Love this article. Makes me think of the ted talk: The Global Food Waste Scandal -http://www.ted.com/talks/tristram_stuart_the_global_food_waste_scandal - Brings so much attention to an over abundance of wasted food that can feed our hungry.
5
I suggest taking a look at "The Buff Restaurant" in Boulder Colorado. They are the only restaurant I have seen with a "zero waste" policy. Over 95% of their waste is recyclable or compostable. It's not literally zero waste but it's close, and it's inspiring!
3
COMPOSTING UPDATE. The attendant at the farmer's market said, depending on the weather, their composting booth collects up to 2 tons of scraps a week. They collect on Sunday mornings, on Columbus Avenue at 80th Street. I was reluctant to get started, but it's easier to do than I expected.
9
I’m glad to know I’m not alone in a cooking journey that leads to this space. The idea of “kitchen efficiency” is key, but to me, the bigger joy is the phrase, “home cook”.
As a boomer who bought “la method” and “la technique” to re-create the highly stylized food porn of the cooking mags, I find myself, “revisiting old places in new ways” with what I cook.
Now, I buy the blemished and reduced, and spend the drive home thinking about techniques to use. Braise or Sauté? Steam or grill? What is the min amount of salt I can add? Where should I add it? Can I get 1 more use from the bones?
The journey that started with, Time/Life, “Foods of the World” has morphed into a technique driven process where the end product is pretty tasty with minimal waste and excess cost.
Yes, I still want to re-create Lenotre’s Raspberry torte (the rage in 1980's Gourmet), but now I also look at my table and hope that my depression era Grandmother would be tickled with what she found there and the efficiencies I demonstrated to put it there. I would hope that I have become a cook she would be proud of.
As a boomer who bought “la method” and “la technique” to re-create the highly stylized food porn of the cooking mags, I find myself, “revisiting old places in new ways” with what I cook.
Now, I buy the blemished and reduced, and spend the drive home thinking about techniques to use. Braise or Sauté? Steam or grill? What is the min amount of salt I can add? Where should I add it? Can I get 1 more use from the bones?
The journey that started with, Time/Life, “Foods of the World” has morphed into a technique driven process where the end product is pretty tasty with minimal waste and excess cost.
Yes, I still want to re-create Lenotre’s Raspberry torte (the rage in 1980's Gourmet), but now I also look at my table and hope that my depression era Grandmother would be tickled with what she found there and the efficiencies I demonstrated to put it there. I would hope that I have become a cook she would be proud of.
5
Good cooks of the old school; Grandmothers & French Chefs were steeped in the idea of thrift and resourcefulness. This makes for a saner approach to cooking and is a plus, not a deprivation. When serving as a young apprentice if my cuts were wasteful, and my yield poor, Chef (Michel Barbiere) would bellow, "Who are you cooking for the ROCKEFELLERS?!!!" Trained this way you coax everything out of everything and empahsize technique along with reverance for all ingredients. And Yes to Canning! What a boon to have vestiges of the garden or cheaper tomatoes bought as "seconds" stashed away as tributes to the garden and better than anything store-bought. Seeing Mr. Barber's WastEd prices of $85/per person without tip or drinks (?) does make the notion of eating castaways a plaything for the well heeled. Maybe they'll take their newly earned appreciation and spread it throughout their circles, but I fear they might be paying for an upscale Bohemian Experience. Reminds me of a pricey bar nearby where for nearly $10 you can be served a humble can of Pabst Blue Ribbon replete with a brown paper bag. I think Ms. Henderson's approach the more sane, learn how to cook, learn technique and you'll waste less. If you look at a truly great woodworker's waste pile you'll see they waste nothing. Hopefully a great sign that we're thinking about our food, where it comes from, where it goes and how to really bring out its potential, and ours.
4
I think it's kind of laughable, this epiphany of sorts, when in fact poorer countries such as China have been eating/conserving like this forever. Just shows some of the negative side of prosperity. The article talks like this is hip to do. Give me a break. Definitely do it, but don't talk like the US started all this.
4
Well, I don't know about laughable. Of course you are correct that the US didn't invent this and indeed it's an old idea practiced around the world right now. And indeed less than 75 years ago this was also common practice in the US. Partly it's the negative side of prosperity - but partly it's a by-product of the way we buy pre-packaged foods, refrigeration that leads us to think we can purchase much more food than we'll actually use in a week (and still doesn't keep the kale fresh forever so in the trash it eventually goes), and the marketing of perfect presentation and packaging encouraged by ads. So, it's a good thing that more people in the US are questioning this. It's a positive "re-consciousness", if you will, regarding buying only what we will actually end up cooking, cooking efficiently so that we throw much less in the garbage (and composting when possible).
3
The idea can be carried further into the fields. Check out the work of the Society of St. Andrew at endhunger.org
2
We have a hot composter (Ours is the Green Johanna, but there are others). It takes all manner of food waste including table scraps including animal products. It is designed to prevent rodents from getting into it, and has nicely digested all of our food waste, twigs, leaves & junk mail for years.
They can be used in very small yard space.
It is not a smelly endeavor -- quite the opposite. Keeping decaying organic matter out of your trash means the trash won't smell. The bowl for scraps & food waste on the counter gets topped off with coffee grounds each day so that doesn't smell either.
It is not time consuming or beyond the reach of those with a demanding schedule. Ultimately, I think it saves us time and money. We don't need to empty the trash on a frequent basis as it takes quite a long time to accumulate with all recyclables and compostable material taken out of it. How it saves money is that seeing wasted food decay really changes your shopping habits. With no more chance to toss uneaten or spoiled food into a plastic trash bag and forget it before it goes to the curb, we've become acutely aware of what we bring into our home in the first place.
They can be used in very small yard space.
It is not a smelly endeavor -- quite the opposite. Keeping decaying organic matter out of your trash means the trash won't smell. The bowl for scraps & food waste on the counter gets topped off with coffee grounds each day so that doesn't smell either.
It is not time consuming or beyond the reach of those with a demanding schedule. Ultimately, I think it saves us time and money. We don't need to empty the trash on a frequent basis as it takes quite a long time to accumulate with all recyclables and compostable material taken out of it. How it saves money is that seeing wasted food decay really changes your shopping habits. With no more chance to toss uneaten or spoiled food into a plastic trash bag and forget it before it goes to the curb, we've become acutely aware of what we bring into our home in the first place.
5
Re making stock out of a carcass: In the photo caption, see "impurities." Quoting from my cookbook, TableTalk, 2007: "Madelon Price, Professor Emeritus of Neurobiology at Washington University Medical School (St. Louis, MO), says what (my) mother called impurities were actually different kinds of protein, collagen being one of them, that coagulate when heated and rise to the top." The conclusion: This "scum" is nutritious, but If you want perfectly clear soup, skim it.
3
In Portugal there is an organization doing good work called Fruta Feia with the motto "gente bonita come fruta feia" - beautiful people eat ugly fruit.
2
You can easily compost indoors, even in a tiny apartment, with no smell and no danger of attracting vermin, regardless of the season (regular outdoor composting doesn't work so well during freezing weather!): get worms. Not regular earthworms, but red wigglers, the great little guys who eat through almost any vegetable-based items. There are worm composters available in a variety of sizes, ready-made, and plenty of plans online to make your own out of cheap household products with no tools. There are also plenty of places online and at food co-ops, garden centers and hardware stores to buy the worms themselves. You will never need to buy them again. In fact, as long as you keep feeding them (and you will), you'll be able to give them to like-minded friends, pretty much forever. You can feed them anything that isn't meat-based, including egg shells. We've even fed them small fish bones.
5
I have a veggie waste bowl in the kitchen which receives all left over trimmings etc. Once a day I put all of this in my cuisinart and spin it up into a vegetable slurry. Then I walk onto my patio and sling this slurry into a three foot heavy plastic sphere which is filled with worms and prior vegetable contributions. New waste has disappeared in a day. I use the small amt of water on my potted plants. Peat moss and shredded paper supplies the brown component. AND the mystery ... the sphere has never filled up. I've been using it for nearly five years. No vegetable waste leaves my house in the trash. Guests come and ask ... What is the sphere? and I give them my urban composting story which I've now given to you
7
The first logical step in reducing food waste is to not create it in the first place. Scrub carrots and potatoes, don't peel them. Make broth. Sure you eventually throw out the bones and vegetables but there's no can or Tetrapak to go into a landfill. Shop carefully and only buy what you need. Restaurants need to serve reasonable portions, not serve two meals as one just so they can charge for them. So much gets wasted either at the restaurant or thrown away later along with the doggie bag it went home in. Big companies are the biggest offenders. Once I was on an obscenely early DFW-LGA Delta flight where many breakfasts were tossed unopened and untouched into the trash. When I asked if it went to a food bank or any other charity, the flight attendant just barked, "DO YOU WANT IT OR NOT?" No, but someone might.
4
Vermont has adopted the Universal Recycling law, Act 148, that is an ambitious step to reduce the amount of material that ends up in a landfill. It is being phased in gradually having begun 1 July 2014. By 1 July 2015, all recyclables will be banned from trash disposal. By 1 July 2016, it will include yard waste and clean wood debris. And finally by 1 July 2020 all food scraps. These dates are for residents; others have earlier deadlines based on amount of waste produced.
For more information www.recycle.vermont,gov Act 148.
And remember the order of the 3 R's--REDUCE, REUSE, recycle.
For more information www.recycle.vermont,gov Act 148.
And remember the order of the 3 R's--REDUCE, REUSE, recycle.
4
We've got a great city-wide compost collection program in Oxford UK, and though we don't personally have space to compost in our yard, the city can sell the compost on to farmers and gardeners. Seems like a win-win to me, though I'm shocked at how many people don't take advantage of it. It's fantastic.
2
I certainly appreciate a good article on food waste, however I think this article leaves the reader with an inaccurate sense of the importance of composting.
The waste stream hierarchy stacks waste streams by the order of energy preservation: source reduction - donation - animal feed - industrial uses - compost - landfill. I'm not trying to fault the author of this article for not expecting the audience to feed their dogs waste to a backyard chicken flock or bucket of fungal mycellium, but I world fault the author for taking an overly-congratulatory tone over taking one step away from the most wasteful choice possible. It's good to compost - don't take this the wrong way - but giving folks a sense of what composing exists within a spectrum of options might help cut through consumer complacency and encourage folks to think more critically about their choices.
The waste stream hierarchy stacks waste streams by the order of energy preservation: source reduction - donation - animal feed - industrial uses - compost - landfill. I'm not trying to fault the author of this article for not expecting the audience to feed their dogs waste to a backyard chicken flock or bucket of fungal mycellium, but I world fault the author for taking an overly-congratulatory tone over taking one step away from the most wasteful choice possible. It's good to compost - don't take this the wrong way - but giving folks a sense of what composing exists within a spectrum of options might help cut through consumer complacency and encourage folks to think more critically about their choices.
4
I think composting just makes sense environment-wise. Carta Buena in Rincón, Puerto Rico is really working towards having their food, smoothies and cold-pressed juices be 100% sourced from their on-site garden. Whatever minimal waste the food truck generates is used to create compost for the garden. It's all about keeping the cycle going and giving back to the earth and Rincón.
1
Frankly I do NOT believe this. When I walk into s store and there is none of s specific vegetable or meat or milk left on the shelf I will believe this.
Fact caterers throw out what is not consumed -- so do bakeries etc. At girl scout camp, left over good was given to the pig farmers. Maybe restos should contract out with big farmers in NYC> Plant fiber pretending to be food... is just that... plant fiber... few calories...
My problem frank is NOT coffee filters but electronic waste .. no longer picked up in NYC -- why not one garbage day a month in various areas for electronic waste. An old person It will be very difficult if not impossible for me to lug the obsolete printer etc. to the recycling center. This composting stuff is silly. It all self-composts in the landfill-- DUH!!
Americans like to pretend they are green-- with their disposible diapers etc. and unlimited use of heat and cooling.. If we are at ground zero environmentally speaking in terms of global warming... well all of this other stuff is a diversion -- makes people think they are doing something when they are really are not doing anything of particular use at all.
Silly silly silly and I read this elsewhere earlier.
PS there should be fabric AND electronic recycling at ALL the green markets in NYC-- instead of people teaching you how to cook... more taxpayer supported silliness... and not to be encouraged. Buy less and eat before it rots..
Fact caterers throw out what is not consumed -- so do bakeries etc. At girl scout camp, left over good was given to the pig farmers. Maybe restos should contract out with big farmers in NYC> Plant fiber pretending to be food... is just that... plant fiber... few calories...
My problem frank is NOT coffee filters but electronic waste .. no longer picked up in NYC -- why not one garbage day a month in various areas for electronic waste. An old person It will be very difficult if not impossible for me to lug the obsolete printer etc. to the recycling center. This composting stuff is silly. It all self-composts in the landfill-- DUH!!
Americans like to pretend they are green-- with their disposible diapers etc. and unlimited use of heat and cooling.. If we are at ground zero environmentally speaking in terms of global warming... well all of this other stuff is a diversion -- makes people think they are doing something when they are really are not doing anything of particular use at all.
Silly silly silly and I read this elsewhere earlier.
PS there should be fabric AND electronic recycling at ALL the green markets in NYC-- instead of people teaching you how to cook... more taxpayer supported silliness... and not to be encouraged. Buy less and eat before it rots..
2
while I agree with what you say regarding the difficulty of recycling electronics and fabrics (I live in "green" OR, but the "exclusive franchise" owner who does trash pick up in my area does not pick up electronic waste or textile waste--electronics have to be transported to a local recycling center and there is no recycling of textiles), I disagree with you regarding what happens in most landfills. It's mostly anerobic decomposition. Food waste won't rot/be aerobically composted.
I also agree regarding the general wastefulness of the US lifestyle (which other nations wish to emulate). Square footage of new homes in the US reached an alltime high last year (2014) according to the census. All the "new" homes in my mother's neighborhood on LI (all teardowns) have substantially more square footage (but no corresponding increase in residents), and while her house has an attic fan and a few window airconditioners (no ac in what was once "my" bedroom), all new houses have central AC. No need to design for cross ventilation anymore--I'm not sure anyone bothers to open their windows anymore.
Not many people, when upgrading their phones every 18 months (the average) gives much thought to the resource costs of creating those phones and the recycling cost. I don't believe that Kindles are less wasteful then reading library books & buying used books.
I also agree regarding the general wastefulness of the US lifestyle (which other nations wish to emulate). Square footage of new homes in the US reached an alltime high last year (2014) according to the census. All the "new" homes in my mother's neighborhood on LI (all teardowns) have substantially more square footage (but no corresponding increase in residents), and while her house has an attic fan and a few window airconditioners (no ac in what was once "my" bedroom), all new houses have central AC. No need to design for cross ventilation anymore--I'm not sure anyone bothers to open their windows anymore.
Not many people, when upgrading their phones every 18 months (the average) gives much thought to the resource costs of creating those phones and the recycling cost. I don't believe that Kindles are less wasteful then reading library books & buying used books.
4
In a recent shopping excursion to Costco, I noticed, on the shelves for returned items, an unopened birthday cake. I asked how a birthday cake could be returned, and what would happen to it. I was told, by the very helpful employee, that Costco is obliged to throw away all food that is returned, including unopened items that shoppers had decided not to keep, sometimes just after buying them. Costco is averse to taking any risk with returned food, but surely such a savvy organization could figure out what to do since apparently, its shoppers return millions of dollars in unopened food. Whether some in-house education or incentive or verification so that food banks could benefit might be things to look at.
6
Garbage men are going through your trash looking for food waste? Really? Composting is easy to do where we live with three acres but in the city it sounds like a pest (rat) attraction.
2
I don't understand the idea of composting in the city, and even though the city delivered me a green bucket, nobody ever explained what the point is. There's no place in my neighborhood to use compost. So it's just a giant pile of garbage, right?
The reason for getting cities to compost is to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill/incineration. Just like recycling, but for food.
They collect the compostable waste from everyone in the city, take it outside the city to turn it into compost, and then sell it to farmers and people with gardens. For example, you'd see it at a Lowes garden center in bags of top.
If they're really smart about it, the composter will use digesters that capture the methane coming off of it and turn that into power.
They collect the compostable waste from everyone in the city, take it outside the city to turn it into compost, and then sell it to farmers and people with gardens. For example, you'd see it at a Lowes garden center in bags of top.
If they're really smart about it, the composter will use digesters that capture the methane coming off of it and turn that into power.
6
This is simply what it means to cook sustainably. Find out more about this and using things that are "Otherwise, Trash" here: http://www.purplekale.com/category/otherwise/
I wouldn't eat carrot tops unless I trusted the grower; things that are not grown specifically for food are often sprayed with agricultural chemicals. I would NEVER eat citrus peels from oranges not grown on an organic farm. And without constant vigilance, little bags of scraps for stock will become little bags of unintentional compost oozing in the back of the refrigerator.
1
Depends on why you're keeping those scraps. If it's to make stock, then what many cooks do is freeze the scraps until they're ready to make stock. They label the containers/bags they put the scraps into.
You might want to consider how you're organizing your refrigerator if you're frequently finding ancient leftovers in your refrigerator.
You might want to consider how you're organizing your refrigerator if you're frequently finding ancient leftovers in your refrigerator.
1
A recent article in the NYT indicated that some 7% of greenhouse gas emissions world wide comes from decomposing food waste.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/us/food-waste-is-becoming-serious-econ...
The most obvious solution to the problem is to dump it into bio-digesters and to harvest the methane to produce electricity or heat. Might as well add human and animal excrement into the mix while we're at it. A win-win-win, environmentally and economically.
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/26/us/food-waste-is-becoming-serious-econ...
The most obvious solution to the problem is to dump it into bio-digesters and to harvest the methane to produce electricity or heat. Might as well add human and animal excrement into the mix while we're at it. A win-win-win, environmentally and economically.
2
Municipal compost programs are fantastic precisely because they allow people to better use food waste without resorting to the ridiculously time-consuming shenanigans described elsewhere in this story. I live in a community that has municipal compost, which allows me to throw away my corncobs and mushroom stems without feeling obligated to make soup stock from them, for instance. (FYI, when you've made that stock, you STILL have to throw out the corncobs and mushroom stems, and you've just used a bunch of energy to cook the stuff. Which probably does not taste as good and is definitely far less convenient than a can of stock from the grocery store.) Convenience and conservation do not have to be opposed, but painting it as though they are is just going to turn off a lot of people who don't have time to be Kitchen Waste Reduction Superhero of the Year.
4
Trilby, don't give up on composting! You may have been doing something wrong--research it online if you haven't already. Don't put in any animal products or you'll definitely attract vermin or worse. And you have to expect insects. Insects and bacteria and molds are precisely what break down the dead vegetation into compost and make it useful for living plants! It won't smell like roses, but if done right it won't smell terrible either.
2
I really love this article. It reminded me of the times visiting agricultural agents meant a community party with all the locals bringing pickled goods, jelly, bread and home-made goods. The county agent was another woman sharing recipes. Food was so central to culture and no one was fat.
Saving food also means picking the worms out instead of pesticides. It also means efficient budgeting and meal planning. I don't have leftovers I didn't plan for.
I'm not sure this works with a full time job and raising a family.
I don't think you can work full time, raise a family and really protect food.
Saving food also means picking the worms out instead of pesticides. It also means efficient budgeting and meal planning. I don't have leftovers I didn't plan for.
I'm not sure this works with a full time job and raising a family.
I don't think you can work full time, raise a family and really protect food.
3
I enjoyed reading this piece. I have a worm bin for coffee grounds, paper egg cartons, all my vegetable scraps and even paper food to-go containers. My worm bin gives compost tea for my plants and a rich potting soil amendment. Red wigglers are a great solution to waste reduction.
2
This is all very well and ideal, but like so many things, it seems like in order to be truly "thrifty" and economical in the kitchen in the way they are describing here, you must already be well-off. For a family with limited income, and limited space where adults may work multiple jobs, much of what they're talking about is simply not possible or practical.
13
Time is a factor that can't be emphasized enough in any discussion of food politics. It's wonderful to talk about making fresh stocks, using kale ribs, canning tomatoes, and long braises of off-cuts of meat, but it all takes time that most people just don't have.
4
I can relate to that! Try just one small thing and see how it works out!
2
And exactly what part of this do you think is something a poor person couldn't do? Planning to use the left-overs? Have a pot of soup simmering while doing other things? Don't you realize that all of these tips and techniques actually come from the poor? For the past year I have been working on reducing waste in my kitchen (mostly to save money - throwing away food is like standing in front of the trash ripping up dollar bills). And there are level between from scratch and drive-thru to explore. Got some tomatoes that are too ripe for sandwich or salad? Dice them up, cook in olive oil and butter for a few minutes, then add a commercial pasta sauce and have "home made" sauce. Add left over vegis and/or rice to a can of soup and have more of a better quality of soup. Add anything to left over rice or eggs and have fried rice or an omelet. Eat better and save money. Waste is stupid and expensive.
4
I live alone and mostly eat foods I prepare myself, and it's challenging to manage my supplies so as to not waste stuff. Like, if I open a container of cottage cheese, I have to remember it's there and be committed to eating it fairly often till it's used up. Same with everything. Not complaining, just saying. Luckily, I don't mind eating the same things for several days in a row. But I will not be pureeing carrot tops any time soon. I didn't even know they were edible, but edible or not, that doesn't sound tasty.
I agree with the posts here that say some measures you may take to not waste food end up using more energy (and time) than they're worth.
Also, I believe compost is mostly a myth. I've tried to make it a number of times when I had gardens, and never got anything useful-- just slimy smelly piles of fly-attracting waste.
I agree with the posts here that say some measures you may take to not waste food end up using more energy (and time) than they're worth.
Also, I believe compost is mostly a myth. I've tried to make it a number of times when I had gardens, and never got anything useful-- just slimy smelly piles of fly-attracting waste.
7
How much energy does that extra freezer use?
5
In our town, the trash is picked up weekly and recycling bi-weeking. Many of us would reverse this. Three of us produce about one trash container every 6 weeks. The fact is that there really isn't much garbage.
6
Our house probably wastes as much food as the rest of you. The culprit: Buying too much at places like Costco. In our vain attempt to get low cost-per-pound we buy 10 pounds when 2 is what we need. The solution: Buy what you need for less than a week. The result is less food waste, and the overall cost is probably what you are paying now with what you are throwing away. Sorry, big box food merchant, but you are a large part of the problem.
16
I'm single. I have the luxury of membership in an organic foods co-op, so I can often buy only as much as I need from bulk bins, buy a case of canned tomatoes for close to whole sale prices, or buy just as much of a spice or herb as I need. The co-op also makes it possible for me to buy local produce and grains at an affordable price. But sometimes it's possible to get some products more cheaply through Costco, or another business.
Then I co-buy those items/products with friends. In the 1960's & 1970's they were known as food-buying clubs and were how some food co-ops (organic, non-organic) started. A few people getting together to buy stuff because they could save money by buying in larger quantities (and sometimes it was food or another item they couldn't buy locally).
Co-buying does assume the other people involved (could be only 1 or two other people) will pay their share on time. Right now, I co-buy several items with 2 friends. Enables all of us to save some money.
Then I co-buy those items/products with friends. In the 1960's & 1970's they were known as food-buying clubs and were how some food co-ops (organic, non-organic) started. A few people getting together to buy stuff because they could save money by buying in larger quantities (and sometimes it was food or another item they couldn't buy locally).
Co-buying does assume the other people involved (could be only 1 or two other people) will pay their share on time. Right now, I co-buy several items with 2 friends. Enables all of us to save some money.
1
INVEST IN GREAT STOCKS
When I bring back the produce, especially in the winter, I go through it before I even put it away to trim or set everything aside that I can put into the stock pot, including the tough ends of broccoli, outer leaves of cabbage and lettuce, onion skins, scallion roots and green stems, and the stems of parsley and dill. Then I put them into the pressure cooker with water and/or wine and dried herbs. After the stock cooks for awhile I pour it off into a soup pot where I add the ingredients. The soups are always layered with a great depth of flavor from what may not appeal to the eye but is great on the palate. With fruits, I look for damaged, over ripe fruit for compotes during the cold weather and smoothies or fruit salad during the summer. I must confess that I learned the benefits of stock cooking from Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. The French known how to get the best flavor out of food. Pepin, who is now a senior chef, emphasizes how economical it is to keep trimmings in a container in the freezer. After being cooked, the veggies for the stock can be composted. It's fun and take little more time than washing and putting away the produce.
When I bring back the produce, especially in the winter, I go through it before I even put it away to trim or set everything aside that I can put into the stock pot, including the tough ends of broccoli, outer leaves of cabbage and lettuce, onion skins, scallion roots and green stems, and the stems of parsley and dill. Then I put them into the pressure cooker with water and/or wine and dried herbs. After the stock cooks for awhile I pour it off into a soup pot where I add the ingredients. The soups are always layered with a great depth of flavor from what may not appeal to the eye but is great on the palate. With fruits, I look for damaged, over ripe fruit for compotes during the cold weather and smoothies or fruit salad during the summer. I must confess that I learned the benefits of stock cooking from Julia Child and Jacques Pepin. The French known how to get the best flavor out of food. Pepin, who is now a senior chef, emphasizes how economical it is to keep trimmings in a container in the freezer. After being cooked, the veggies for the stock can be composted. It's fun and take little more time than washing and putting away the produce.
8
I would compost if somebody else in my condo association took charge of setting it up, making the case at the board meeting, understanding the protocols, etc. I'd be happy to be a worker bee and help out, but I just don't have the time to organize. I like the idea of a city-wide compost program where you put it out with trash and recycling.
3
This is just common sense. With a bit of planning it is easy to eliminate most food waste and to greatly reduce other waste as well. My wife and I put out less than a one full trash can a month. Everything else is recycled in one way or another.
7
The veggie bits, I have already been doing. I never understood why people "de-rib a kale or a chard leaf" or remove the stalk of broccoli. When I wanted to learn about what to do with chicken skin, I go to NYT Cooking for schmaltz recipes. For pork skin and all that jazz, pdxmeat.com.
The most life changing thing for me was an article I heard on NPR about the least wasteful way to eat an apple. Now I'm down to spitting up a couple of seeds and the stem. See here: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/apple-cores-are-a-myth...
The most life changing thing for me was an article I heard on NPR about the least wasteful way to eat an apple. Now I'm down to spitting up a couple of seeds and the stem. See here: http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2013/11/apple-cores-are-a-myth...
7
With de-ribbing a kale/chard stem it's for appearance AND even cooking. I never throw mine away, though- I just finely chop the rib and add along with the leaves. Then all is used and evenly cooked.
4
I know I'm guilty of a lot of food waste. We do compost - so I feel less bad about it. But, less waste to begin with seems like a healthy trend.
3
Keeping chickens to eat food waste wasn't mentioned. They don't eat everything though, but I haven't gone as far as keeping a pig (illegal where I live anyway).
2
How can you write an article like this without even mentioning Eugenia Bone's book, The Kitchen Ecosystem?
2
This is all fine and dandy, but who has time to go to the grocery store, let alone the farmers' market, every day? I've been using Plated.com for over a year now -- 3X per week I cook my wife a chef-designed, nutritious dinner in around 30 minutes -- and there is ZERO food waste. I've also learned how to cook and appreciate fresh/local ingredients.
1
What about packaging (waste)?
4
Small, local agriculture reduces waste and improves our quality of life. Vegetable scraps (in various measure) are good feed for chickens, goats cows and pigs. The manure from these creatures can generate power and fertilize the soil for more veg.
6
I'm so cheap -- I mean frugal -- I have been cooking efficiently for years. Nothing new.
20
Thank you so much for covering this issue! One of the reasons so much food gets wasted at home is because we're not in touch with how much we're wasting day in and day out. Wasting food is "acceptable" and ingrained in our culture, but this article highlights how attitudes and practices are changing for the better. I hope it continues.
I'd like to point out that the nonprofit Sustainable America launched a campaign called "I Value Food" in January to help people internalize how much food they're wasting and give tools for making changes. You can take a quiz to assess your food waste load here: http://www.ivaluefood.com/quiz.php
I'd like to point out that the nonprofit Sustainable America launched a campaign called "I Value Food" in January to help people internalize how much food they're wasting and give tools for making changes. You can take a quiz to assess your food waste load here: http://www.ivaluefood.com/quiz.php
10
Great article, it should affect about 1% of the American people who are interested in this. Even recycle rates haven't got above 20%, have they? NYC just gave up trying to recycle styrofoam. If you live in the South, putting waste on the counter will just attract bugs of all types.
I thought one of the things they taught at cooking schools was how to conserve and reuse. Is that not taught anymore?
By the way, canned and frozen goods do not rot or go bad, you just have to make sure you use them by the "best buy" date two or more years from now.
I thought one of the things they taught at cooking schools was how to conserve and reuse. Is that not taught anymore?
By the way, canned and frozen goods do not rot or go bad, you just have to make sure you use them by the "best buy" date two or more years from now.
9
Everything old is new again. I am excited to hear urbanites are embracing recycling like we practice on our farm and generations before us did too (think deep in WWII) and the pioneer years. Now if we could just redesign those horrible disposable diapers!
10
31% of food wasted in the country. Yes.
But remember 50%+ of the food we grow goes to feed animals and the majority ends up as manure (full of pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics).
So, if we are talking about reducing waste, we ought to be talking about reducing the consumption of industrial meat (and supporting policies that enable it).
Love & Peas,
Tim
www.naturesfarmcamp.com
But remember 50%+ of the food we grow goes to feed animals and the majority ends up as manure (full of pesticides, growth hormones and antibiotics).
So, if we are talking about reducing waste, we ought to be talking about reducing the consumption of industrial meat (and supporting policies that enable it).
Love & Peas,
Tim
www.naturesfarmcamp.com
21
"carrot tops are pulsed into pesto" - Never heard of that so googled it. Wow! Lots of hits. I definitely learned something and I thought I was already being frugal. :)
5
I laughed when I got to this point in the article because we tried this, and it was AWFUL! Maybe if there's enough basil, you could do this to stretch it, but the carrot tops themselves -- belch!
3
Ha, I didn't know that what I do has a fancy name: technique cooking. Saving that one for the next potluck when someone asks, "What's this?"
And what doesn't get the technique cuisine treatment spends its old age in the compost spa.
And what doesn't get the technique cuisine treatment spends its old age in the compost spa.
6
I'm not that old, but I grew up where garbage and rubbish were picked up separately. The small (maybe 2 gallon?) garbage bin did get a little stinky on hot summer days, but it was set into the ground outside the cellar door (like everyone else's) and picked up frequently. We had no problem separating the organic food matter from the rest of the trash. As composting programs are reintroduced, we will get used to them just like we got used to regular recycling programs! But it is true that I don't remember nearly as much waste in my childhood family of six than in my much larger adult family! (And we do try to minimize waste.)
5
The whole snout-to-tail, ugly veggie/fruit ethos is nothing new if you are Filipino. I'm Filipino-American, and I was taught to simultaneously cook and obsess about reducing food waste by my immigrant mother. She can re-purpose leftovers into a brand-new meal like magic! If people really want to get this food movement going, employ lots of guilt-inducing stories about splitting a chicken leg four ways as a child growing up in the old country. I admit, it did get a bit old for a child to be scolded for leaving food on her plate, parents' heads shaking, "A kid in the Philippines would eat that eggplant" they'd say. In my head I'd always retort, "So put it in a box and send it there already!" But as an adult I'll probably say the same annoying thing to my son.
12
Excellent article. I've long-known that broccoli stems are just as delicious as the crowns, and when cooking only for myself I include them, but discard them when cooking for company, mostly for cosmetic reasons. But the idea to treat them as a separate vegetable is excellent: they need to be cooked slightly longer, for one thing. Same goes for cauliflower stems.
Our big freezer is always full of shrimp heads n' shells, lemongrass 'n onion 'n leek trimmings, chicken carcasses and so on. It all gets used.
Our big freezer is always full of shrimp heads n' shells, lemongrass 'n onion 'n leek trimmings, chicken carcasses and so on. It all gets used.
6
Jacques Pepin has been teaching this forever. You have to know a bit about cooking to be truly frugal, and it does involve actual cooking, not just reheating.
8
What's that old expression, "Monday's roast beef is Tuesday's brisket and Wednesday's stew?"
8
The first and most important step to reducing food waste is careful shopping. Buy only what you need, small amounts if perishable.
Sounds simple/common sense, but I fear many people shop without thinking. Go to store, pick up milk and eggs and bread even though you buy those things every week and have 5 half-drunk milk cartons crowding your fridge and 3 half-eaten loaves of molding bread in your pantry.
Sounds simple/common sense, but I fear many people shop without thinking. Go to store, pick up milk and eggs and bread even though you buy those things every week and have 5 half-drunk milk cartons crowding your fridge and 3 half-eaten loaves of molding bread in your pantry.
2
Trader Joe's has no scales anywhere, so buying unpackaged produce to fit a recipe is difficult.
Trader Joe's over packages everything and much of their food is loaded with sugar! All the cookies are made where peanuts are processed and, given the push by schools to keep peanuts out, it makes them impossible to buy for kids' lunches! That said I still buy things like nuts, cheese, and frozen fruit there.
2
I wrote this piece about slashing trash for Ladies Home Journal maybe 10 years ago. I whittled down our waste from 3 huge trash cans a week to 1/4 of a can that easily blew over in the wind. It took about 3 weeks to adjust to composting, reusing, etc., but once we got it we never turned back. I still have almost now garbage. If you want some ideas, check out the story: http://livinggreenmag.com/2014/07/15/lifestyle-choices/slash-your-trash-...
5
I've long believed in no-waste cooking, but Tamar Adler's "The Everlasting Meal" makes it enjoyable.
6
The snow is three feet deep between my door and the compost pile 100 feet away, and for the past three weeks (and for the first time in decades) I've put the kitchen scraps out with the trash. I see that my neighbors have shoveled the path to their compost pile -- maybe I'll ask if I can contribute to their pile until Spring finally arrives.
1
Joe D, we have a similar problem with deep snow between us and our compost bins. So we've been dumping our kitchen compost bucket into trash cans in the basement. I was afraid it would smell bad, but it hasn't yet. (We compost only produce scraps, no animal products -- fairly easy was we're vegetarians.) That said, I can't wait till the snow melts!!
My grandfather was a pig farmer. He would feed his pigs food waste. He had contracts with a bunch of towns, restaurants, and colleges to pick up thrown out food so he could feed his herd. He did this well into the late 1980s. Of course in school back then, kids would scrape their food waste into a separate barrel and the plates, forks, and spoons weren't disposable, they were washed at the school.
It was a profitable and sustainable system that benefited the farm in two ways - my grandfather was paid to pick up the food waste AND paid for selling pigs. It would be great if we could return to these types of simple and effective systems. But with the loss of local and family farms, creating this type of harmony grows more and more difficult.
It was a profitable and sustainable system that benefited the farm in two ways - my grandfather was paid to pick up the food waste AND paid for selling pigs. It would be great if we could return to these types of simple and effective systems. But with the loss of local and family farms, creating this type of harmony grows more and more difficult.
7
All this stuff is literally just want my grandmother did. She called it "cooking." Look at any decent old cookbook and it will have a whole section on how to plan meals so there's no waste, how to use the whole animal, etc. Some of our fave dishes have traditionally been made from "waste" - quiche uses up old dairy and old cheese ends, bread pudding and croutons from old bread, banana bread for old bananas, apple sauce from the damaged/ugly apples etc. I cook like this as it's how I was raised —by the aforementioned grandmother.
9
The "More-with-less Cookbook", from the Mennonite Central Committee and still in print, is a classic for how to prepare wholesome, economical, and tasty food with less waste.
4
I remember in culinary school suggesting that we prepare dishes for the local mission from all the peelings and scraps that are left behind when you prepare garnishes and pretty carvings for the classic cold kitchen. Boy, did I get pushback. It galled me to see fellow students chucking the insides of tomatoes or zucchini into waste buckets that were not turned into compost. Gradually, that attitude has shifted...thank goodness. In the meantime, I gleaned a lot of compost for the garden and trimmings for my kitchen and dogs!
8
Back to the future . . . Growing up in the suburbs of Boston, we all had in-ground , pedal operated, garbage pails in the backyard for table scraps. Once a week a local farmer came to the neighborhood to collect the scraps to feed his pigs. It took a long time, but we're finally going back to what makes sense.
9
The biggest waste of food, by far and away, is growing crops to feed to animals instead of to humans. This process wastes up to 90% of the protein, calories, and nutrition in the food.
This is a vastly larger waste, by magnitudes of order, than any other waste in the system. The best thing one can do is boycott cruelty and eat plants.
This is a vastly larger waste, by magnitudes of order, than any other waste in the system. The best thing one can do is boycott cruelty and eat plants.
27
Thank you, thank you, thank you, Scott, for pointing this out. I have been a vegetarian for more than 40 years, and my original reasons were increased sustainability and decreased resource usage (though I know now that there many more reasons to avoid meat). Composting is very easy: everything goes into our compost bucket. But we tend to waste very little, so most of our composting is produce scraps. And our left-overs taste delicious!! (No WOF -- Warmed Over Flavor, which I've read occurs to meat-based left-overs, resulting in off flavors).
Good insight that technique-based cooking (which is traditional French every day home cooking) is less wasteful because it starts from ingredients and figures out how to use them and balance the flavors.
So those extra tomotoes left over from your Bolognaise -- they represent an opportunity, not a problem.
To make French improvisational cooking work, however, you do need a well maintained pantry that includes fridge, dry and freezer. You need things on hand like anchovies, olives, a block of parmesan, butter, good lemon juice, fresh garlic, chicken stock/broth white wine for cooking (we always keep a box of cheap dry white in the fridge). You need to have onions and ideally shallots on hand at all times. And we always have assorted frozen fish and frozen chicken thighs.
So if you have that base pantry, you can make food from almost any produce that's in season as long as it is harmonious with the French palatte of ingredients.
So those extra tomotoes left over from your Bolognaise -- they represent an opportunity, not a problem.
To make French improvisational cooking work, however, you do need a well maintained pantry that includes fridge, dry and freezer. You need things on hand like anchovies, olives, a block of parmesan, butter, good lemon juice, fresh garlic, chicken stock/broth white wine for cooking (we always keep a box of cheap dry white in the fridge). You need to have onions and ideally shallots on hand at all times. And we always have assorted frozen fish and frozen chicken thighs.
So if you have that base pantry, you can make food from almost any produce that's in season as long as it is harmonious with the French palatte of ingredients.
5
So many of these suggestions are impractical or out of reach. I have the luxury of a large freezer (two, actually,) where I stash the local, pastured, unprocessed raw or cooked carcasses of chickens I've feasted upon, as well as the meats I've cured and smoked. My daughter, in Queens, would do the same if she had the space. On the other hand, at my home in New Hampshire, my table waste goes to my chickens. At my winter home in Florida, all vegetable waste goes into the "pig," the disposal. I lament all those treats my hens won't get and recycle into valuable protein. Kale ribs and skate bones are the least of the problem.
7
There's no reason you can't at least compost in Florida.
2
That was an excellent humble brag.
8
This is satire, right?
2
Although things like pre-packaged lettuce is disparaged, all the trim from this is used at the source for compost or feed without trucking it 3000 miles, picking it up again, trucking it to the compost maker and then distributing it. A lot of energy goes into producing food and using more energy to create value added dirt-particularly in an urban area-may make people feel righteous but can waste more energy than it saves. In addition, what we are really interested in is the energy expended per unit consumed. In this regard, using the "non edible" portions as in this article is a great idea. The other area where there is tremendous waste is food service operations which don't accurately forecast their needs. Don't order it, leads to don't grow it.
31
I am really quite glad to read that the sentiments about food waste expressed in this article are finally on the radar of mainstream culture, and even becoming fashionable among chefs and restaurateurs. In my opinion, the thing that will reduce food waste the most for the average consumer will be 1) food retailers selling more products at a per weight or bulk rate, and 2) transforming the average American's use of the freezer from repository of processed frozen foods to primarily a means of storing fresh meat/poultry/fish, flash frozen vegetables and leftover fresh fruit and vegetables from the growing and harvest seasons.
More and more retailers are offering alternatives to boxed and pre-packaged goods, which is great because it prevents people from being forced to overbuy when they want to experiment with new recipes. Home vacuum seal systems like Foodsaver and others have really made this transformation a reality for me, and also reading tips in the myriad food-culture universe online about how to appropriately store and freeze all kinds of foods.
I think these two things will be able to reduce significantly the amount of food people buy when grocery shopping, and simultaneously allow people of all income levels to make their food last longer with minimal degradation of quality, taste and nutrition.
More and more retailers are offering alternatives to boxed and pre-packaged goods, which is great because it prevents people from being forced to overbuy when they want to experiment with new recipes. Home vacuum seal systems like Foodsaver and others have really made this transformation a reality for me, and also reading tips in the myriad food-culture universe online about how to appropriately store and freeze all kinds of foods.
I think these two things will be able to reduce significantly the amount of food people buy when grocery shopping, and simultaneously allow people of all income levels to make their food last longer with minimal degradation of quality, taste and nutrition.
21
If you've got room for a freezer and bulk goods.
'Bulk' simply means sold as a loose product not already prepackaged. The great thing about bulk products is that you can buy as much or as little as you like and you pay by weight.
2
Composting is a wonderful idea and it's mindboggling to consider what could be done with the organic waste from the kitchens of millions of NYC kitchens. But unlike cities like Seattle and even SF, NYC has miles of multistory apartment buildings where the collection and storage of compost creates a logistical problem of head-scratching proportion & complexity. For those New Yorkers who have a garden or access to one, info on composting would probably be very welcome. But for high density population centers like Manhattan, et. al., composting, done incorrectly, is just ringing the dinner bell for rodents.
39
Many Greenmarkets host compost collection sites; check www.GrowNYC.com/compost. Once you learn what's compostable, (vegetable stems and skins, apple cores, banana peels, coffee filters, egg shells, etc.), it's easy to remember. Also, the more you use of your food, the less waste you'll have. We keep our scraps in the freezer in a plastic box from salad (the only time we bought it)--it doesn't take up much room, and is reusable; this one has been there for more than a year. Saturday we bring it to the Greenmarket. Easy peasy.
5
City composting can be easy. Check out your nearby farmer's market. New York City and the Greenmarket people collect food scraps weekly. On the Upper West Side, typically they collect over half a ton a week. That's a lot of landfill and sewage problems avoided. I keep a plastic container for scraps in the refrigerator and deposit the contents every weekend. Look online for info: www.GrowNYC.org/compost
3
New York's millions of rats would love it, though.
These are all nice ideas, but I would like my employer to not ask me to work more than a 40-hour workweek (for no overtime - 40-hour pay) so that I have time to implement them all!
(Also -- as someone who already cooks every night but does not have time or access to composting -- who are these people who don't eat the broccoli stalk? If you peel it a little it is delicious and it has more nutrients than the floret).
(Also -- as someone who already cooks every night but does not have time or access to composting -- who are these people who don't eat the broccoli stalk? If you peel it a little it is delicious and it has more nutrients than the floret).
76
Agree! I was going to say this. Would love to do all this, but my hours are crazy. Someone always chimes in that they do it and they have six kids and work as a nuclear scientist, but I have a serious hobby I pursue, and I'd rather spend the little time I have on that than whipping up things to freeze. If I (and/or my spouse) could work only 40 hours, I might not have to choose.
1
As a college student, I'm constantly trying to by minimally processed and healthy foods. What happens most of the time is that the food spoils so fast... (I'm looking at you Trader Joe's) -- I rarely have a few days to let it sit idle.
If I go out to eat and skip a meal one weekend, I feel like half of the food I've bought is already started to become icky (baby kale turning brown and oranges molding).
I would like to call on the stores to have better logistics (or is it lack of care and concern) so that the mandarin oranges aren't already 2-3 weeks old at the time of purchase.
I would think at the rate Trader Joe's moves produce they'd have a fresher selection, however it seems like some of these stores have taken the cheapest/laziest/careless route and their processes end up following most of us home into the kitchen and into our compost. Creating more profits for them and contributing to the ongoing problem.
If I go out to eat and skip a meal one weekend, I feel like half of the food I've bought is already started to become icky (baby kale turning brown and oranges molding).
I would like to call on the stores to have better logistics (or is it lack of care and concern) so that the mandarin oranges aren't already 2-3 weeks old at the time of purchase.
I would think at the rate Trader Joe's moves produce they'd have a fresher selection, however it seems like some of these stores have taken the cheapest/laziest/careless route and their processes end up following most of us home into the kitchen and into our compost. Creating more profits for them and contributing to the ongoing problem.
59
Make that kale into a pesto and freeze it. Make a baked dessert with those mandarins (mix with apples) and it will last for a week or more (if baked desserts last that long in your house :). Fresh food is not meant to stick around for weeks; you either need to cook it or process it to make it keep longer (which is why drying, salting, cooking, baking, were INVENTED, they are methods of preserving food, naturally), or you need to go to the market every 2-3 days like most of the rest of the world does. The grocery store isn't doing anything wrong, you are. You don't know how to work with fresh food. It's not meant to sit around. And shop local foods—the have travelled less far and will last a bit longer (but fresh food loses nutrition each day so eating it right away is your best bet anyway).
2
Veg prep for fridge storage has been the key in my own reduction of food waste. I shop at the Farmer's Market every Saturday and wash, mostly dry, then wrap in paper towels (which are reused) and wrapped in plastic bags for the fridge. My Tuscan kale, chard, parsley and even spinach lasts 6 days and don't get brown or yellowed at all. They are used during the week for smoothies, Nutri-blend, a quick saute or added to another dish. Whatever is left on Saturday goes into soup while a new batch comes in. Lettuce doesn't fair so well. I learned everything from my mother and Tamar Adler's cookbook and her two videos. http://www.tamareadler.com/2011/10/06/how-to-stride-ahead-part-1-2/
2
I think it has a lot less to do with the stores and more to do with where the food is coming from. If you're buying fruit that came all the way from South America, for example, it is only going to be ripe for a small window of time once it finally gets to you.
I have the same problem, but I recently moved from San Francisco to rural Massachusetts, and trust me, it is much worse out here. I usually end up making a LOT of banana bread with old bananas.
I have the same problem, but I recently moved from San Francisco to rural Massachusetts, and trust me, it is much worse out here. I usually end up making a LOT of banana bread with old bananas.
1
The next step is getting people to realize that expiration dates on packaged products are meaningless. If it looks okay,smells okay, and if the can is not bulging, it is okay.
It frustrates me beyond belief when food drives and food pantries won't accept canned goods because they are past their expiration date.
It frustrates me beyond belief when food drives and food pantries won't accept canned goods because they are past their expiration date.
95
Check those "expiration" dates closely -- most of them are "use by," "best by," or "sell by" dates, NOT true expiration dates. Just about the only things in a store with true expiration dates are pharmaceuticals or baby formula. If something still tastes, smells, and/or looks edible, it probably is.
60
Please keep in mind that food spoiled by salmonella, listeria, STEC or C. botulinum will not, in the classic wording of your government, "look or smell spoiled". You really can't tell if food is microbially contaminated by sensory tests. You can only find out the hard way. However the older a food item is, the more time the bacteria have to multiply. The bacterial titer will increase and the so will the likelihood of illness. In the case of canned goods, there is a shelf life which is influenced by storage conditions.
5
Agreed, but part of that problem is people mistakenly referring to them as "expiration dates" - they're not, they're "sell by" dates, unrelated to when the food actually spoils.
Even perishable dairy food is good for up to two weeks after the sell-by date.
Even perishable dairy food is good for up to two weeks after the sell-by date.
3
One can do a "clean out the frig." & make a wonderful lettuce et al. soup.
C'mon folks, where's your imagination ?
C'mon folks, where's your imagination ?
21
Yes! Once you learn the basic technique to make a simple soup - the sky is the limit. I make mine on Saturdays with leftovers and just recently started freezing the vegetable scraps to make veggie broth.
The french have always known what to do with food. Nothing is wasted. I always freeze my chicken or duck carcasses to make delicious stock. Also the leek greens carrot tops..onion root. The liquid that is rendered from poultry can be refrigerated and the fat will solidify . Remove it and you have the essence that will make any sauce or soup delicious. You can freeze it.I think it is amusing that people regard this as cutting edge. I also wonder if Dan Barber"s pop up restaurant charges reflect the"waste " ingredients??
22
That poultry fat can be frozen for future use. For example, onions sauteed in chicken fat are a basic, if not essential, component of accurate chicken liver pate taught to me by someone's Jewish grandmother about 40 years ago. My friends love it but I'm careful not to say exactly what's in it.
3
This is all great. I love reading about these positive shifts in culture. Then, I realize that I am at the office past 6:30 once again. Once again, I grab prepared food on the way home. I fear that this trend must be accompanied by another cultural change that affords us the time to be more efficient at home.
99
There was a recent article (I think in the NYT) about cooking and freezing parties as one way people are addressing the phenomenon on working late. People come together one day (usually Sundays) and cook a week's worth of meals to divide among everyone. Social and food prep all in one.
55
@Edward Beshore
Agreed!
The reason there's a minimum of waste, and a maximum of eating at home, at MY house of is because I've been a stay-at-home mom to my 3 kids for 20 years.
But isn't that a waste of my fancy Seven Sisters college education?
I do love to cook but it can be a little scary if I add up all the time I've spent in the kitchen - breakfasts, dinners, bagged lunches, afterschool snacks, holiday celebration prep...
But I do believe that having one majordomo running the cooking show does up the efficiency enormously.
Agreed!
The reason there's a minimum of waste, and a maximum of eating at home, at MY house of is because I've been a stay-at-home mom to my 3 kids for 20 years.
But isn't that a waste of my fancy Seven Sisters college education?
I do love to cook but it can be a little scary if I add up all the time I've spent in the kitchen - breakfasts, dinners, bagged lunches, afterschool snacks, holiday celebration prep...
But I do believe that having one majordomo running the cooking show does up the efficiency enormously.
3
I work full time, more than a 40 hour week sometimes. I cook mostly on the weekends, cook for the week, or I'll make a pasta salad, that doesn't take long. I don't have children (I do sometimes have overnight guests). What other people who work & have children tell me they do is they plan a week's menu at a time, and some families plan for at least one "take out food" night, whether it's pizza or whatever. The other dinners, they pre-cook. My impression is that once their children reach a certain age, they're free to prepare a different meal for themselves from what's in the refrigerator/pantry if they're not interested in what's for dinner that evening.
What I've found interesting is all the people who say they don't have the time to cook--yet all the studies I've seen in the past few years indicate that TV/video/internet use continues to increase.
What I've found interesting is all the people who say they don't have the time to cook--yet all the studies I've seen in the past few years indicate that TV/video/internet use continues to increase.
1
Doesn't everyone already know that the ugliest, most misshapen tomatoes are the best tasting?
44
The tomatoes with the best taste tend to have an "ugly" ring of green around the stem end. This "green ring" is genetically linked to the flavor gene in tomatoes. Modern tomato breeders are selecting for a solid round red large slicing tomato and they have bred out the green ring / flavor gene. Breeding for tomatoes all the same size, shape, extremely hard skins for shipping tomatoes long distances and the ability to ripen them all at once by gassing them are other characteristics which don't give you a good tasting tomato, but those man made wonders at the store sure LOOK pretty. Old tomato varieties like Marglobe, Rutgers, J.T.D., Big Boy, Brandywine and the (original) Beefsteak tomatoes plants will give you ugly fruit with great, old fashioned taste which today's modern tomatoes are genetically programed not to yield. Modern tomatoes with similar (but not the exact) names will not give you the taste of those flavorful mid 20th century's tomatoes you remember from Grandpa's garden.
8
They are called ugly tomatos anx are expensive.
2
But they're hard to find at the supermarket because they don't fit the pre-sized packaging they're supposed to be shipped in.
Colleagues and I carry the coffee grounds from the office coffee pot, and also the grounds from the onsite cafe, home for composting. Sounds perhaps a little trivial, but it amounts to 2-3 gallons of coffee grounds a week from the office pot, and probably that much every day from the cafe. Coffee grounds are full of nitrogen, and are not acidic as rumored (although here that's not an issue, since our soils are alkaline). You just have to get used to carrying a bucket through the office... I greeted my boss one day by saying "I got my chores done, Pa!".
72
I too started saving the coffee grounds from the office coffee pot, and now some of my co-workers also drop their banana peels and apple cores into my compost container.
1
I pack my lunch most days and the apple core, banana peel or orange rind comes home with me and gets added to the compost pile.
A single person doing something small doesn't make much of a difference, but all (or many) of us doing it does! My kids, who are 5 and 8, compost naturally. There are so many things I need to harp on with them, but not composting. They just do it.
A single person doing something small doesn't make much of a difference, but all (or many) of us doing it does! My kids, who are 5 and 8, compost naturally. There are so many things I need to harp on with them, but not composting. They just do it.
6
Kate, In 1966 I lived with a (lower) middle class French family as an au pair. The family was financially stretched, and the lady of the house made many economies to make ends meet, including reusing the coffee grounds. Fresh coffee for breakfast on day 1, coffee from reused grounds on day 2.
It's fun to turn my leftovers into a meal where no one realizes it's leftovers! My problem is storage.
A week's worth of veggie trimmings or a chicken carcass yields about 8c of stock. I can place the cooked-to-death veggies in the compost heap (I do not include animal products in my compost) but I still need to store 8c of stock - I can't use that much in a single week.
A week's worth of veggie trimmings or a chicken carcass yields about 8c of stock. I can place the cooked-to-death veggies in the compost heap (I do not include animal products in my compost) but I still need to store 8c of stock - I can't use that much in a single week.
16
Solo makes a line of clear plastic tubs, in a variety of sizes, that go from the freezer to the micro. They're perfect for freezing stock. I get mine at the restaurant-supply store.
4
Try reducing it WAAAY down and freezing in ice cube trays. Thaw and add water.
27
Storing stock isn't a problem! Put it in a heavy pot and simmer slowly until you have a something the consistency of syrup. Then cool, cut into blocks (yes, you'll be able to cut it with a knife, at least the chicken stock), and freeze. Eight cups of broth become eight cubes the size of ice cubes, no problem at all to store. It also makes it easier to use, since you can add one frozen cube to a cup of hot water instead of trying to thaw a frozen block. Basically it's homemade bouillon cubes without all the salt.
The only problem is that your stock will darken until chicken stock looks like beef, though the flavor is still the same.
The only problem is that your stock will darken until chicken stock looks like beef, though the flavor is still the same.
42
I produce almost no kitchen waste. I have an active and hungry compost pile so many items go in there. I have five rabbits in a garden run - they enjoy many items from my kitchen and they in turn produce great fertilizer that goes on the garden beds or into the compost bin. Some other items, like the core from the lunchtime pear I had yesterday, well, my lucky black lab got that bit and he enjoyed it.
15
I carry the apple core, from the movies, home on the subway for the wife's fire escape garden!
4
"Dan Barber, the chef and author, is so dedicated to ending food waste that he is turning his Greenwich Village restaurant, Blue Hill, into a pop-up in which every dish is based on waste. It’s an extreme extension of what many chefs already do."
If it's all based on waste, what happens to the good parts? Or is it like Calvin Trillin's mother's meals, which were all leftovers ("The original meal has never been found.")?
If it's all based on waste, what happens to the good parts? Or is it like Calvin Trillin's mother's meals, which were all leftovers ("The original meal has never been found.")?
62