Cooked food

[Sarahcook]

We've now got 2 green bins, glass recycling is sorted, composter is going and so on. We're down to maybe 0.5 of a bin bag in the week. However, the biggest problem we have is cooked food that is thrown away.

I know the answer is really to only cook what we need, and I'm working on that, but with a 3.5 year old who one day eats like a bird and the next like a teenager, a partner who sometimes turns up for tea and sometimes doesn't because of work, there is cooked food to go in the bin.

Obviously, 1 bin bag a week is not just the food, but it stinks and I don't like just throwing it away. I have been told that it can't be composted, especially the meat.

Any ideas?

Sarah

[2steps]

buy a dog and some chickens I never have to throw food away!

but seriously, my OH works shifts and if he doesn't get home for dinner I freeze it and he (or someone) will eat it some other time

[Martin]

and with dogs, you can dispense with a dishwasher too!

[Sarahcook]

We'd love a dog but work too much - I teach, he's MoD. The cat is fine because he sleeps most of the day. He's a dear old cat but turns his nose up at human food, with the exception of cheese or angel delight!

Dogs seem to be more high maintainance. And you can't give chickens the meat can you? (I'm still pushing for the Eggloo at school, but so far on a no....)

[Shirley]

Hi sarah

You are right... you can't give chickens meat..

Have you looked at the Green cone.. www.greencone.co.uk - you can put cooked food wastes into that.

There are some composting systems that will take cooked waste too... bokashi springs to mind.

Now... I might just add this to your post here as it's the same topic... what are people's opinion of sink waste disposal units? We've got one fitted, but I don't use it much.. mainly because it uses both water and electricity and I'm not convinced it's such a good idea.. it was already there when we bought the house.

[2steps]

chickens aren't vegetarian - they eat worms, snails etc and I have heard of them eating mice too. personally I don't feed mine any meat as the dogs get that. one of my dogs is a right old softy and before now he'll be in the garden with a bone and the hens nick it of him! they love the odd treat of mashed potato and boiled potato peels or porrige always go down well.

while making the jams recently I was left with a load of skins and seeds after straining and found the birds absolutly loved it

[Shirley]

I know... mine go CRAZY for slugs and worms, but we are not allowed to feed them meat

[2steps]

have seen mine fight over worms stretching the out like you see in cartoons. not so keen on slugs but I got my revenge on the red ant that kept biting me last year (garden was full of them)seems chickens love them

[Wombat]

I know... mine go CRAZY for slugs and worms, but we are not allowed to feed them meat

By whom and why?

Nev

[HILLDREAMER90]

I put most waste food on my bird table & burn bones etc.A

[maggie144]

I have to askshirlz 2005 the same question as wombat who told you you could not give meat to chickens and why?

My Chickens get all my cooked food waste, as well as stale bread, even left over goat feed, and they love it, I have healthy chickens.

I also feed scraps including meat scraps to my ducks too,

I have done a lot of research into this subject, i have even asked my vet, and no one can tell me why you shouldn't feed meat to poultry, so until someone gives me a good reason why i can't then i will continue to do so.

Homer my cockerel is particularly fond of spag bol, masshed potatoe the only thing i draw the line at is left over curry. as i am worried it will affect the taste of the eggs.


hope this helps chickens are the best when it comes to scraps.

maggie

[hedgewizard]

I'll third this question. My chickens eat scraps too, although I probably wouldn't give them more than a little because it's too energy dense - chickens need variety. I had a quick skit through my chicken books and although they all warm about giving too much in the way of kitchen scraps not one of them prohibits meat.

We cope with our waste by composting what we can, and feeding most of the rest to the chickens. Like yourself, that still leaves some cooked food and anyway we've had trouble with rats in the composter before, so this year we've made a worm bin and we won't be adding anything at all to the compost bin until March. At least, that's the plan.

[Wombat]

yeah, I'll fourth the question (hang on a minute................I was first!)

I have fed meat scraps (cooked and not chicken obviously) to our chooks and they will gaily slaughter eachother to get some. I really don't see a lot of difference between that and the meat "on the hoof" such as worms, slugs, slaters etc that they harvest themselves. I mean they even put meat meal in the chook pellets - so I don't understand what the issue is.

Nev

[Shirley]

http://selfsufficientish.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3483

We are not supposed to feed any scraps at all if they've been in the kitchen.

I can't find the no meat bit but I've always been told that meat is not allowed.

[2steps]

I didn't know it actually wasn't allowed, I thought that only applied if you wanted to sell your eggs. The only reason my girls have never had any is cos the dogs get first pick and as if they'd refuse