Nothing Wasted- Potatoes

earthmother (57) in homesteading • 7 years ago (edited)

I have written about things that I do to make little to no waste, when I can.
As most of you know I am living off grid, and working towards self sustainability.

Enter the potato!
We eat about 150 pounds of potatoes over the course of the winter months.
Because of the limited space that I have, I grow only 25 pounds myself, and go to a nearby farm to buy the rest.
We prefer the red potatoes. I feel that there are more nutrients, and that they are less genetically modified.
I like that I can support local farmers, opposed to a potato that travels thousands of kilometers to your plate.
I am not a potato expert, just my ideas and thoughts. :)

Eating the potatoes!
We love them as a sidedish, anyway that they are prepared!
I also make perogies, stuffed with potatoey bacony cheesey goodness!!

We eat potato bread. There was a time, many years ago, that my son and I had very little to eat. I remember sending him fishing, making it fun for him, and praying that he could catch our dinner. An elderly gentleman came by one day with the biggest box of the smallest potatoes I had ever seen. There was at least 50 pounds in there. He said that they were too small to sell and his wife didn't like them that small. He knew. I knew he knew. His wife enclosed a potato bread recipe, and the rest is history. I will never forget their kindness.
When the potatoes are starting to look like they will sprout, I preserve as many as I can in the spring. They are amazing for quick potato salad on those really hot summer days. Its a win win for me!!

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Potato Skins!
I usually cook potatoes with the skins on, but sometimes they are so dirty, that I just peel them. I dry those peels and add them to the fireplace. The potassium in the peels, helps keep the pipes clean.

Sprouted potatoes!
Every year, no matter how hard I try, there are always sprouted potatoes.
Of course I cut off the eyes, and I store them in damp shredded newspaper until they can be planted outside. That is what I use to grow the potatoes that we harvest in the fall.

So that is how we make the most of our potatoes.
I know that it is simple, but so many things go to waste. We have a vermi-composter, but they really don't care for the peels. Potatoes even grow in there!!

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What do you do so that there is nothing wasted?

homesteading offgrid selfsustaining gardening prepper

7 years ago by earthmother (57)

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phoenixwren (65) · 7 years ago

I didn't know that about the potato skins and the chimney! Huh!
I am pretty close to zero waste, but not scrupulous about it (that's good for my mental health; the OCD can still rear it's head on occasion). The vast majority of my waste is kitty litter scooping. In second place is tissues from when I run out of handkerchiefs, but I just bought a box of 8 to add to the four I had sewed, so there will be less of that now. I have allergies, there is a lot of nose blowing in my life. 😂 What's left in the trash is just odds and ends after that, especially now that I have a compost system going!
I've lived in this apartment for over ten years, and in that time I bought one box of tiny size trash bags; I still have one from that box, lol. I use whatever packaging happens my way: the bag from toilet roll, or kitty kibble, for example, and that's enough to contain my trash. So I think I'm doing okay.
I use an old cloth shopping bag whose handle broke to hold my recycleables, and probably fill it once a week or so, in addition.

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earthmother (57) · 7 years ago

THAT! IS AWESOME!!
I put the litter in the composting toilet! LOL Kleenex composts! :) I love that you are leaing a zero carbon footprint!! That is incredible in my eyes!!!