission and you will help to support the blog – thanks!).

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Week 2 of the #stillgood decluttering challenge!

Zoe — Mon, 13 Mar 2017 07:32:00 +0000

Last week was the start of the #stillgood decluttering challenge and the plan was to declutter our drinks cupboards, work out what was #stillgood, what had to go and what needed using up! Did you take part? How did it go for you? I found three very out of date drinks including a carton of orange juice, a can of beer and a bottle of sparkling wine. I had been saving the sparkling wine for a special occasion and although sparkling wine doesn’t go off, it didn’t taste nice. The beer didn’t taste good either and I didn’t want to risk trying the orange juice. The juice and beer went down the sink and I’m going to have a go at making vinegar with the sparkling wine. I did try combining it with some (in date) juice, but it didn’t help sadly. I learned that champagne/ sparkling wine should be stored lying down (to keep the cork from drying out) and at a continuous cool temperature to prolong it’s life. I hadn’t done either of those things :(. On the upside I had, had a really good clear out of our tea and coffee cupboard a while ago and didn’t find anything to declutter in there!

We have had some bottles of spirits, some full and some with a tiny bit left in the bottom of the bottle, which have been untouched for years and years and I wanted them out the cupboard so that we can use it for other things. They were all fine, but they were either brought back from holidays as souvenirs and never opened or left at our house by visitors from long ago parties (in those far away days before we had kids). I used up some vodka and bacardi by pouring them into an old cleaned out olive oil bottle and added some vanilla pods. I’m hoping that we will have vanilla extract in a couple of months! Some of the spirits I am going to give away and some we will keep because we know they will get drunk eventually.

This week the focus of the decluttering is going to be on checking the dried, tinned and canned goods (including herbs, spices and baking ingredients) in our cupboards and using up the things that need using up! It would be great if you joined in and if you want to chat about it with others online, join in with the event in the Reduce your food waste Facebook group – hope to see you there!

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Take the #stillgood decluttering challenge!

Zoe — Thu, 02 Mar 2017 08:00:00 +0000

When was the last time you had a good rummage around your food and drink supplies to see what needs using up and what needs to go?

This month I am setting you the challenge of having a good clear out and working out what is #stillgood! Hopefully the challenge will save you some money, stop food being wasted and relieve all that poor food that has been stuck in the same position for so long

Some things will last years past their best before date, but if you have stuff languishing in the back of a cupboard that you are never going to eat or drink, you could free up some space and give it away. Otherwise make a plan to use them up! If something is past its use by date, doesn’t smell or look good, or if you see any mould, don’t take any risks – compost it or if you can’t do that, bin it.

Starting on Monday 6th March, the areas to be tackled are:

Week 1: drinks – both dried and in liquid form e.g. tea, coffee, alcohol, juice and so on.

Week 2: tins, jars and dried goods e.g. flour, rice, pasta, herbs, spices.

Week 3: Freezer foods and/or the condiments in your fridge

Week 4: The food you keep outside your kitchen – e.g. in your office drawer, in your car, your secret stash of munchies

Join in with the challenge with others in the Reduce your food waste Facebook group or on Twitter or Instagram using the hashtag #stillgood. Each week post a picture of the things you find that are past their best before date but still good to eat or drink.

Thanks to Anna from Rosie’s Ecoblog for suggesting the hashtag #stillgood!

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