Curious about how you can reduce food waste in your kitchen? Despite the abundance of food production, more and more food is being wasted, and many Canadians do not have access to healthy foods. According to this study by Second Harvest, 1.4 million Canadians struggle to access healthy foods, and 60% of the food industry’s environmental footprint is from food waste. 58% of food is wasted, and 32% of this food could have been rescued. Today we’re here to show you what you can do on an individual part to help reduce your food waste impact.
Talk with your kids about their ideas too!
1. Proper Storage
The first step to consider with food waste is storage. A quick internet search will show you great ways to store the unique items you may have. For a general guideline, check out this awesome resource here. When storing food, remember to organize them as visually appealing as possible (resist shoving food items to the back of the fridge, or out of sight) and get in the habit of bringing older food items to the front of the fridge.
2. Use Every Part
Did you know, some of the most nutrient-dense parts of our produce items include the skin, stems and tops? Try mashed potatoes with the skin, or perhaps a carrot top pesto. Radish and beet tops make great additions to salads or stir fries, and dark leafy green stems can be used in cooking as well. All of these are also incredible for making broths, in addition to garlic, onion and celery scraps. Citrus peels can be dehydrated and used in tea. Get creative by including parts of foods that aren’t normally used, and tweak recipes to include these incredible ingredients. Shopping at the farmers’ market allows you to ask the farmer for any recipes they recommend. Check out this website for some recipe inspiration.
3. Save The Pulp
For those who love to juice and make dairy-free milk, the leftover pulp from these is so easy to use! Juice pulp can be used in soups and even desserts (Farah from our team recently made a vegan, gluten-free carrot cake with carrot pulp). With dairy-free milk, the pulp can be used in baking, smoothies, and even as toppers to meals.
4. Freeze & Preserve
A fun BC summer activity for the entire family is picking berries, and you can freeze them over the winter. If you do find yourself with an excess of food, freezing is a great way to maintain its integrity. Taking it a step further, you can also try fermenting, dehydrating, drying, and canning excess foods.
5. Grow Food from Scraps
Did you know you can grow food from food scraps? Whether it’s from the ends or seeds, there are tons of produce items that can be re-grown. Check out this video from the UBC Botanical Garden on different food items you can grow from scraps.
This is an especially enthralling activity to do with the kids your house or classroom!
6. Skincare
Many conventional skincare products contain harsh ingredients and chemicals that can be quite harmful to our health. Not to mention they can be quite costly as well! Why not try making some products at home? Coffee grounds alone, or mixed with sugar and oil makes a great body scrub. Excess cucumbers or cooled, used tea bags can be applied to your eyes to reduce puffiness. Banana peels and avocados can be applied topically and make great face and hair masks.
7. Compost
Where allowed, composting is a great option for reducing food waste. Compost is highly beneficial for plant health, and food decomposes much faster in the compost than a landfill. Check your housing regulations to see if composting is allowed, and if not, a nearby farm, community garden, or co-op might take your food scraps.