On food waste

The most expensive food you'll ever buy is the food that gets wasted. I can't count the number of times that I've optomistically filled my crisper drawers with produce and piled my fruit bowls with apples and bananas, all bought at "sale" prices. I don't think I've ever used every single item. Something at the bottom of my crisper drawer is way past its prime by the time I am loading up the drawers again, and I just end up throwing it away. What a shame.

So, as of a few days ago I am going to try to be more intentional about using what I have.

The first step is knowing what's on hand.

The second step is menu planning around that.

If you have produce that is getting ready to be unusable, you can make soup! On Tuesday I found two heads of broccoli that I definitely should have used last week. So I made broccoli soup using potatoes that were already sprouting. So instead of trash, I had a meal! I usually make some homemade whole wheat bread to go along with a soup meal...then everyone seems to leave the table feeling more satisfied.

If veggies are starting to expire but aren't necessarily soup veggies, search the internet for recipes to use it up! I have found some of my best recipes this way.

If you have fruit that's expiring try using it in muffins or smoothies. Or slice and freeze it.

I'm also trying to think outside of the box about not wasting food. Like...what about the zest of oranges and lemons? I know, I know, some would consider that going overboard. But do you know you can zest a lemon in less than 2 minutes and if you add that to your regular blueberry muffin batter, all of a sudden you have an extraordinary creation. If you take an extra few minutes and add a struesel topping on your muffins, you are now competing with Starbuck's, but that's beside the point.

My goal is to not let anything go to waste...but just in case I don't meet that goal, I have a back-up plan: chickens! They happily eat anything I give them : )