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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
