Last week, my mom called to say that she had figs. And cucumbers. And okra and peppers and tomatoes. Did I want any? When I told her yes, I knew what was coming my way—many pounds of produce, much more than two people could eat. And when life hands you food, well, you've got to figure out what to do with it. Here's what I learned.
When it comes to food, I try to be extremely conscious of creating waste. Now that we have our own compost bin in the backyard, it's easy to get rid of scraps. But when we have too much food leftover, more than we can eat, I hate watching it go.
Food is too precious a resource to waste. Too many people go without to make it ok to throw something out—and what my grandparents drilled into me at every meal ("Clean your plate! We don't waste food in this house!") feels like more of a mantra than a challenge these days. So I've learned to get creative. Here are a few tips I've learned from my own trials:
• Freeze it. Even with small amounts of leftovers (from restaurants or my own kitchen), if I know I can't eat in the very next day, I put it in the freezer. Then it's a perfect quick meal any time I need it—for packing a lunch to work or for reheating on a late weeknight. That's also where I keep bread (great for toast), browning bananas (for one-ingredient ice cream or smoothies), and multi-grain tortillas (which reheat quickly).
• Don't have time to make jam with fruit that's quickly turning? Spend 20 minutes processing it, and then freeze it. Those extra figs I had (a few pounds) got pureed and cooked for about 15 minutes with a little lemon juice and honey. I poured the mix into a freezer-friendly dish and for adding to a cheese plate, or maybe even a filling for homemade fig bars. The same can be done with berries, peaches, pears, or plums. They can be used for pies, ice cream, or even as freezer jam!
• Give freely. When I knew we had more cucumbers than we could possibly eat (and no time to pickle them), I gave them away to friends and colleagues. They were happy to accept, and I didn't have to add them to the compost.
These tips have helped me approach food in a smarter way, whether it's from the grocery store or our own backyard garden. What tips do you have for avoiding food waste?
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• How To: Never Waste Food Again
• Afraid to Can? Try Freezer Jam!
• Prevent Food Waste and Save Money
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The best thing I did was to make both breakfast and lunch for work instead of buying it on the way to work or stopping at Starbucks. I make the food the night before, load up the coffee machine, put it in the Tiffin and viola, I've saved a ton of money and there's no way that food goes to waste if you've prepared enough for an 8 to 10-hour day not including drive time.
I have been making "garbage soup" periodically for 30 years. I keep a largish container in the freezer and any meat, starch or vegetable (even salad) leftovers just get dumped in. When the container is full I add stock and seasoning to make a tasty soup that is different every time. I don't use highly seasoned leftovers like chili, they throw off the flavor for what is essentially vegetable soup. Try it you will be pleasantly surprised!
Great tips, I often have a lot of extra produce and left-overs, so I will keep these tips in mind for the future!
We do the "garbage soup" in my house too, but only vegetables, herbs, and cheese rinds since one of the roommates is vegetarian. I'll also chop and freeze veggies for stir frys (although if the produce in question can be pickled or turned into jam I tend to take an hour out of my sleep schedule and do a couple of quick jars for later!)
In addition to the "garbage soup" idea, you can actually make your own "garbage stock" really easily. This is especially great for people who don't do their own composting -- instead of paying for the city to take away our food scraps, I put almost all fruit and veggie trimmings into gallon bags in the freezer. Onion skins, tough veggie stalks, pea or bean pods, the green part of the leek -- freeze together and then cook it all into a stock (and you can alter the specific flavor with other bouillon concentrates or spices). Really atypical stuff can make for delicious flavors -- try including even strawberry tops, cherry pits and apple cores!
This also works for meat roasts, or whenever you cook a bird (or buy a roasted bird at the store) -- throw the bones/carcass into a freezer bag; raw bones separate from cooked bones. I actually learned all of this from reading the Joy of Cooking info on stocks and broths, and I feel so much less wasteful now.
Unless I am having guests, I don't buy more perishable food than I can realistically use up within a few days. This works pretty well for me, since I have a small fridge and live alone. If there are leftovers, they get frozen or shared.
I was contemplating this very thing as I put spoiled food in the composter last night. In an attempt not to buy more than we need, the hubs and I are going to make more frequent, small trips to the store, rather than one big trip every week or two. When we make a big trip, that food tends to go bad before we can eat it all. Hopefully this new strategy will be effective.
I want to second #1 --Freezing is great! So many of our leftovers can be frozen before we get sick of eating them over and over. Also, most non-lettuce vegetables can be chopped then blanched (put in boiling water for 30-60 seconds, depending on the veggie), then freeze it and you have frozen veggies to add to any meal later on!
Not to mention that having a full freezer can save on energy (as the freezer won't have to work as hard at maintaining the temperature with all that frozen stuff helping keep it cold).
I call my soup "kitchen sink soup" because everything goes in it but the kitchen sink.