I had asked this very same question a few years ago and based on the responses I got, I bought an inexpensive plastic bowl with a lid at Walmart or some such store.

Works well and didn't cost much.

Linda

I use a large plastic coffee can with a snap on lid.

I keep a small covered plastic bucket (ex-dishwasher powder container) on the patio, which is just outside the kitchen. I bring it in during food preparation and then place it outside after. When it's full I head for the compost pile.

Carol

I have a plastic coated wire basket that sits next to my sink. I like using it because the air flow helps keep the kitchen scraps from rotting/stinking in between trips to empty it. It's a relatively fine mesh, and sits on a glass plate anyway, in case of small bits coming through.

I cook mostly from scratch and we go through a good quantity of vegetables and fruits, so it ends up getting emptied every few days. But, as my sink gets a fair amount of sunshine, even that short period could result in noxious odors if I used a solid container.

I use a large stainless steel bowl (easy to clean) and dump it in the pile every day.

I use an empty 1 gallon ice cream bucket. Lid goes on in the summer when fruit flies get bad.

We use a small plastic garbage can with a hinged lid. Once the can is filled we take it out to the big compost outside. I use a lot of veggies so it doesn't take long to fill the thing up. Never have problems with the smell. Al

Tall ice bucket w. lid from the thrift store in kitchen pantry on floor near mop and broom. Works great, keeps out odors and easily bleached after dumping.
June Lynn

What Carol (readinglady) said. Bucket just outside the patio door.
I used to keep it in the laundry room, but can't stand the fruit flies in the summer. Now we're just used to it being on the patio all year.

Deanna

Thank you all so much! Wow, it's nice to see plain old inexpensive methods. There's just some stuff that doesn't go in the "stock" bag in the freezer and you hate to see it go to waste.

I do the same...small, covered container that I empty when full. But during the winter I dump it into plastic grocery bags and keep those in the garage until I can get to the heap in spring. My heap is too far to get to through all the snow, but it sure is a good producer!

Sherry

I have a stainless steel lidded bucket that came from Lee Valley. It was a Christmas gift one year. Much more attractive than the ice cream bucket it replaced. Holds more as well.

Most of mine goes to the chickens before it gets into the garden so I use a 1/2 gallon metal can with wood lid that mom painted. Line it with a small plastic bag so I can carry the bag out to the coop every day. We do a lot of cooking from scratch and seem to generate a fair amount of scraps. Also have a small stainless flip top can that sits at the other sink with a removeable plastic bucket(From Wally World I think) that I keep the egg shells in as the chickens don't get those they go direct to the compost. And during the harvest season with an acre garden I keep a five gallon bucket on the deck and bring it in during food prep and back out to the chickens directly after so they get their veggies fresh too. The containers don't have to cost a lot and you don't have to buy a fancy "compost countertop bin.

I use an old mixing bowl and cover it with a plate. Although there are just the two of us the bowl is emptied once or twice a day as we use a lot of fruit and veg.
The compost bin is just outside and around the corner from the kitchen.

SharonCb

We use a (lidded) plastic cat food bucket--about 2 gallon, I'm guessing. Stored under the sink & gets emptied when it gets close to full, usually every 2-3 days.

So I'm the exception. I use a compost pail I bought from
Gardener's Supply years ago that has a lid with an insert that prevents odors. It stays under the kitchen sink. We also use biodegradable bags that go in the compost along with the scraps. Probably not the most expensive thing in the world. Our compost is not that close to the house and it gets emptied every few days whenever it's full.

jude

Small plastic pail with a hinged lid inside and large green bin with a hinged lid that "locks".

Our town has a "wet" garbage recycle program. We put all food product waste (including meat and bones) in the bin and the town picks it up weekly.

I also use an ice cream bucket for compost, but I really need something larger. It stays in the garage, which is attached to the house. I have a second bucket for chicken scraps, they love them.

Like Mike, most of my food scraps go to the chickens, but things like coffee grounds, egg shells, etc., go into the compost. Oh, and my idea of a "compost pile" is that big pile of cow/horse manure that gets scraped up with the tractor and bucket out in the barnyard. It sits over the winter and goes onto the garden in the spring, so it "composts" for about a year. In the fall, I dig a trench in the garden space and compostables go into the trench (I have a separate bucket for that) and get covered up. It sits over the winter and gets plowed into the garden in the spring. In the winter things get chucked onto the pile, LOL. I take the buckets to the farm with me about twice weekly.

I do get the oddest looks when I get out of my (usually very muddy and hay covered) Jeep Wrangler in my heels, hose and suit for work and grab a bucket of tomatoes or a dozen farm eggs from the back and take them into the office with me, LOL. I had new worker say I had "a side people at work didn't know" and that she expected I'd be driving something like a Jaguar instead of a Jeep. (grin)

Annie

Forgive me, I dont understand this whole compost thing.

Why? Is it to enrich the soil so you can grow fruits/veggies better?

I dont know anyone, in my life, who does this (aside from this forum). Is it because I live in Florida and it would smell or rot from the heat?

Don't the wild animals come and eat what you put out or dig for it?

Can someone explain this to me?

Shaun, people compost for a variety of reasons, some are environmental, sometimes it's very nearly a necessity. Chase, for instance, is limited as to the amount of non-recycleables she can dispose of in her city, without additional payment. Even here in my little town the garbage people won't pick up yard waste and you can't burn it either, so leaves get chopped up with the lawnmower and used as mulch for yard plantings.

My compost goes into my garden for organic fertilizer, both cheaper and healthier than the "better living through chemicals" commercial stuff. Compost adds to and enriches your soil, where the commercial chemical fertilizers add nothing to your soil and in a few years your soil is useless and doesn't produce well. It's also great for filling my raised herb garden at home, the plants love it and it's chemical free, and the few flower beds I actually have are very happy. So, compost is free, it's healthy, it's better than commercial fertilizer and it's environmentally sound.

Annie

shaun-you might also want to check out the soil, compost and mulch forum on the Gardenweb side. Tons of good info!

Here is a link that might be useful: link

Shaun, another thing...you don't put meat scraps in it so there's nothing to attract animals in general. However if you have apple peelings, for instance, and deer, they might just make contact...maybe raccoons as well. It has never been a problem for us though.

jude

I have been composting since I was a kid, when Dad started me on it.

We use a small metal garbage "step on to open the lid" can. I keep it in the kitchen, next to the trash can. In go the peelings, egg shells, coffee grounds, wilted or past their prime veg/fruits AND shredded or crushed newspapers. These are the "greens". The newspapers are the "browns" that the bucket needs to balance it and to keep odors away. A balanced bucket or pile should never have a bad odor. If so, it is out of wack and generally you need the brown mater, like paper or leaves.

Funny, I was just looking at a worm composting system for indoors from Gardens Alive. Yeh, I am nuts. But my garden loves the compost or Gardeners Gold.

The main reason that I compost is that, living where I do (in Wisconsin), the topsoil is very thin & very sandy. My soil needs organic matter both for the nutrients and to hold water.

My pile is enclosed with wire mesh so the larger critters can't get into it. Have been meaning to start a new pile so the bunnies can get in & snack. They make nice deposits to the pile so it's not like they're getting off with all the goodies....

After breaking 3 ceramic ones over the past 12 years I bought a metal one this fall. It is large enough for a day or two worth of compostables without beginning to smell.

Well thanks for the explanation.

I knew I wanted to go back and read a thread that I posted a question on but for the life of me I could not remember which forum or thread it was. hahaha! But I knew I wanted to go back to read the answers.

Well today it finally came to me, the Compost thread on the Cooking Forum!!!!!! That only took me 11 days - I'm good huh?

Thanks again for the info.

Here is what works for me:

I want something that will not make the kitchen look lousy.

I use this plastic bin and sandpapered it perfectly flat. The glass cover makes it air tight, so I have no smell and no fruit fly problems at all.

An air-tight lid is too much trouble to open and close.

dcarch

I don't compost either Shaun. For the amount of effort it takes, I'd rather go buy a bag of farfard.
We have tons of wild animals around the house and I don't need to put out dinner for them. The last thing my 2 dogs need is a run in with a skunk or possum.
We do have good soil, however and the landfill is 5 miles from the house and it's free. And I heavily mulch- we have a dump truck.

I composted in the summer when I had tons of vegetable waste, and I just used a couple of plastic grocery bags to collect stuff. I kept them in the fridge, to prevent spoilage, pests, etc, and when they got full, took them outside to dump them.

I compost for all sorts of reasons.
It makes sense to me. I have to PAY to have garbage taken away and I would have to PAY for fertilizer if I didn't compost.
This way I minimize the amount of trash going into the landfills (we also sort out glass, plastic, metal and we burn paper/cardboard). My garden loves the organic matter and rewards me well every summer. I'm not using "who knows what" chemicals on my food. All of the goat and chicken manure goes into the pile as well.

It's easy! Even if you don't have the room or desire for a big compost pile, you can still bury kitchen scraps around flower or veggie beds.

It's really just a matter of getting into the habit.

Deanna

I can use all the fertilizer I can get (and it's 20 mi. to dump trash so we try to have as little as possible). We have a fancy compost pile....a hole out in the woods where a stump had been pulled, lol.

Last fall DH moved our last pile down to the garden. A large pickup load of nearly black soil and a veritable worm farm.

We use a green square bucket with a filter in the lid from Lee Valley.