Learning what parts are edible has not only affected my cooking habits, but also has reshaped my opinion of produce in the grocery store. I treasure summer when I can get beets in season with the stalks and leaves still attached and now get bummed when the stalks/leaves aren't kept on the beets in a grocery store. Same thing with carrots and carrot tops!

Today's lesson: Sometimes preventing food waste means making a borderline bad meal and just dealing with it...

A quick meal for me is a sandwich and some finger food, whether fruit, veggies or chips. This is a nice no waste meal because I make and take just what I want, and not more.

I challenge you to post every day until the challenge is over! On your marks, get set, GO!

On a bike/walk last night I noticed two apple trees by the side of the road. I'd love to glean from them, but they are very hard to reach (high and set back on a bluff). The trees are noticeable because the fruit falls on the sidewalk, but by that time it's not good to eat.

Last night I threw away an entire English cucumber because it was moldy and mushy from sitting in my refrigerator too long, under other veggies.

Over the weekend I ordered nachos and wings at a restaurant. We couldn't eat is all in the time we had, so we took it all home, including wings, ranch dip, celery and nachos. I ate the nachos right away, but saved the rest: wings for tomorrow's lunch, ranch for dipping pea pods in. The olives were the only food scraps for composting. But, it all came home in a styrofoam container...

Tried storing carrots in water to prolong their freshness and learned a few valuable lessons. I left on vacation for a week and the carrots definitely started fermenting a bit during that time... I'll drain the water before a longer trip in the future. I found that peeling the carrots removes the outer layer that fermented and they have been fine to eat. The other important lesson I learned is that the carrots will plump up a bit in the water - I definitely packed my jars too tight and almost broke a fork trying to pry them out of the jar!