As of late my household has been going through a spell of purchasing pricey high grade produce and then letting it spoil before throwing it out.
This bothers me greatly, having been raised that one should not waste food.
I suggest a program whereby participants loiter in the produce department of the grocery store until they see someone about to buy a tomato.
Participants would then approach the would be salad maker and give them the price of the tomato.
I would spend no more money, hopefully it would not be wasted, and I would be spared the anguish of watching it spoil and having to throw it out.
I have yet to decide on badges or secret handsigns as evidence of participation.-- normzone, Sep 11 2008 disappointment. i expected the exchanging of produce possibly proposed in the form of an anarco-cooperative or vegetable union. This craving to relieve your vegital guilt by giving your money to strangers is very concerning. (-)-- WcW, Sep 11 2008 I can send you some tomato recipes.-- phoenix, Sep 11 2008 Raw is good, but I'll pass on veganism. I've seen the long term results. It's alright if you are successful in the battle to get enough proteins.-- normzone, Sep 11 2008 I have known vegans who vehemently asserted that they felt great when they were hospitalized for severe malnutrition. "My hair was falling out BUT I FELT GREAT!" Frankly i find that a little scary.-- WcW, Sep 12 2008 the point is more it doesn't work for every-body. Differences in metabolism, genetic and epigenetic history, age and gender are all factors in how a diet will treat you. furthermore suggesting that you have genetic superiority is something best left to historians, or zoologists of an alien race. Please have as many children as you can.-- WcW, Sep 12 2008 Alternatively you could feed the rotting vegetables to a pig, and then later on, eat the pig.-- mylodon, Sep 13 2008 I've looked into it, but my apartment complex has other ideas.-- normzone, Sep 13 2008 I try to do the veggie thing every once-in-a-while but after a couple days the little voices in my head start conspiring against me... I start craving carbs then a few days more and maybe a little fish wouldn't hurt, a week after that it's chicken and did you know that you can buy entire cows ?
On the other hand I have a very nice (though expensive) compost heap.-- FlyingToaster, Sep 16 2008 My approach is not to use a fridge and to shop for perishables locally. Paradoxically, not having the option of long-term storage makes it natural to buy only what I will use that day or the next, so I almost never throw away food. Frequent small shoppings also mean I don't need to use a car. It's usually easy to fit shopping in with other trips, or just go for a short ride if I run out.
I know a few non-vegan, non-vegetarian raw foodists. Their view is that if you are healthy then any organisms you are exposed to in raw animal food are more likely to be beneficial than harmful, and in any case any harm they cause will be outweighed by the benefits of eating raw food.-- spidermother, Sep 16 2008 Tapeworms are said to be coming back into fashion - grow one or two inside yourself and then you can eat all you and your worms want without gaining weight.-- neelandan, Sep 16 2008 May I also apply this to the baby vegetable and flower plants which are purchased and then not planted? Watching them sit and wait for death just makes me nuts...-- James Newton, Sep 16 2008 [normzone] We find that the reasons that we don't use veggies is because the prep is a pain, and because we often don't have a specific recipe in mind when we get them home.
Another reason is that we leave them in their original bags and they get lost in the fridge.
A good way to use all of those fresh vegetables from the market is to prepare them as much as possible and to put them into containers where you can see them. We use squat glass jars for this.
I won't go into detail about which vegetables can be pre-washed, chopped, skinned or peeled, but there is a lot you can do to save time later, and this will encourage their use.
But we have gone so far as to mis en place certain asian dishes a couple of nights ahead for a fast supper. (And yes, I have a lot of time on my hands.)-- nomocrow, Sep 18 2008 [Normzone] Time to visit Sweden!
So apparently, if you rewind a bit to 1960, think about this idea some more, and publish papers on it you get a Nobel prize like Ronald Coase.
I may misremember but I think the Coase theorem is behind Sweden noticing it caused them to have less pollution on Swedish soil and air to pay Russians not to pollute, than to spend the money on any additional pollution controls in Sweden.
They found out what you figured out, pay other people directly to stop waste. I wonder if Sweden actually did either pay Russians not to pollute or perhaps upgraded Russian industry to reduce pollution cheaper than more incremental pollution control in Sweden.-- beanangel, Dec 18 2020 I am now expanding this idea to include organic, skinless boneless chicken breasts - partially because it requires me to keyboard the word "breasts".-- normzone, Sep 12 2022 random, halfbakery