7 minute read
Use Food Well Washington: The Challenge at Hand
by Sarah Stoner
When you throw something away… where is away?
Frankly, I love the challenge of using up the food I have on hand. It makes me more creative and saves me trips to the grocery store. And, I try to remember: it’s also an act of love for the environment. When we waste food, we waste all the energy and water it takes to grow, harvest, transport, and package it. That includes all the people’s energy who have worked hard in the process. And if food waste ends up in the landfill, when rotted, it produces methane—a greenhouse gas even more potent than carbon dioxide. About 95% of the food we throw away ends up in landfills. Here are a few ways that help me use food well:
Believe in Your Bread.
Your artisan bread loaves can come back to life! Don’t despair that your baguette is now hard as a bat. This bread-revival trick brings it back to soft as the day you bought it! Simply run your dried out loaf under the faucet for 10 seconds to wet it. Bake in the oven at 350°F for 10 minutes. To think of all the bread I’ve thrown out over my lifetime (or fed to the neighbor’s chickens)! Although, my lack of awareness of this bread-resurrection trick has generated many a delicious French toast breakfasts.
Make Friends with Your Freezer.
We all have our favorite foods to freeze. I freeze the invariably leftover hamburger or hot dog buns to have on hand for next time… or produce like the strawberries my daughter so desperately wanted and now the remaining pint is languishing. I always freeze my pesto to have on hand. Other foods that freeze well and would spoil otherwise: ginger, homegrown hot peppers, the sticks of butter I find on sale… and those softening bananas before they get too oozy: peel first, then cut in coins, freeze on a cookie tray then toss in a bag for smoothies later, or even that banana bread I don’t now have time to make. I’ve even frozen leftover hard cider into empty ice cube trays rather than empty the can down the drain. One cube in my seltzer water makes a light spring spritzer.
Expiration Dates are for the Weak.
Just kidding, I’m only quoting a magnet… that happens to be on my fridge. And in all seriousness, it’s good to know what your Best Buy dates mean. Confusion over date labeling makes for about 20 percent of our food waste, the FDA estimates. There’s no standard for food product dating. Manufacturers apply date labels at their own discretion and for various reasons. The most common is to inform consumers they can expect the food to retain its desired quality. The FDA page on “Tips to Reduce Food Waste” advises consumers to visually examine food for changes in
Let’s Save the Food
Food is being wasted at an alarming rate, and everyday eaters are the largest source— more than grocers and restaurants combined! Good news is: we can do something about it. Visit SaveTheFood.com for recipes, meal planning, and storage ideas. In the meantime, cut this tag out and put it on things in your fridge that need to be used up right away.
Keep a tray with this sign in your fridge for things that need to be used up right away. For more tips, visit Save eFood.com.
Eat Me First
color, consistency or texture if they are past their “Best if Used By” date rather than tossing food based on an unregulated, inconsistently applied system of product dates.
Know Where to Look.
I organize the fridge so my leftovers are always in one place, and a visible place towards the front. My top shelf is tall, so I always stack leftovers to the left and keep them up front where I can see and access them. I work well with visual cues, so I’ve even taken to turning my glass containers bottom up. That means when I open my fridge, instead of seeing the opaque tops of containers, I see the remaining red onion, the purple cabbage salad waiting to be eaten… and I’m more likely to eat it or remember to dream up some way to use it. My milks—cow, oat, almond—always on the lower right. Any and all breads are on the lower left. This means that even if an item gets shoved to the back of the fridge, it’s less likely to be forgotten due to being in a reliable, findable “section.” Items that don’t spoil quickly— I store in the back half of the top shelf: pickles, olives, jams, sauerkraut.
Generate Joy from the Creative Challenge.
I use fresh ingredients as impetus for inspiration. I love the creativity that comes from constraint. Plus, I’m ridiculously pragmatic and love to use what I have on hand. I suppose it’s my own version of “Chopped”.
Sometimes, my drive to use up food gives me that extra boost I might need after a long day. I’d rather keep dinner simple but… I can test out the new Brussels sprouts recipe AND make sure that giant package doesn’t go to waste. It might be a small victory, but finding a way to use up my food— in a delicious way—feels like a win.
Build a Worm Bin.
Despite my drive to use up ingredients in my fridge and cupboards, I do fail. This week I had to face the beautiful head of broccoli in my fridge that by the time I went to use… had too many yellow speckles dotting its green florets. It didn’t feel great that I’d let it expire, but I laid its body as an offering in my worm bin. Those pet worms nibble the rot right off all foods but dairy and citrus, and leave you the most precious compost for your garden. My cores, peels, kale ribs, and skins all end up in my wooden worm bin. Composting is an easy choice that at least keeps food waste in the loop of feeding the soil that feeds us…
Sarah Stoner grew up in Uganda, Morocco, Belgium, & Thailand and lived in the U.S for the first time at age 18. Sarah now lives in the Skagit Valley along with her family and trusty worm bin. sarahjstoner@hotmail.com
Avgolemono | Greek Lemon Chicken Soup
Avgolemono is a silky and fragrant soup made of eggs, lots of lemon, rice, chicken, and warm broth. It’s a handy solution when I have leftover cooked rice or rotisserie chicken to use up. And, yum... the bright lemony flavor of this soup is reason in itself. In keeping with the theme, you’ll find this creamy cream-free soup freezes well.
Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2–1 cup finely chopped carrots
1/2–1 cup finely chopped celery
1/2 cup finely chopped green onion
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
8 cups chicken broth
2 bay leaves
1 cup rice —or whatever cooked rice you have leftover 2 cooked boneless chicken breasts, shredded (about 6-8 oz of leftover rotisserie chicken will work)
1/2 cup freshly-squeezed lemon juice
2 large eggs fresh parsley or cilantro for garnish (optional)
Directions:
In a large Dutch oven or heavy pot, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil on medium-high. Add the carrots, celery and green onion, toss together to sauté briefly, then stir in the garlic.
Add the chicken broth and bay leaves, then raise the heat to high. Once the liquid has come to a rolling boil, add the rice, salt, and pepper. Turn the heat to medium-low and simmer for 20 minutes, or until the rice is tender (or just add your leftover cooked rice). Now stir in the cooked chicken.
To prepare the egg-lemon sauce (avgolemono), in a medium bowl, whisk together the lemon juice and eggs. While whisking, gradually add two ladles full of the broth from the cooking pot (this helps temper the eggs). Once fully combined, add the sauce to the soup and stir. Remove from heat immediately.
Garnish with fresh parsley or cilantro, if you like. Serve hot with your favorite bread or warm kale side salad. Enjoy!
