Accidental Purchases, Avoiding Food and Paper Waste

I wrote this in Spring 2018. I now have chickens, but this is what I did to avoid throwing food in the trash, ways I reused or recycled. 

Last Fall, I purchased Quaker Oats as I usually do. However, I got the quick cooking instead of the Rolled Oats. I detest quick oats. I managed to feed some of it to Dominique, and I accidentally poured some for me to eat. I had to gag it down. When I could not bear to eat it, Dominique liked the cooked oats.

I was not comfortable offering it to someone else to eat. It seemed like I would be demeaning them by offering opened food, especially if I did not know them well and they were poor.

Problem solved! I have a friend who has a large extended family. Plus, one daughter has chickens, goats, rabbits, pigs, dogs and cats. That is a good variety of animals with varied needs and appetites. So, she will take anything I have gotten that I do not want to eat. If any of her family will not eat it or a can has a horrible dent, it does not go in the trash. Plus, it is a good place to unload a box of oats that have been open for over six months, languishing in the kitchen. And, a large space is freed in the kitchen.

Of course, I have chickens now to consume things I will not eat.

When I go to the outside window teller at the bank, I always get a little envelope with money. I hate throwing away that envelope, so I use it for making a list or a note about something. When bills come, there is usually an envelope for returning the payment. I save that envelope for lists.

One time, I sent the envelope back to her and asked her if she would reuse it or throw it away. She said she would reuse it. GREAT! However, I forget to give it back every time.

When exbf is here, I give him a piece of paper (envelope) and a pen to make a list of things I want to give him. That way, I won't forget the carrots I cooked and froze for him, etc. I call out things as I remember them and he writes them down. It works. But, I do not use new paper.

I gave him food in canning jars and he brought them back in McD bags inside a plastic bag. He saves those bags folded neatly in a drawer and reuses them. They did cushion the jars so they did not clank together. I never thought of reusing a fast food bag.  Maybe it is because I get the inside dirty with food. He eats more fast food than I do.

But, I do keep the paper bag the pharmacy puts prescription in and staples shut. I use them to cushion things, also.

In the recycling bin, I can put newspaper. However, the newspaper cannot get wet for recycling. That is what I have read in the past. Well, just tonight, I asked a friend on the block how he puts out newspaper and keeps it dry. He just throws it in and lets it get wet! Remember, we have no lids on the recycling bin.

Today, I bought 3 newspapers, two from this week for the coupon inserts, and one from a past week for a section of the newspaper and coupon inserts. This week I start recycling newspaper instead of throwing it in the trash as I have always done.  Or, I might take the paper to Publix since they do recycle paper.

This is a new push for me.

Do you try to find new places to recycle different things that formerly you threw out in the trash?
How do you cut down on paper trash and reuse it? What do you do with paper?  Do you ever accidentally purchase the wrong food, something you do not like or wish to consume? Other than gagging it down, what do you do with it?--animals or friends/children?