I think we all know that there are things lingering in the refrigerator that need to be taken out and “thrown away”. I’m here to say stop feeling guilty; just try to organize better next time……

We have all had to deal with excess foods from holiday gatherings, or you just bought groceries and then became ill and couldn’t even manage leaving bed, let alone cooking something. How about when friends come and visit and they have special diets and bring their own groceries and then leave them with you because they can’t take them along? At some point we have to deal with the tiny leftovers or dairy that is “off”. Instead of flogging yourself for wasting money, take that food and use it in your garden (not the meat however, as it attracts rodents….if you live on acreage, that can be put into an 18 day compost pile as an inoculant).

YOGURT PRODUCTS, DIPS, or ANYTHING DAIRY: In order to spread the beneficial goodness of the fungi growing in the fridge, I take those “lovely” blue and pink and sometimes stinky molds outside and dump them in a bucket that is filled with water. Stir the mixture around and then feed your garden soils. The fungi that is introduced to the soil will be of great benefit to the micro-organisms, and is a great start for amending poor soils.

BAD EGGS: I’ve written before about returning eggs into the soil when I shared about raising chickens. Dig a hole in the garden soil, lay in the eggs, cover them with sufficient dirt and then smack them with your shovel so that they break apart without spraying anything on you. Plus with that method, you can avoid having to smell any rotten eggs. You can also dig into the soil any cooked egg dishes like scrambled eggs or old quiche.

SLIMY, MOLDY VEGGIES AND FRUITS: These are just waiting for their transfer back to the garden. The worms love them and the soil becomes nurtured from them. It is a tremendous bonus if they are organic, so that there are no pesticide residues that you are introducing to your garden. Normally, our old produce gets thrown into what we call “The Chicken Bucket” along with the daily scraps from cooking. If it’s really moldy, I just add it right into the soil. If the produce is still fairly edible, our chickens will peck through the food, giving them valuable nutrients. They are very happy to receive produce along with their scratch grains and mash. Watching a chicken grab a morsel of produce and run off while other chickens are giving chase is always a little entertaining. For a while, we didn’t have chickens, so I would just bury the produce into the soil and the soil life would take care of it with the help of any passing birds or squirrels that grabbed what they wanted. This method of returning produce into the soil has resulted in free plants that have grown from the seeds or roots that have sprouted. We lived in Hawaii for a short time, and I had a volunteer papaya tree from my produce burial site. You never know what surprises await after reintroducing old plants back into the soil! Again, check out my post on worm composting & filling nursery buckets with the old fruit and vegetables from meal prep.

BREADS: Stale, hard, moldy breads can be taken back into the garden. Just dig them into the soil or add to your worm buckets. If any of the bread still looks good, take those parts and feed them to the birds so that they visit your garden and hopefully leave a bit of “nutrient” (aka bird poop)before taking off again.

There! That wasn’t so hard! You have now cleaned your fridge and repurposed your unused foods back into soil amendments! Recycle all the containers or repurpose them, walk away and feel good that you fed your soil and organized your fridge!