I hate throwing anything away – in case it comes in useful! it rarely does and I have a fear I will turn into my mother-in-law, and lovely and loving lady that she was she did keep every paper-bag she received, ironed and put away in a drawer, dead hearing-aid batteries and the knobbly buttons from suspender belts! I still find it difficult to throw away margarine tubs, those flimsy bags you put fruit and vegetables in at the green-grocers, empty bread bags (for sandwiches) the inners from cereal packets (freezer bags)…
It’s the same in the kitchen with food. I scrape ever last fractions of an ounce of butter or jam from tubs and pots; I keep tiny amounts of left over dinner, I put strange things in the freezer in the hope that someone might eat them. I remind myself of my Aunty Beryl whose fridge was an Aladdin’s cave of strange and sometimes mouldering pots and bags of left-overs.
Our onions which have shot I’m using up even though they are small and not very strongly flavoured; I cook some of the stems too. I use the leaves and trimmings from celery… all in the pan!
And then just occasionally I do something to be economical and end up pleased with myself. Some time ago we bought some purple potatoes, a heritage variety which I think came from the Shetlands. They weren’t all eaten and about half a dozen of them began to chit, so rather than throw them in the compost bin, I planted them. I dug them up today…
http://www.heritage-potatoes.co.uk/shop.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=38
Lois Elsden 
Every time I clean up and dump stuff within two days I need an item for this or that and have to buy another one.
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The other thing that happens is that you lose something, buy a replacement and lo and behold, there’s the original in the place it should be and where you looked a dozen times!
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Sounds too familiar. I’ve done the potato thing but they weren’t purple. Just wondering what to do with half a dozen ‘bits’ to clear out the fridge before holiday. Seems to me there must be a short story in there somewhere for someone.
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My clearing-the-fridge-going-on-holiday trick is to cook everything up together and put it in the freezer… but forgetting to put a label on it… And that’s another story… defrosting something which you think is stewed apple and it’s avocado soup which no-one fancies…
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Oh, I save everything just like you. I hate waste, and about half of the items I save I ultimately use for something. Personally, I love those flimsy fruit/veggie bags because they are big enough to cover a whole plate of leftover pizza–that way I’m not wasting Saran wrap for one night of refrigeration covering, as pizza only stays ‘left over’ in my house for one night. They also fit over the mouths of large bowls of food (if you don’t have lids) which helps prevent the food from drying out. I just hate wasting Saran for one use.
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Me too! My aunty used to wash foodwrap (I’m guessing that’s what we call Saran) It used to lose it’s clingly-ness but she would still use it for wrapping sandwiches etc!
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I hate waste too – and we owe it to the planet NOT to be wasteful with anything but I think our culture has been encouraged to waste in the past because the government wants increased industry. The daft thing is industry will be going nowhere if there’s no planet!
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So true, Ross
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I hate waste – however I have noticed that I hold onto things much longer than I used to do and I don’t like it. I would forever giving books and clothes away to others and I had much more of a flow around my home. Now I hoard clothes and all sorts of things and I hate it but I’m worried if I might need them. Is it my age?
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I think I’, getting better at getting rid of things… or am I just kidding myself?!!
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That’s interesting – do you really think you are better at getting rid of things than you were when you were younger? Or are you simply joking? You’ve got me started now because I truly annoy myself with my clutter but there’s this slug thing in me which is resisting a massive clearing out. Help.
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I hope I have similar results–I threw my sprouters in a giant flower pot and covered them with soil.
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I hope so – ours were so tasty, better than the ones we had bought!
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