Self-Change Blog Project

Week 6 November 10, 2024      This has been a successful final week! I've been home in San Antonio since Wednesday, so I planned accordingly by not purchasing any groceries in Austin. Here in San Antonio, my mom had some pasta that was going bad soon, so we decided to make it for dinner on Saturday. With that, my stepdad also made burgers on Thursday, which I reheated for lunch on Friday. This is another important aspect of the behavioral change...cooking food that reheats well. This allows me to save food for later instead of wasting any leftovers. I am really happy with how the challenge has gone for me! My final week is very reflective of my immense progress. 

  Week 5 November 3, 2024      This week was certainly not my best. I went home this past weekend, which I did not plan for. The effects were not too extreme, but it did result in me having to throw out my English muffins, as they did, unfortunately, expire. I think, realistically, I was going to end up throwing one or two away, but I was planning on eating a few over the weekend to minimize my waste. Along with this, last night, I decided to cook a burger. However, I am very inexperienced in doing so. I unfortunately totally undercooked the burger, so I had to throw that away. I did not think to take a picture before throwing it away. That also introduced a new aspect of the behavior change to me. Staying within my realm of cooking abilities is super important to prevent wasting food due to a meal gone south. On a more positive note, I decided to make some bean and cheese tacos in order to use up my tortillas that were going bad soon. I will give myself credit in th...

Week 4 October 27, 2024      It has been a good week! I have not run into many speed bumps yet, which is has been really nice! This week, my main action to continue my self-change project consisted of eating food specifically because it was going to expire soon. For example, I made bean and egg tacos because my eggs were going bad soon, and I still had about half a dozen left. Along with this, I also reheated spaghetti I made over the weekend since it is only good for about five days after it is cooked. I did end up throwing away one egg, but minimizing food waste does not imply not wasting any food at all. Progress is progress. Had I been in the same situation prior to my self-changing ways, I would have wasted half a dozen. So far, I am proud of my progress!

  Week 3 October 20, 2024     This post is going to focus a little bit more on a new aspect of how I will be attempting to waste less food. I briefly touched on it in my last post, but it is going to be the focus of this one. That new aspect is ensuring that my food purchases, for the most part, will be items that will stay good for a long time. This is important because, as long as the majority of my pantry and refrigerator stay good for a while, I am not as pressured to eat them right away. With that, it allows me to comfortably prioritize items that may not be good for as much time because I know that the rest of my options will still be available to me for months to come. As a whole, this will make the experience much less stressful and, therefore, make it a lot more enjoyable. This is extremely important because it will make the experience much more effective. The two items I am showcasing today are Bagel Bites and Spaghetti, both of which were items I purchased this...

  Week 2 October 12, 2024     This is my first true week of attempting to throw away less food (since last week was meant for observing). My goal was to not let anything expire. In other words, cater my meal choices to the food items that were expiring soon, rather than preference. I also wanted to try to stick to purchasing food items that stay good for a while, so I do not have to worry too much about eating them right away. I stuck to these goals very well! I had some English muffins that were about to go bad, so I decided to make lunch using them. With that, I bought more frozen items because they tend to last longer. The biggest victory was that my lunch with the English muffins was much better than I had expected, and I was able to avoid any waste! I also found a new frozen pizza brand that is very delicious. The main thing I noticed about my thoughts and attitudes was thoroughly checking expiration dates of various food items and then feeling good for consuming wha...

Week 1 October 6, 2024   My topic: Food Waste My Behavior Change: I am trying to waste less food. Why it is important: This topic is very important because wasting food is such a big issue in the United States. We take for granted how blessed we are that we can readily access any type of food we want. With that, we tend to throw away our food without giving them a second thought. World hunger has always been an issue and will continue to be an issue. While this will not necessarily fix anything, it will help me hold myself accountable for wasting food and taking for granted the number of blessings I have in my life. Nearly 10% of the world lives in starvation, which is why I want to do my best to make sure I never forget how fortunate I am. What I have done so far: So far I have just been in an observation phase. I have been taking note of my wasteful habits. The biggest reason I waste food is because I tend to let it expire before eating it. For example, this week I poured out and...