Tips for Reducing Food Waste
You are such wonderful and conscientious people who write me fabulous questions. Thank you! A big one this past year has been how to reduce food waste, so lets dig into this topic together.
Food waste is a big topic lately and it really deserves to be, with statistics such as thirty to forty percent of the United States food supply being thrown away on average—yikes.
Today we are going to shrink our scope down to our kitchens and focus on what we can do to reduce food waste in our homes. These are mentalities and tactics I’ve adopted over the years and to be truthful, am still working on all of the time.
I don’t believe anything is about perfection, I think it is about awareness and caring. If you are aware and you care, you’re going to try—and we really just need to be a people who try. All of our individual efforts count :).
I hope some of these methods listed (with more photos below) are inspiring and helpful in your thoughtful attempts to reduce you’re food waste.
I know each of you are experts at this in different ways as well, so please do leave your favorite strategies in the comments here for myself and others to glean from even more inspiration and knowledge too.
x Jessie
big Tips
Buy Less — If food is spoiling at the end of the week, it means that it was not needed.
Intuitive Cooking — rather than following a recipe, freestyle! Base meal ideas off of what you have.
Reverse Meal Planning — rather than asking yourself what you’d like to purchase, ask what you need to use up and plan meals around these things.
Keep Things Simple — We tend to overcomplicate our meals. Pair down idealistic goals into realistic goals that gamble less with waste.
Using Leftovers First — Utilize leftovers before making a new recipe. Think through ahead of time how you can carry a batch of something over to multiple meals and use it up first before moving onto the next.
Use Your Tools — Freezing, fermenting, blending, roasting, baking, these are all ways to use up and stretch out ingredients’ lives. Try to see the potential of the produce you bring home (or meals you cook up) before the end of their lives. Have a plan B for making them last.
Compost — See if your city has a compost collecting system, or look into a composting method that fits your lifestyle.
Produce Prep — Storing produce in the best way to keep from spoiling can be really helpful in reducing food waste. This is why I put together my eBook covering how to select and store over forty fruits and veggies! To hopefully help you feel more confident about making your produce keep.
little Tips
Freezer Scraps for Broth
I’ve started saving onion, carrot, and sometimes sweet potato, scraps in a container in the freezer.
This way when I go to make a batch of vegetable broth next I can toss these in to off-set the amount of fresh produce I’ll need.
Or if one day I pile up enough scraps, possibly I’ll get to make an entirely scrap-based broth. It is basically for free!
Utilizing Ice Cube Trays
I started freezing extra coconut milk, vegetable broth, aquafaba (chickpea brine), and applesauce. These seem to be the top things I have a little extra of sitting in the fridge often that can sometimes go bad if I don’t get creative.
Now I can pull down a few cubes of broth or coconut milk and toss them directly into a soup, or thaw some apple sauce or aquafaba when they are needed in a baking recipe too.
Here are the silicone freezer trays I have, as well as the Stasher Bags pictured for storing.
Fermentation
I don’t recommend using old produce for fermentation (fresh is best!) but if I come home from the market having gotten overzealous with a certain veg, or if you are someone who gardens and harvests a lot of something at once, fermenting is such a handy way to stretch your produce.
I have a tutorial on lacto-fermented veggies in brine here, and there are lots of simple sauerkraut tutorials online—here is one which mimics my methods closest (I ferment for 4 weeks).
Blending a Soup
In the fall and winter, I almost always make an end of the week scrappy soup! It is such a delicious and easy way to stretch the leftover veggies from the week.
I simply combine red lentils, onion, and garlic with leftover veggies such as carrots, pumpkin/potatoes, and broccoli stems. Season as I’d like (either with herbs, or maybe some fresh ginger and coconut milk) then cover it with water by an inch, and pressure cook for 20 minutes.
Afterwards I blend it smooth using a stick blender, and store in a large jar in the fridge to heat for easy dinners and lunches.
We typically eat this with steamed greens and toasted sourdough (with lots of fresh lemon juice and black pepper too).
Using All of the Veg
It is amazing how much of the vegetable is edible, yet so many of us throw away. You’ve most likely heard me ramble on about saving broccoli stems if you’ve been around here for a bit. They, alongside the broccoli leaves, I love almost more than the florets—they are incredible.
This applies also to cauliflower stems and leaves, as well as kale and chard stems, carrot and beet tops, and plenty of others you’ll discover too once you start questioning what gets tossed away.
The best way to prepare them will vary, but with broccoli and cauliflower florets, stems, and leaves we prefer steamed.
They go well in all kinds of nourishing bowls built with beans, grains, and a tasty sauce.
Fridge Organization
This is ground zero, I believe, for reducing food waste. A well organized fridge with see through containers will help you get a feel for what is on hand to use at any meal and make it less likely that something will go missing in the back of the fridge.
I encourage you to pull everything out of your fridge, give the shelves a good wipe down, and only put back in what is still good to eat (preferably in a categorized way that makes your brain happy when visualizing).
Anything that is rotten or mysterious should get composted/tossed. It’s best to declutter so you can truly see what is available, kind of like organizing your closet.
See the details of my fall fridge from last year in this post, jars and produce bags in this post, and tips for produce storage in my eBook too if you’d like.
Making Apple Cider Vinegar
This is new to me, but what a clever way to use up apple cores to make something basically for free!
I collected about 16 apple cores (sliced off of, not bitten) in a bag in the freezer for a few weeks, then prepared this jug on the left with coconut sugar and water.
I still have 6 weeks until I’m able to know for sure how it turns out, but I’ve heard wonderful things from others who do this commonly. I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. :)
I hope this post was helpful for you in some way <3
Please do leave any more tips you have below!