Kitchen Compost Pail (link below)

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Compost Pails

I keep a small covered trashcan with a plastic liner that lifts out under my sink. I empty it every 4-7 days. With a tight fitting lid there is no problems

I use a 2/3 pound coffee can. I have in the past put them in 1 gal ziploc baggie and freze them.

I recycle plastic yogurt and deli containers. I put them in the fridge or freezer until they are full and get put in the bin. If you don't live alone like me you might need to mark them so no one has an unwelcome surprise!

a broken metal salad bowl with an orphaned lid.

Cottage Cheese containers, as well as the same size yoghurt containers are pretty good. I have usually have two or three full in the freezer, for then I don't get enough stuff during a week. The container I use most is a half gallon plastic sherbet container, which is kept in the fridge.

I also usually microwave the stuff and let it cool back off before adding to the worm bin. This speeds break down.

Moni

I second (or third!) the cottage cheese containers. I mark them "W" first with a permanent marker, then keep adding stuff until full. I then place them in the freezer for a minimum of three days. I read this was a way to prevent fruit flies, and there haven't been any since beginning to freeze the scraps (kills any eggs).

I hadn't microwaved yet. Do you do this right in the cottage cheese container? Up until now, I've just defrosted the food for a day until I feed. It might be better to skip that step, because sometimes I forget to add it, and then I've got a slimy, foul-smelling mess on my hands. I want to feed less in quantity, but more frequently. I think this is how I can get the maximal population for my 3-tier worm bin.

Happy worming!

I microwave in a microwavable container. The cottage cheese containers get deformend...and start to melt.

Moni

During the summer I keep things in a large, clear peanutbutter tub with a lid and freeze it before adding it to the bin to kill fruit flies. This winter, I haven't had trouble with flies, so I just have an open bowl on the counter that I either empty into the worm bin every day, or take out to the compost bin if the worms have had enough.
Martha

Freezer, then let thaw (of course) before putting in with the worms. I think freezing makes the scraps break down faster.

My food bin is the bowl of a food processor, when it gets full i put it on the processor and hit puree for a while. The it goes into the freezer. When its time to feed i nuke it for a bit til its warm and then leave it on the counter for a while to cool to room temp. Freezing causes ice crystals to rip apart cells so it does make it decompose faster. Cooking it kills off harmful bacteria (mostly for the egg shells) but it also breaks down cells.

My freezer has no "human" food in it. So now i have to go by a stand alone freezer. BTW i also feed my fish and turtles fruit and veggies, those are also stored in the freezer.

Bryan

Wow, you people spoil your worms! I love my worms and all, but I don't cook for them.

I have a pretty crock with a lid that holds about a gallon sitting next to my sink. When it gets full, I carry it outside and the scraps go straight into the worm bin and/or the compost. Since the crock has a lid, I don't seem to get stink or fruit flies. It came with a rubber gasket which I removed so it's easier to open.

I am an extremely lazy vermicomposter. I feed them whenever the salad bowl (the worm food storage container) gets full. I never freeze, microwave, or blenderize food for them. I just dump the stuff right on top and forget about it. Of course my bins are outdoor so I don't worry about fruit flies, regular flies, maggots, spiders, or even the occasional slug. I usually vehemently eject the slug way far off somewhere else so that it doesn't eat up all of my little wormies food but I leave all the other co-inhabitants of the bins alone. I am all for no-work vermicomposting.

Best worming wishes.

New Zealand produces these great 2 litre icecream containers - square with lids that can seal tightly. They are washable and foodsafe. Tip Top Icecream (the national brand) has produced these for at least 30 years. They are reused to hold everything from dry cooking materials to felt tip pens - it seems sometimes that there is no house in New Zealand without at least one of these containers reused to hold something even it is just in the garage holding spare spark plugs. - Anyway - they are perfect for holding kitchen scraps. By the time the container is full I just clip the lid on and they fit inside my chest freezer perfectly. Because they used to hold icecream they are designed for stacking and I can fit 4 containers stacked 2 deep into one chest freezer drawer. Perfect. Kills any fruit fly eggs and breaks down the food. Then, once a week, I take two containers out and feed it to the worm farms. During winter I defrost first but during summer I just cover it with bedding and leave the frozen worm food to defrost in the bin in an attempt to cool the bin down during really hot days.

Victoria

I'm new--

Are the new plastic coffee cans okay? I've used them for scraps, put the lid on, and then forget they'er there! YUCK. Don't have worms yet, so when I remember the plastic cans, I usually end up putting them in the trash. Worry that that old yucky mess wouldn't even be good in the yard compost, and would attract dogs and other critters.

But, I resolve to do better, and we always have the Folgers plastic cans, so, are they okay?

Those of you that only empty once a week/ w/o freezing or microwaving, are your scraps well on their way to pretty bad/yucky?

Thanks--

Lots of questions.

Susi in NE TX

Speaking of outdoor composts and dogs, how do you keep dogs/cats from compost piles? The ones I have are just "in place" piles of weeds, dead fall, what have you, not really "bins". Can or how does one add food scraps to such a situation?

Thanks again!

That "yucky mess" would probably have been great in a worm bin or compost pile. You should not have trouble with dogs or cats if you do not put meat products in the compost pile, and be sure to bury whatever you do put in.

I'm sure the Folgers plastic cans are fine for collecting your kitchen scraps, coffee grounds, etc. Yes the scraps are starting to break down if I don't get them outside for a few days, unless of course they go in the freezer. I stick them in the freezer because I don't like the scraps sitting in the kitchen but don't want to carry them outside every day.

Good luck.

Calicokitty, I had one of those Lee Valley plastic kitchen compost buckets, which worked very well, but the plastic takes on the rotting food smells. It does not wash away. However, Lee Valley also sell a stainless steel kitchen compost pail w/lid. Works great and cleans like a charm.

Laurelann

suzie, that yucky mess is just the composting process in action :) perfect for the compost heap, you could just bury them in the compost pile and cover them up again or do a bit of trench composting somewhere

I never have a problem with that yucky mess. The problem yall are running into is anaerobic bacteria. By keeping a lid on it you are making optimal conditions for them. I have never had a pail with a lid and the produce can sit on my counters for over a week with no problems, except for drying out a bit. If it does get to that yucky mess stage just toss the whole container into the freezer. When your next pail has that happen ... add it on top of that already in the freezer.

Normally cats and dogs wont go for vegetable waste in an outdoor compost pile. However i have a dog that likes to eat vegetables, lettuce, broccoli, nuts, tomatos, and occasionally jalapenos. Burying it in the pile actually doesnt help in my case but "should" in most others.

Bryan

I do not cook or freeze or nuke food specifically for the worms. I simply keep a 32oz. open cottage cheese container on the kitchen counter. This size is good in that it's not so small that I often have to empty it every day, and it's usually able to hold only enough so that it does have to be emptied before it starts to attract fruit flies and get particularly cruddy. Once the containers get really nasty, I just toss them and start with a fresh container.

I have 4x32 gallon flow-thrus out back and every time I empty the collected food, I dump it in the next bin in line and mark the next bin after that for the next dump. This way, it takes me 4 dumping trips to hit all 4 bins.

I keep a small 4 litre pail by the kitchen sink. All of my coffee grounds, egg shells, veggie scraps, mouldy bread and other non dairy, non meat scraps go in there. I only put a tiny amount of this into my worm bin at a rate that they can handle. The rest goes outside to the compost bin at least every week. I never store food for the worms as there is always an endless supply of fresh scraps for them.

Since I use small pieces of corrugated cardboard for bedding, the worms will survive for months and months just on their bedding alone. The worms don't actually eat the bedding and compost scraps; they feed on the mould, fungus and other organisms that are breaking down the bedding and the kitchen scraps. I add a bit of powdered limestone to the bedding as the worms use this "grit" to grind up their food. (Red wigglers don't have teeth for chewing). The limestone also helps to neutralise acids in the worm bin.

I do NOT bring food for the worms back in from the outdoor compost pile as this can be a source of some nasties that I don't want inside my home or in my worm bin.

At the first "whiff" of rotting material (like the inside of your garbage can on a hot day), my pail of kitchen scraps goes outside to the compost pile. If this smell should ever come from my worm barrel, it means I'm feeding them too much and the moisture content is too high.

It's better that the worms have too little food as opposed to too much. The key thing to me is the temperature and the moisture level.

I think that the commonly used phrase, that " A worm can eat it's own weight in food scraps every day" is somewhat misleading. Most vegetable scraps are mostly water and the idea that one pound of worms will eat one pound of lettuce (for example) in a day does not hold water ( Yes...... pun intended). Most of the vegetable matter simply loses it's water content into the bedding and to evaporation. Besides, it takes several days for the scraps to decompose to the point where there is food in a form that the worms can process (digest).

I had my bin going a couple of weeks (I got looted last weekend) and I have been storing extras while I decide if I am staring over or not. I think I found a way that works for me. I took my fridge container of scraps, ran it through the processer to chop it so it took less room, and then froze the results, along with a small handful of cornmeal, in my "extra-large" muffin tin. Once frozen I put them in a ziplock and now have some nicely frozen solid chunks for feeding.

--Lisa

I like the idea of having an open air container since I know its best to keep things on the arobic side but I just use old 4kg Becel Margerine tubs. I have 3 and when they are all full(I keep the full ones tightly covered in an un-used cabinet). They can be and often are smelly from being anorbic. I take them and empty them in my outdoor compost bin. If it's feeding day(Sunday for me) then I'll pick the one that looks like it has the most food in it(I also compost kleenex and old egg cartons so sometimes there's not much food to be had)and feed it to the worms. Otherwise I just root thru the fridge and find stuff that's gone bad..there's usually more than I'd like.

I may consider buying an open one(or two) some day but free works for me.

Cass:)

I used to just use a handy bowl for food scraps. But my husband complained about it. So this year I got a Max Air compost pail. So far I am really liking it. It has a lid with lots of holes, and has air vents all over it. You use Bio Bags with it, which look like plastic, but breath and biodegrade. So far I've noticed no smell from it, even when very full, and no fruit flies. Not only that, but the bin encourages evaporation, so the scraps are lighter when I take them outside.

I have an outdoor bin. I had some problems with slugs when I put in fresh newspaper bedding... but any that I find go directly to my hungry chickens... so I don't think it will last long.

I'm using a soup toureen. It looks nice and so far I haven't had any problems with smells or fruit flies.

I'll spring the soup toureen idea on Mrs. Joe as soon as I'm ready to duck! :)

I use a rubbermaid snap lock storage container on the kitchen counter. Plus a cat litter bucket at the office to gather all of those coffee grounds. I've got my co-workers well trained.

It was a cheap soup toureen -- not my fine china :).

I'd Like to correct myself:I just use old 4kg Becel Margerine tubs.

That should read 4lb not 4kg...I was looking at the tubs yesterday:)

Cass:)

I freeze everything in plastic freezer bags, then crush the materials to break them up (great for crushing eggshells) before putting them into 5 gallon plastic pickle jars. Then I leave them out for a day or so before feeding. Freezing and thawing does make the foodstock break down faster.

Chuckiebtoo

I just found this post and thought , even though its old now, I'll add to it.
I buy the net "shower scrunchies" take them apart and cut into 8 pieces. This is a long tube which I tie off at one end. I put it in an ice cream bucket and stretch it so it comes over the lid. I put all my food stuffs in there and let it rot. When I am ready to feed I let it hang for a day to dry up and put the whole thing into the bin. When there is nothing recognizable left, I dump it out into the bin and replace it. They re very strong, and cheap. One scrunchie will hold 2-3 lbs of food. When they are done, I just toss them. I have 8 bins so the more efficient I can be, the better.

I have found that this saves time and having to handle the yukky stuff, which they love the best, (of course).
The only problem I have is that the baby worms will curl up into the knot and can't be coaxed out. Leave them and they find their own way out.

Bev