food

Food waste over the Holidays

Every year for the Holidays there are way too many parties, way too many dinners out and of course at least one (often more) big family meals. This year because of Covid-19 things were a little different. No big deal, I can adapt! But this had me thinking about reducing my waste, I knew I was already pretty successful with my gift wrapping and I had ideas on improving it (see previous blog) but food waste was going to be my next big project.

Of course, if you do it properly you can always compost but do we really need to toss everything? Even if its going back to the earth? It's easier, but that doesn’t make it the right (side note: mental health comes first people… if you can’t save those potatoes…compost them!).

After a tiny bit of forethought, I came up with a tiered plan, and here it is.

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Step one: DON’T OVERBUY AND BUY LOCAL WHERE YOU CAN! This one can easily cut down not only on your single-use plastics but also in what you end up having to be creative with later. No need to buy a big old bag of brussels sprouts when we each only take 3-4 anyway, just handpick a few and call it a day. 

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Step two: Cook that stuff mindfully, if you keep things a little plain, you can easily repurpose them later. It is easy for people to add seasonings to veg on their own plate.

Step three: Once dinner is done, start to look at what you’ve got! This was my first year ever considering the turkey insides, and why not!? I have a dog and a cat that would be all too happy to eat that liver! Holiday treats all around!

Strip that carcass down, boil it up into some bone broth and make yourself a lovely turkey soup. This is also a great chance to use up leftover veggies (Assuming they aren’t too starchy). Toss in your carrots, beans, peas, some onion, celery etc, and voila! Soup! Delicious freezable soup! I also toss in barley, it is my new soup obsession…


Now, those starches and other things you don’t really want in your soup.. NO PROBLEM! If you’ve got mashed or whipped potatoes and broccoli just smoosh them all together with some onion and maybe cheese and make potato patties. You can fry them up on a pan OR even more fun, fry them up in the waffle iron. These also freeze really well and kids tend to love them.

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Now you’ve got all these onion skins and those carrot tops and celery leaves… again, NO PROBLEM! You can pop them in a pot and cover with water to make veggie broth (add salt and pepper to taste) and if you don’t have quite enough to make it worth your while just freeze them, they will still be good in a couple of weeks when you have more to add.


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Leftovers are always welcome in my house, you can do turkey sammies and of course, you can always freeze meat or plated up meals. There you have it folks, SUPER MINIMAL FOOD WASTE!

I hope this was as fun for you as it was for me and that you now go down an internet rabbit hole looking for recipes. Blessed feasting my friends.

Getting more out of your produce

 
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With the failing dollar, I am sure you are all noticing your grocery bills going up steeply. I know I have. So, in an effort to reduce waste and get a little more out of my food budget, I started doing some research and came up with a few simple tips to best use produce:

  1. Pay attention to your fridge’s crisper drawers, which often feature clear humidity settings for fruits and vegetables. Be sure to separate and store your produce properly, as certain fruits and vegetables can cause others to spoil faster.
  2. It may sound a little gross, but avoid washing your produce right away. The added moisture can encourage rot.
  3. Buy Local! This may not be feasible for everyone, whether related to product affordability or location, but when possible locally grown produce is often better quality and generally has reduced transport time, so your food will last longer.
  4. Buy “young” food. If you don’t need to use it all right away, buying young produce and letting it mature a little will give you some extra time. Additionally, some younger foods hold more nutrition than their older counterparts, e.g. baby spinach.
  5. Don’t over prep. Pre-cut fruits and veggies, when exposed to oxygen for a day, lose 10-25% of their antioxidants, like vitamin c. It may be convenient to cut all your veg at once, but you are cheating yourself of nutrients and speeding up the degradation process.
  6. Fruits and vegetables are best eaten in their natural form. If you must cook, in order to get the best bang for your buck, do not over cook. Try methods such as steaming instead of boiling or nuking in the microwave.
  7. If you aren’t able to use all your produce fast enough, freeze it. I know it doesn’t always sound like the most appealing solution, but it is definitely better than letting good food go to waste. If done properly and while your produce is still fresh, the produce will also retain most of it’s nutrients.
  8. Juicing at home? Juice only what you need. I know it can be tempting to juice extra, but research shows you get the best bang for your buck when you drink it right away.

 

Those are just some general tips. If you are looking for more specific information, I am rounded up some great links to get you rolling (below). Remember: waste not – want not.

 

http://www.thekitchn.com/the-kitchns-guide-to-storing-fruits-and-vegetables-tip-roundup-176308

http://www.thekitchn.com/seize-the-season-freezing-fresh-vegetables-171376

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http://cleangreensimple.com/2011/05/storing-food-and-produce/