SFR: How to keep food scraps from... "going bad"? Gross.

Please don't read unless you've got a stout heart.



This is our periodic stock making time (when the freezer is so full of chicken carcasses that you're having difficulty making room for ice cream, that's an emergency) so I hauled out seven chickens worth of bones this weekend.

In our community we have food scrap recycling, where you can put everything edible (and some not, like bones) in the yard waste can. This greatly cuts down on the amount of trash we throw out, and produces fertilizer for the city. However, this is a problem when using the long-cooked stock ingredients. Within a couple of days, they start to rot. The last time this happened was in the spring, and we got a can full of maggots, with a horrible smell to boot. Since it's winter, I hoped that wouldn't happen this time. Nope.

I covered the rotting bones with a few inches of mud, which helps the smell, but this is really gross. Other than making stock the night before garbage pickup, what should I do? Any one who composts have an idea?

Thanks,
Walt

Lime, and I don't mean the little green things. Need more?

Lime! OK, I can do that. This is exactly the sort of wisdom I was looking to find here. Any ideas on rough amounts (10:1?)?

Walt

Ok Walt. In my previous post I was being a bit of a smart ass. However, having grown up on a farm in the 30s, 40s, and 50's, we had no running water, no garbage pickup, no inside plumbing. The proverbial "outhouse" can be an odorous thing. My dad kept a barrel (cardboard) of powdered lime sitting just inside, and about once a month or so (depends on need, which might depend on summer heat) he would dump a couple pounds of the lime down the hole(s). it didn't kill off all odor, but it sure made it more livable.

Walt, baking soda works very well -- sprinkle a layer over the top of the pile. Add more any time you smell something you don't like.

A closed container is a big help -- it reduces the oxygen for the microorganisms.

It is usually easier to find than lime, and surprisingly is cheaper than lime at Costco in bulk 10 pound bags.

Living in an extremely warm climate where food can go bad in the couple of days between normal garbage pickups (not including Holiday schedules) has us dealing with this every week. I use gallon size ziplock bags for food scraps and containers of all kinds. Then store them in a section of the chest freezer in the garage or the freezer in the house if its going sooner than a day or so.

On trash day, the frozen scraps go right out in the trash. No mess or smell.

I can’t even accurately describe the…smell…of the scraps of a summertime shrimp boil that inadvertantly ended up in trash can in the garage( My Mom) instead of being bagged and frozen. Jeeez…..

Richard

[Jenise]

One of the best things about winter is that when it's 30 degrees out you can throw anything in the yardwaste barrel and not worry about it sitting in there for two weeks.

Speaking of food scraps, though, I've recently made more of an effort to collect ALL food scraps for the yardwaste barrel (which gets picked up every two weeks) and since I'm not picking weeds right now what accumulates in that barrel is just kitchen scraps, and I have to admit to being impressed with how much of a pile all those peels, rinds and stale breads amounts to. What with compaction and all, I figured that even over two weeks our refuse would barely cover the first five inches, but we're doing about four times that.

Slight topic drift:
I have a worm palace in my basement. Yep, intentionally have worms. A multi-level compost container. Doesn't smell at all, but of course we don't compost meat scraps. The "boys" (they are dual-sexed, but we call them that) go through a lot of veggie scraps, and put out truly high quality poop. Good for trhe garden, good for the planet.

We have twice a week garbage pickup, but in summer it still pays to be verty sure bags are tied tight and lids are firmly in place.

You know those plastic bags you get at grocery stores? I usually use my huge market basket or canvas bags, but when I forget, I ask for the plastic bags. I use them as garbage bags while cooking. I always check the bottom to make sure they have no holes. During heavy cooking times I keep one in the sink and toss all my bones, scraps into it. When full, I take the two handle ends and tie very tight. I try to plan my heavy cooking near garbage day but it does not always work out that way. During our hot summers, we get smells but so far, no flies have gotten into those bags. Our city provides "waste wheelers" they are very heavy garbage cans with flip lids. The lids fit well, and I have never seen flies inside my cans.