A Silly Question....Don't Laugh!

[Scooterjam]

Good Day Friends!!

It's your goodbuddy Scooter here. Back with a silly question.

When you all do your shopping do you find that you have to make a couple trips a week to the grcoery? I've been buying like a 3 pound bag of mixed lettuce (the dole brand) and it's going bad before I can get it all used up. Hey I like salad as much as the next guy, but yikes! Same thing with Mushrooms, Peppers, Cucumbers, Herbs....they are all going bad before I can use them all! My bacon, same thing, I don't eat bacon that often....and I'm trying to use the Nitrate free stuff, but it goes bad before I can eat it all!!

I am married, but my wife is blessed with never gaining weight. She eats what she wants and never puts on a pound! Go figure. So I'm the only one in the house eating this way!

What do you all do to preserve everything. It's funny....I never had a problem like this when I ate bad.... hahaha...everything was in a bag, chalked full of preservatives and bad carbs!!

Don't worry, it's not tempting me....I love eating this way. So many new discoveries that I never realized how good they were! So many new things to try later too! Anyway, I know everybody has things to do, I was just hoping you might have a comment or two to share!

Thanks again,

Scooter





44 Year Old Male
Start Date: 04/17/06
Start Weight: 295 lbs.
Current Weight: 261 lbs.













I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

“Self-Pity” - D. H. Lawrence

[Barbde]

I have been shopping more often, and buying less at a time. I was having the same problem with throwing stuff out. This seems to work out better for me. And then too, I know the food is fresh. As far as bacon, you can freeze that, you know? I always keep breakfast meats in the freezer. Gotta have my breakfast!!

[aggie]

Yeah... pretty much have to make at least two trips to the store each week scooter. Its a pain but worth it. At least I've found I save time because I'm just doing the outside aisles now. This is good, right?

[Tired of Chub]

I hit my local farmers market on saturday and my regular grocer on fridays. Im the only one in my house hold so I understand about food concerns. I buy only what I need for the week when it comes to fresh veggies. a head of lettuce will last me two weeks. A big bag of spinach from teh farmers market lasts 2 weeks. Try to buy smaller amounts of your produce and see if that works for you. dont be afraid to freeze things either! green peppers can be frozen and keep decently. (cut them up and seal in an airtight bag- either a flavor seal shrinky thing or get as much air as possible out of a ziplock) spinach is great frozen and then cooked. Bacon can be portioned out into serving sizes and frozen. Just grab a packet when you want bacon and you are good to go.

[msnicksmom]

Me too. And I don't have TIME to go that often. I did invest in brand name Tupperware, they make a fridge smart product that can literally double your produce life. I also freeze what makes sense, make hot dish recipes from Linda's when they are on the verge of having to be thrown out. It gets trickier still when you get to the fruit rung, so good for you for wanting to find solution now.

And congrats on your progress! Can't wait to hear you go on!

[changing]

I buy the "spring mix" that has the darker green salad greens (arugala, endive, radicchio, etc.) partly because they last longer; of course, there's always the healthy, cool-tasting factor, but yeah, length of freshness definitely factors in. We buy a pound at a time maximum because there's only 2 of us at home. When I bring home meat, I tend to cook a lot of it up because I find it gets eaten faster and doesn't go bad as fast that way. The rest goes into the freezer. Maybe if you cook the nitrate-free bacon up you'll find yourself crumbling it on salads? I've found that cabbage and zucchini tend to last a while and I eat a lot of pumpkin, which I buy canned, so that really lasts. And speaking of canned, I try to have canned tuna, ham, and chicken on hand because they are so convenient and long-lasting... same with my dozen boiled eggs. I boil a dozen at a time and leave them right in the shell because they last longer that way. If I'm making something special and glamorous, I usually go right to the store to buy the ingredients (unless I've stumbled upon an awesome sale at a regular shopping trip) and make it right when I get home. I also eat a lot of frozen and a few canned veggies, which have a bad rap but are actually not vastly inferior to fresh as they are often flash frozen or flash canned right after picking and therefore retain a lot of nutrients. My routine shopping is a once a week deal, but we make a special dinner for my inlaws once a week as well and we always make a special trip for that.

You'll find the rhythm that works for you, just need to keep experimenting.

[not2late]

I don't eat bacon frequently either and when I do it's more to flavor something (like green beans cooked with bacon). I store my bacon in the freezer and just defrost it whenever I need it. If you want to be really organized, you can divide it up into individual servings then freeze that. I haven't tried it, but I don't see why it wouldn't work: separate the bacon into slices, put in a single layer on a baking sheet, freeze until solid, then pop off the frozen bacon strips and store in a plastic bag in the freezer. Then you could remove a slice whenever you want it.

For veggies, I've found that whole veggies store much better than the pre-cut or sliced ones. Yeah, the pre-sliced things are more convenient, but they tend to be alittle more expensive per pound and if they end up rotting in your frig, then you're really losing money.

Oh and be sure to keep these veggies in the vegetable compartment of your frig because the veggie compartment is designed for better air circulation and keeps the temps more for veggies.

[Scooterjam]

Wow....alot of common sense stuff if I really thought about it! I guess I need to find some nice tupperware containers instead of the cheapy ones...this is a life long commitment anyway! Might as well get busy with it!

Thank you so much for your answers!
Scooter

44 Year Old Male
Start Date: 04/17/06
Start Weight: 295 lbs.
Current Weight: 261 lbs.













I never saw a wild thing sorry for itself.
A small bird will drop frozen dead from a bough
without ever having felt sorry for itself.

“Self-Pity” - D. H. Lawrence

[ValidRouge]

Hey Scooter, I found a good solution to helping the bagged salad mixes fresher a little longer....once you open the bag, (and even before if its not vacuum packed) condensation starts to build up. The moisture then causes the lettuce to spoil. Once the bag is opened, put paper towels on each side of the bag (with the lettuce between) this will absorb the moisture and your lettuce won't go bad quite so easily.

I just always freeze my bacon. I use it like megs, mostly to season veggies. So, when I need it, I pull it out frozen, cut it across the strips into dices and then throw in the pan. It'll thaw and fry up pretty quick. If you're trying to keep it in strips, I like the one idea of individually freezing it.

[prissy]

Hey there Scooter – I see this is an older thread, but I just started lurking over here in OWL and I have much the same problem. Anyway, try freezing your bacon cooked, it’s so convenient. Actually freezing other meats cooked is great too . . . like chicken breast for salads.

I think I’m going to try the Tupperware things for fresh vegetables. Oh, another thing . . . when you do buy frozen vegetables move them to your own labeled freezer bags and they will last a lot longer in the freezer.

Great question!