Originally Posted by
chionos
It's really rough with kids because their metabolisms are all over the place. Full-on meals just don't work. So much is wasted. The answer to not wasting food is not to just eat everything (that's an especially terrible thing to teach kids), but to portion less in the first place.
I despise wastefulness (and not just food). I think it's probably somewhere beyond pet peeve level. I'm kind of mean about it sometimes.
Even food that's kind of gone bad (stale cereal, partially rotten bananas, etc.) can be useful. My oldest daughter is super crafty and uses stale cereal, spilled noodles, ruined rice, etc. in her crafts and "experiments."
Fruit & vegetables that have gone bad still make good smoothies.