Kitchen Routines that Combat Food Waste
I love a good chat about single-use plastic, ending the fast fashion crisis, and other complicated environmental quandaries. But one of the easiest ways to combat the climate– and waste– crisis is sitting right in our pantry. At least, that is, until we forget about it and it grows some fuzzy friends. That’s right– fighting food waste reduces landfill waste AND greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2018, 35.3 million tons of wasted food was sent to landfills. In fact, food breaking down in landfills (absent of oxygen) accounts for 24.1% of all landfill waste and 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. So rather than contribute to the crisis, here’s some easy steps to make the food-to-mouth (not landfill) plan work for you.
Create a meal plan
This one isn’t terribly sexy, but it is practical. Having an idea of what you’ll eat in a given week lets you buy only what you actually plan to cook with. For those who struggle with the rigidity of a meal plan, even having a loose framework— Tuesday is pasta night, Friday is pizza— can make sure you don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll have four nights of salads (when the reality is closer to one).
Bonus: Meal planning also reduces decision fatigue— the fewer “mundane” decisions you have to make on a daily basis, the more mental energy you have to change the world. That sounds pretty neat!
Make your “soon to expire” foods easily accessible
It’s no secret that you should consume your soon-to-expire foods first. The challenge is actually following through with this. Some people have lots of success with an “Eat Me First” bin in the pantry or refrigerator. Although I keep an appliance and clutter-free countertop (at least on my good days!), I keep a stackable metal basket with my fruits and veggies on the counter, as a visual reminder to use ‘em up!
It’s also worth noting that many expiration dates aren’t quite as set in stone as we think. Here’s a fascinating read on when your food will actually go bad.
And if you’re sure you won’t be able to use something up? Check with your local community or food bank for someone who will.
Make friends with the freezer
“Old me” diligently stocked up on veggies but kept them in the refrigerator, where I was sure I would get to them (feel free to laugh at my naive optimism)…and nearly always forgot to use them up. Now, when I bring home groceries (or get my Misfits Market produce deliveries), I try to tackle the prep work immediately. I dice parsley, peppers, and onions, and freeze them immediately in mason jars (great for pulling out a pinch at a time!) or Souper Cubes (perfect for the times I want a precise measurement, like 1/2 cup of spinach).
My family is also, regrettably, notoriously averse to eating the same thing for multiple meals. So while some people are batch-cooking superstars who happily eat the same thing for days, I instead freeze leftover portions for later use. I use Souper Cubes for soups and sauces. Oven-ready meals (like chicken pot pie or lasagna) can be frozen in Pyrex for an easy freezer-to-oven-to-table transition.
Got bread that’s going stale (or the ends that, let’s face it, nobody eats)? Toss it in the freezer & save it for bread crumbs! You can also extend the life of dairy products (especially those that are used for cooking, such as ricotta and buttermilk) by freezing.
Be Mindful of Portions
The average dinner plate size has jumped from 9” in the 1950s to 11.75” today (and I can assure you that our appetite didn’t actually keep up with this size jump!). Opt for a smaller portion at first (and feel free to go back for seconds!). The logic is simple: Food that makes it to your plate often catches a case of the cooties along the way, so it gets discarded… while food that stays in the pan can be claimed by someone else or gets saved for later.
Save it for the stew
Veggies that are past their prime— wilted, browning, or otherwise unappetizing on their own— can still be a tasty addition to cozy soups and stews (my favorite is broccoli cheddar). I also save the “odds and ends” of fruits (at least of the bell pepper variety!) and vegetables for homemade vegetable or chicken broth. Since the actual vegetables are used only for taste and are strained from the final broth, stems, outer rings of the onion, and other less-than-ideal parts of the vegetable aren’t a problem.
I keep a silicone bag in the freezer to store these veggie “odds and ends” until I’m ready to make the broth (which I get around to about once a month). This is the yummy vegetable broth recipe I use.
Pro tip: You can also make chicken stock using the leftover bones & pieces from rotisserie chicken. Buying a whole chicken typically has less packaging than pre-cut and is so easy to make… and you get homemade stock to boot.
Last Resort: Compost
If you really missed the boat and your lettuce is growing a third head, divert your food waste from landfill with composting.
Some cities offer free composting services, and others have paid services that will pick up your compost. If you (like me), didn’t luck out to have a food-scrap-loving farmer down the road, you can start your own compost bin. I use a stainless steel bin to hold my food scraps in the kitchen, then transfer them to this tumbling composter (it has two sides– so one side can “rot” while you fill the other).
You may hear people talk about the “green to brown” ratio, which is really the carbon to nitrogen ratio. You can do lots of research and get all science-y on this– but what it will really give you is compost that breaks down more quickly. My recommendation? Start your compost bin with what you have (food scraps and bits of cardboard or newspaper are the easy starting options)– and you can follow up with more research if your compost doesn’t end up doing what you had hoped.
Want to read more? Check out Everything You Need for a Low-Waste Taco Tuesday. Found value in this post? Please share with friends!
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