A Different Kind Of Food Waste

My husband offered to make meatloaf for dinner this week on a night when I was a little busy and stressed out. He made a really delicious meat loaf for the first time last month - but of course even a half recipe ended up being far too much food for the two of us.

I had halved a pound of ground beef and frozen the big half, so I told him to go ahead and take it out of the freezer. I explained that it wasn't a full pound, but would be plenty for us, and that if he wanted he could use half of the mushrooms to "beef" it up a little...so to speak.

I then left him to it. When I came down to dinner I found out he'd defrosted two of the Italian sausages I'd earmarked for future meals, de-cased them, and added them to the beef. He was very proud of himself. He'd also used half of the mushrooms. The meatloaf was even bigger than the first one.

I was...frustrated. I have my meals this month diligently planned out around 1) cutting back a little on our meat consumption, and 2) not purchasing anymore meat this month. Technically, we're fine - even without running to the grocery store. I can still make a meal out of the canned tuna or salmon that I hadn't planned on using. He also ultimately ate (most of) the leftovers for lunch the next day.

Still, just as I start to try to curb our meat consumption we end up with a meal that consists of no less than beef, sausage and bacon. Plus half my mushrooms! This screams wasteful to me.

And like I said, only most of the meat loaf was eaten the next day at lunch. The rest was left in a Tupperware container for me to discover the next day. Ick! I didn't get a picture of it before it went down the disposal. You're welcome ;)

There are certainly worse things. I have a loving husband who is not only a great cook but is also willing to help out when I'm feeling overwhelmed. Nevertheless, I felt a little derailed from the no-waste track and my budgetary and dietary goals.

Changing my husband's eating habits might be harder than I thought!