edible education
STOP WASTING FOOD Is it time to trim your waste? BY JULIE KENDRICK I have a friend whose husband refuses to eat leftovers or anything that’s ever been frozen. When I first heard about this, and asked what she did with the stuff he wouldn’t eat, she confessed, “I end up throwing away a lot of food.” My friend’s husband would starve at my house, where most weeknight dinners are recreations of basics that have been cooked over the weekend, or oddments that have been dug from the bottom of a freezer well-stocked with leftovers. I have to admit, though, that the two of them are in very good company, since the average U.S. family spends between $500 and $2,000 a year on food they never eat, according to researchers’ estimates. The Environmental Protection Agency says that food is the second-largest component in our solid waste stream (after paper), with 33 million tons going to landfills or incinerators in 2010. Here in the Twin Cities, concern about food waste is visible in everything from community compost piles to the growing Zero Waste Movement. Eureka! Recycling is a non-profit zero-waste organization, based in Minneapolis, working to decrease waste at events like Rock the Garden and the Min-
REDUCE YOUR WASTE: 4 QUICK TIPS • Shop with a list to avoid the “12 bottles of BBQ sauce in the cupboard” syndrome • Start a compost pile, so that food waste goes to a good use • Consider that even chicken bones can have a second life. Toss them in a bag in the freezer, along with bits of leftovers. Create a fragrant and delicious soup stock, just by tossing it all into a pot with water and simmering • Keep an open mind about expiration dates. This is non-negotiable for some squeamish types, but for die-hards waste reducers, it’s worth considering. Jonathan Bloom, author of American Wasteland: How America Throws Away Nearly Half of its Food (and what we can do about it) says, “Give it a smell, look at it, maybe even taste it. Products at or past their sell-by dates have in no way gone bad. Instead they have passed the manufacturer’s best estimate for when they ought to be sold.” J.K.
nesota State Fair. They report that an average public event generates four pounds of trash per person, but a zero-waste event typically generates less than one-third pound of recycling/composting and less than one ounce of trash per person.
BUY LESS, COOK AHEAD Waste can be reduced not just at big events, but on the home front, as well. One way is to buy less, since people tend to overestimate the amount of fresh or perishable food they will eat, or stockpile stuff they’ll never use. The most common culprit is vegetables, which are often bought with the best of intentions, then left to languish in the crisper, becoming a slimy mess. Vegetables are the most commonly wasted food in U.S. homes, making up some 25 percent of avoidable
waste, according to CleanMetrics Corp., a software firm that analyzes the environmental impact of products and businesses. Another solution for this problem is to cook perishables all at once, as soon as you buy them. Going-to-market day can double as cook-ahead day—a time to roast, simmer, or stir-fry otherwise slime-prone vegetables. With healthy cooked vegetables as a base, quick weeknight meals are easy, with the addition of a bit of protein or whole grain (batches of brown rice or quinoa can be cooked ahead too, then frozen flat in freezer bags). Add roasted beets to some leftover chicken, cube tofu into a stir fry, or mix cooked kale with some creamy hummus. With a bit of planning, you’ll reduce your “waste footprint” and enjoy tastier meals, too. e
edible twin cities November /DECEMBER 2012
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