Oops.
Even I forget about food every once in a while, discovering items after they’ve sprouted tentacles and started torturing the neighborhood.
I’m disappointed about wasting my basket of potatoes, but also a tiny bit proud of how scary these spuds have become. The one on the right almost looks like a brain.
Normally, when I see potatoes sprouting, I’d just take off the sprouts and cook them as soon as possible. I’m pretty good at salvaging old produce. Given this shriveling, however, these potatoes will end up in the compost bin after I’ve filmed Godzilla vs. Potatopus documented their hideousness.
Then again, maybe the potatoes can still power a clock (R.I.P. Mr. Wizard, star of the oh-so-80’s Mr. Wizard’s World).
Anyway, how’d this potato waste happen? Simply put, I didn’t buy the potatoes for a specific meal, but figured I’d add them to some sort of dinner. As I’ve said before, not planning your meals and/or shopping lists leads to wasted food.
My bad.
Comments
8 responses to “Creature Double Feature”
Those are great.
Do you have a yard? You could bury them in the ground and let them grow. We did that last summer and it was fun to dig up the little potatoes in the fall.
You wrote “tentacles.” I saw “testicles.” Look at that photo…is it just me? 😉
RFW–I do have a yard! That’s a great idea, much more fun than composting.
SB–I’m not even going to dignify that with a response. I’m just going to giggle like a fifth grader.
I second the planting idea. You can do the same thing with sweet potatoes which threaten to take over the world with their sprouts.
Ran across your blog doing research on an article I read the other day on the BBC about the cost of wasted food and how they are beginning to address the issue in Britain.
I’m posting a link to your blog on Live Journal and Stumble giving it a thumbs up on Stumble Upon. Looking forward to your book!
I too saw your blog while doing research on the percentage of food waste that constitutes the solid waste stream.
Wondering if you’ve seen the movie, “The Gleaners and I”, a French documentary by Agnes Varda. I saw it 6 or 7 yrs. ago and the beginning opens (I think) with her filming odd shaped poatatoes she’s saved from a gigantic pile of potato culls left to rot in a Northern French potato farm. A definite must see.
Also, I’m linking your article on Culinate to a new eco-conscious minded website friends and I have started called, thesunnyway.com. Please check it out!
I haven’t seen “The Gleaners and I,” I’m embarrassed to say. I’ve been meaning to get to it for a while now. Thanks for the nudge.
I’m thinking of starting to a photo series of rejected produce on the sale rack. Last time I went to the supermarket, I got three beautiful, big tomatoes for 60 cents. One had a skin-deep mark, but was otherwise perfect. The other two…were ripe. I swear, supermarkets are strange places.
Anyway, feel free to send any outcast produce you come across. Thanks for linking, may the sun shine on your site.
If everyone in the USA planted their southern lawn to potatoes instead of grass, we could make so much Vodka that we could fuel our cars with it and have enough left over for a healthy profitable export trade.