More Tips for Eliminating Food Waste

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My recent focus on cutting down or eliminating food waste has made me more aware when I am in the grocery store. I am less likely to walk through on autopilot, tossing the same old items into my car. Now I try to think about each thing I’m buying and why I’m buying it. (I also feel more pain each time I toss spoiled food into the trash can or composter, and renew my pledge not to waste.)

One thing I’ve discovered is that it’s usually a mistake to buy fresh food, like produce or dairy, in large quantities, even if it is on sale. I’d rather make one more trip to the store each week than throw out food we didn’t get around to eating. We are a small family, so instead of buying an entire bag of potatoes or apples, for instance, I’ve found it’s better to buy just what I think we’ll eat in the next few days. I used to buy a week’s worth of fruit at a time, but there was inevitable spoilage. Now I only buy two or three pieces of each kind of fruit that we want and make sure we eat them.

The caveat to this is that it’s sometimes better to buy in bulk, but only if I have a plan for the food. For example, if something is on sale, like chicken or broccoli, I will stock up and freeze the excess immediately after I get home. I will also buy a large number of cheap apples, if I know I’m going to get around to making applesauce that day.

This brings me to my next tip. We eat more food if I prepare it for eating soon after bringing it home from the store, rather than waiting for when we want to eat it. For instance, I tear and wash fresh lettuce right after I get home, so I’m always ready to make a salad for lunch or dinner; if I have room in the fridge, I’ll store the lettuce in my salad spinner. Or I’ll peel and grate a large quantity of carrots for snacking, salads and sandwiches right away. Food that I don’t want to prepare right away, I divvy up for meals and freeze any excess.

What tips are you using to keep from wasting fresh food?

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No More Food Waste!

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So, 2012 is the year I really try to reduce the amount of food I waste. Did you know that Americans waste about a pound of food per day? Chefs try hard not to waste anything; why shouldn’t home cooks strive for the same goal?

Not wasting food is particularly difficult when you live with a picky toddler. I feel like I have to keep offering him vegetables, chicken, eggs, grains and other things that are good for him, but he will likely turn his nose up at whatever I set before him that isn’t a peanut butter sandwich. Still, I keep trying, and I am getting better at making appropriate quantities and saving what he doesn’t eat for later.

One way to reduce food waste is to think up clever things to do with leftovers. Many recipes are designed to make use of leftovers. For example, bread that is going stale can be recycled as bread crumbs, crostini, bruschetta, bread pudding, bread salad, bread soup and so on. I’m going to feature tips and recipes for using up those leftovers here as I discover them, and I hope you’ll share your tips in the comments.

Now here’s a holiday tip that is super-simple, but I honestly would never have thought of it myself (I read it in one of my new Christmas cookbooks). If you have leftover eggnog, you can recycle it as batter for French toast. Just dip the toast in the eggnog and fry in butter. I am definitely trying that this weekend!

What are your food-related goals for the new year?

Rescuing Greens and Other Ways to Avoid Food Waste

Here’s a good tip I spotted on The Kitchn. When your salad greens are starting to go bad, bring them back to life by sauteing with garlic and oil. Could be a nice light lunch with an omelet.

There are a lot of other handy for avoiding food waste here.

 No-Waste Tip: Sauté the Last of the Salad Greens | Apartment Therapy The Kitchn

Use It or Lose It Day

I designate one day a week as “Use It or Lose It Day.” This is the day when I go through the fridge and methodically take care of all the leftovers, vegetables about to go bad, and other odds and ends. By having one day a week when I regularly do this, I’ve found that I’ve cut down a lot on food waste and am using leftovers more wisely.

Usually, I pick Friday, Saturday or Sunday as the Use It or Lose It Day, depending on what’s going on that weekend. I go through the fridge and pull out:

• cooked leftovers in their various containers
• fresh vegetables and fruits in danger of going bad soon
• raw meat remaining from the last grocery trip
• any small bits of cheese, salami, that one remaining tortilla, etc.

First, I try to assemble a picnic. I cut up fruits and vegetables for snacking. I prepare pretty trays with bits of cheese, cooked meat and salads. Or if inspiration hits me, I throw everything together into a salad, stir-fry, omelet or similar pot-luck dish. The point is to actually eat these tasty bits before they turn on me.

Whatever doesn’t get eaten is marked for freezing, if possible. Large amounts of leftover soups, stews and casseroles are packaged, labeled, dated and put in the standing freezer for later consumption. Vegetables are cleaned, sliced and steamed or blanched, then frozen. Uncooked meats are packaged in single-meal portions, dated and also frozen.

Sometime there is a little bit of food that isn’t palatable for eating or freezing and must get thrown away. But ever since I’ve gotten systematic about using it or losing it once a week, I’ve noticed that I’m throwing away a lot less. I’ve even made it a recurring task in my to-do list.

What do you do to reduce food waste in your kitchen?

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Managing Leftovers: Use It or Lose It

Leftover pasta salad with steamed green beans, tomatoes and grilled chicken

With the costs of food rocketing up and more awareness about how food production and distribution impacts climate change, I’ve been seeing a lot of news lately about food waste. Apparently, we Americans (and the British too) waste a lot of food. Well, it’s no wonder with food being so cheap and plentiful here, but that may change. It’s good to have some strategies for dealing with leftovers so you waste as little as possible.

Chefs are notoriously thrifty and try to waste as little as possible, such as by making homemade stock and devising recipes to use up day-old bread. Why not put a few of these practices into place at home? Here are some strategies I’ve devised to reduce food waste in my house.

Making up a menu and shopping list for the week is the number-one way to reduce food waste. Get in the habit of checking the pantry and freezer to see what can be used before buying new items. Buy only what you need when you go to the store.

Even the best-planned menus can get thwarted by the events of the week. Have an unexpected dinner out or a night when you don’t feel like cooking anything more strenuous than scrambled eggs, and you might have some produce hanging out in the crisper that was intended for a recipe you never got around to making. This is where the freezer comes in handy.

Most fresh produce lasts about a week in the fridge (more or less–it’s a good idea to get acquainted with storage times for produce and the best places to store them so you have less spoilage). Just before I go shopping, I go through the refrigerator and take out all the bits of produce that are about to go bad. Most produce can be frozen with just a little prep. Invest in a book like The Busy Person’s Guide to Preserving Food, so that you know the best strategies for freezing food. If you have a garden or belong to a CSA, you might want to invest in a small freezer, which is more efficient for freezing food for long periods.

Besides produce, bits of cooked meat, vegetables, rice and pasta are the leftovers I most frequently have on hand. Some dishes are very freezeable, such as soups, chilis and casseroles. I always make extra and freeze them in single- or double-serving sizes.

But what about when you have just a bit of grilled chicken, cooked pasta or steamed green beans left over? I like to store these in the fridge on the same shelf in glass dishes. Whenever I open the fridge, all of my leftovers are staring me in the face. Usually, this starts the wheels turning on how they can go together, such as in the pasta salad pictured above. Salads, soups, frittatas, tacos — many dishes are designed to use up leftovers.

When I’m meal-planning, I always designate one night (usually Thursdays) as “leftover night” to use up those bits and pieces. If I don’t have any or I end up eating them for lunch, I can always pull something out of the freezer instead.

With just a little planning and thought, you can really reduce the amount of food waste in your home. And if you still have some food that goes to waste, try composting it instead of throwing it away. Then you can reuse it in the garden.