Waste diary & BBQ watermelon rind challenge

In the spirit of our waste diary challenge posted last week I undertook a "fridge cleansing", which purged a lot more waste than we normally would generate.  It was time to confront all those disposal dilemnas that I hide away at the back of the fridge.

The fridge clear-out put my compulsion for hoarding relishes and condiments under a harsh spotlight.  So many that I could not recall how long they had been there and that I could no longer face eating.  Getting rid of the contents and rinsing the jars can use a lot of precious water, but we are told by the Council that containers and jars must be clean-ish before putting them into recycling.

Our waste from meal preparation was minimal, just avocado skins, seeds, carrot peelings and the like.  I snuck the end slices of the tomatoes onto sandwiches - breaking my silly habit of throwing out the ends.  Instead of wasting the crusts on the end of bread, I put them in the freezer to use for breadcrumbs later. That tactic does however have a limited life span, as there are few uses for breadcrumbs in my cooking repertoire!

This photo from The Guardian by Tristram Stuart shows three identical Romaine lettuces purchased at the same time and stored for ten days, from left to right 1) at room temperature 2) in the fridge and 3) in a glass of water like cut flowers.  Inspired, I kept herbs in water (refreshed daily) and they stayed fresh much longer. 

Our biggest volume of waste was watermelon rind!  Apparently the white flesh and green skin is used as a vegetable in many Asian countries and contains great vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants.

I love that you can so easily find recipes on the internet for weird and wonderful ingredients, like:
Watermelon Skin Halwa
Barbequed Watermelon Rind with Sauces
Watermelon Pie from southern USA

Someone has even dedicated a whole site to fill your belly, not landfill with watermelon

The challenge now is to give them a go.  BBQ watermelon rind first...