Blog for all health-conscious: Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy What to do With Wilting Greens

Friday 25 May 2012

Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy What to do With Wilting Greens

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Posted: 24 May 2012 06:35 PM PDT

One of my biggest pet peeves is throwing away food. I could kick myself every time I dump food down the drain or in the trash: it’s just a complete and total waste! And I hate waste. Which is why I am so thrilled to link up to The Frugal Girl on her weekly feature where she posts a picture of all the food she had to throw away for the week, and invites other bloggers to do the same. The idea is to feel some accountability – who wants to admit they threw away all that money to the whole world? – to help you avoid throwing away food in the future.

So in the picture above, you see what I threw away this week:

half a carton of buttermilk (Expired May 2! Oops.)
a few pieces of leftover coconut cream fudge that were, um, a couple weeks old (at least)

This is unfortunately only part of the story. I was gone all last week because my dad had open heart surgery (amazing how the body can heal from such a thing!) and the guys were left to fend for themselves. (Not entirely true: I made most of their food ahead of time, or otherwise planned easy-to-fix meals.) Since I am generally the one who manages the food inventory, nobody else paid attention to the various and sundry containers lying around the refrigerator. When I got home, I did have to throw away a few things that had escaped everyone else’s notice.

One thing I managed to salvage was the remainder of a bag of mixed greens I had bought at the farmers’ market a week before I left. The greens were just starting to wilt; they weren’t yellowing or getting slimy, so they were still in decent shape. I picked out enough of the best leaves to make myself a delicious salad for lunch, and I stuck the rest in the freezer to throw into a future pot of broth.

So if you find yourself with an excess of greens – any kind, from arugula to spinach! – don’t dump them down the garbage disposal. Instead, inspect them briefly, and if they are only wilted (no slime or browned leaves), consider using them in any of the following ways:

steamed or sauteed (If you like that sort of thing. Me? No, thank you!)

chopped up and added to scrambled eggs, omelets, or frittatas

as toppings on a pizza

added to soup

used in broth

dehydrated (it doesn’t take long in a dehydrator, a couple hours at most) and crumbled into soups like you would herbs

What is your favorite use for wilting greens?

Those who plan menus generally tend to waste less food. Not into menu planning? You might want to read Stephanie Langford’s eBook, “Plan It, Don’t Panic” for inspiration. Right now, it’s on sale 25% off with the code CHALLENGE25, making it only $3.74. Or you can just go for a bundle of all 3 of her books at 50% off (that’s only $19!) with the code BUNDLE50!

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