What do you do with your nasty leftovers if the garbage disposal is out?

I have no garbage disposal in my apartment, so I take leftovers that are likely to smell directly to the dumpster. My mother, who lives in an area with regular trash pick up rather than a dumpster, has a large trash can in her garage. Since all of her garbage winds up there in the end—the large trash can being the one she leaves by the side of the road on trash day—she puts any garbage that she doesn’t want inside the house directly into that trash can.

I live in the countryside with a septic tank and well water. Usually (as in my case) homes with septic cannot have garbage disposals. We’ve lived just fine without one for 7 years now..
And before that, decades ago, I lived in Japan where garbage disposals are unheard of.

In Japan we put small bags of garbage out frequently in the communal garbage pickup place. Most people keep a little mini-garbage can in the corner of their sink that gets bit of scraps & leftovers in it—and throw it out once a day (or more often if needed).

Here in the countryside..I do have an under-the-sink mini garbage spot..but if it’s anything stinky or unpleasant it goes to the outside garbage can. If it’s REALLY bad or rotten smelling (and in one of my disposable-type containers) I might just throw it away IN the plastic container still.

My hubby loves to dispose of some things (our Halloween pumpkins and Watermelon rinds, especially) by tossing them in the woods around our house because it feeds the wild animals (deer, coyote, black bears) and makes a pleasing loud “THUNK” noise when he chucks it off the back deck. ;)

Drain off the broth, then use the trash can for the solid bits.

I compost nearly everything biodegradable except newspapers. I don’t worry about putting cooked food, bones and small amounts of meat in my compost. Animals take it, and they eat it elsewhere.

Well, everything biodegradable except what the sewer system is designed for, that is.

I use a 4 quart plastic ice cream tub in my freezer to store any leftovers or food scraps that can’t go into our compost pile. I empty the container into the garbage on pickup day. This keeps our garbage can stink free.

I never have nasty leftovers (save the occasional lentil soup that starts to ferment). Like @geeky_mama, I too compost all food scraps.

Dry food scraps go into the under-the-sink compost (double paper bag with liner).

Wet food scraps go into an old ice cream tub [high fives compost twin, jonsblond] in the fridge.

Particularly offensive food scraps (shrimp shells, fish bones) get wrapped up in newspaper and a paper bag. Then goes immediately into the outside compost bin.

Other stuff goes out the night before pick-up.

This might not be of help to you, but we have lots of wild animals that roam about our property at night (raccoons, o’possums, skunks, coyotes, etc) that just love to sink their teeth into our nasty leftovers. I just set it out in the woods for them and the next day it is all gone. Isn’t recycling great! HA!

@gondwanalon: I try very hard not to attract the deer, skunks, raccoons, coyotes, rats, etc

I am very afraid that they would recycle my cat, Milo.

As it is, the deer are practically having corn flakes with me in the morning, they are so brazen. I watch as they are systematically defoliating all my rose bushes and I gnash my teeth.

@gailcalled do you have a neighbor or friend that can loan you a large dog for a few days? It should reduce your deer activity a little.

All my stinky garbage goes into the outside trash can immediately.

@gailcalled Do any of your neighbors hunt? ‘Tis the season, almost. Best not to mix it with @WestRiverrat‘s dog, though.

Although I live in town, we have no regular trash pick up here. Each household has to take their own garbage to what we call the transfer station where it’s put in very large trucks to take to the dump. I have no garbage disposal. As has been mentioned, I’m one of those who puts the food bits that will stink the most into a container in the refrigerator.

I recycle a lot of items also at the transfer station, and only have to take the garbage once every other week or so, since I live alone. I have a habit of taking the bag out of the kitchen garbage can and going to the refrigerator first where I gather the stuff that would have been stinky, and then I take it to the transfer station.

I have never had a garbage disposal unit. Like others first option is compost for leftover vegetable scraps. Meat and other rubbish to the garbage bin. With things like fish or prawn scraps that become incredibly stinky, we put them in a zip lock bag, perhaps wrap that in newspaper and then into the freezer until bin day. Then we put the scraps out to be collected and taken away.

I put food waste outside for the fox and coyote. Except for vegetables it is always gone without a trace!

I live on property in the hills/mountains and all of my leftovers go out to the woods for the wildlife. Old fruits and veggies are given to the neighbors sheep, meats get pitched far into the woods across the road from my house and old bread goes to my geese.
I put out a half eaten blackberry cobbler once and the raccoons went wild. Party in the forest at Colomas place.

It’s a perfect system. :-)

I just wait until they walk away. Sometimes they attack me at night, but I usually emerge victorious.

So far anyway, @Symbeline. So far…

I don’t have garbage disposal. Food waste gets bagged separately from other household waste and is put in a special recycling bin (for food waste & garden waste) outside. It’s collected once a week and presumably turned into compost.

For soup, I would drain the liquid and flush it down the sink, and solid parts would go in the food waste bag.

@downtide You need a dog! Leftover soup on the kibble, perfect. lol
My cats are so damn picky, they turn down chicken breast. The better to fatten the foxes. haha

I have a dog, but a lot of human leftovers aren’t good for dogs. Soup (if it’s not something I’ve made myself) is usually far too salty for dogs, and some meat, pork in particular, is very difficult for them to digest. She does get leftovers of things that are home made or not overly-processed.

Today she got leftover poached fish and mashed potato. She loved that. And she goes crazy for anything with garlic on it.

Actually, @downtide, garlic is one of those things that’s supposed to be very bad for dogs. I found out when I told my vet that Willow (as a pup) loved raw onion. The vet laughed, “And she’s still alive?”

Garlic and onion are closely related. Here’s the first link I found when looking for advice about toxicity to pets.

garlic, onion, chocolate and grapes and bad for dogs.

@CWOTUS Had a close call last night…damn asparagi.

This is how our food waste garbage is dealt with: http://ecopro.no/english

It is one component of how all our garbage is dealt with: http://www.ir.nt.no/index.cfm?id=152834

And our sewage is treated and also composted, so there would be no reason to not throw it in the toilet, either. I usually scrape solid food waste into our ‘green food waste’ bags and send any liquid down the toilet. My coffee grounds down down the toilet and never in the sink.

No dog in our household, but I second what others are saying about being careful what human food you give a dog.

Compost the veg bits, and also un-greasy un-inky paper stuff, in moderation. I live right on top of a bay (on stilts), so stuff like shrimp shells go directly into the water. Then the seagulls yell at each other “Here! Here! HERE! HERE!” and they all rush over and churn around till everything is eaten.