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All the tricks to stop food waste
THERE IS NOTHING LIKE THE FEELING OF BEING PART OF THE SOLUTION
Learn to save food from wastage whilst saving money and time. Yup, it's that good fellows, so hold on to your kitchen gloves and let's get started.
How often do we see a problem in the world that we can individually help to fix ? Well, not that often so this one feels extra sweet.
For a quick recap, average and around the world, 50kg to 361kg of food per PERSON per YEAR is wasted. Best countries to deal with food waste are Greece, China and India. Worst food waster are Turkey, United states and Australia.
These numbers are alarming, especially after realizing that they come on top of the food already wasted by our supermarkets, restaurants and our agro farming industry.
On the plus side, this means that we actually have the power to change this ! These numbers can evolve by changing our habits and learning new techniques to save food from being thrown away.
SO NO MATTER WHAT YOU DO, DON'T GET DISCOURAGED, STICK WITH IT AND GO EAT THAT LAST BIT OF HUMMUS SITTING IN YOUR FRIDGE AS YOU READ THIS.
SHOP SMART
1. According to industry figures, more than half of our purchases at the supermarket are impulse buys. Our best cure for that : going to the market with a list of what you are actually missing and what you want to eat. It is so easy to get tempted by the beautiful displays of food, colorful vegetables and exotic new grains. If you stick to a list, you will avoid buying too much and throwing some of it out !
2. Try to get your amounts right. Think about what you will actually need, and touch up your week's shopping later on if you haven't got enough - here we are working with the opposite of the general rule, better to have less than too much.
3. If you are shopping for the week, make sure to get fruits and vegetables that are both ripe and not so ripe. Bananas or avocados are great examples - get a few ripe ones and a few not so ripe ones, to make sure they won't all be ready at the same time.
4. Make sure you plan to cook various recipes with the same ingredients. I use to do it all the time. Find a new delicious recipe with funky ingredients, eat delicious meal, get stuck with ingredients you don't know how to cook in other forms.
Internet is such a wonderful source of inspiration in case you are stuck with left overs you're not sure how to use.. so get creative !
LOUISE HERE !
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I hope this space serves you in your journey to a more mindful and sustainable life !
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RE-LEARN HOW TO KEEP EVERYTHING FRESH
5. Organize your fridge so that you can clearly see the left overs and opened products. You can label your plates if you often doubt the safety of a meal, with a date and keep it as a guide line for your week.
6. Fruits and veg don't all store the same way :
- Leafy greens keeps longer when wrapped in a towel as it helps avoid moisture.
- Root vegetables such as squash, garlic, onions, potatoes, sweet potatoes or pumpkins should be stored in a cool, dark, place (not in the fridge).
- Ripening fruits (tomatoes, apricots, avocados..) can be stored away from sunlight and when they are ripe they can be kept in the fridge.
- You can store fresh herbs in a glass of water like little bouquets in the fridge.
- Bananas take longer to go brown if individually separated and kept flat on the counter.
EAT WITH STRATEGY
7. Make sure you plan to eat leftovers ! Taking them with you to work is a great way to eat delicious home made food and avoid to have it go to waste.
8. Go tapas style or make our favorite : leftover buddah bowls.
We all do it, we are so sure that we are going to eat that tiny plate of broccoli, but it's too small to make a full meal and too big to be added to a new dish. Having a night of left overs is the best way to combat these little plates of food all at once ! And if they pair well, you can always throw them all on a plate, add a nice sauce or some fresh avocado and call it a buddah bowl. Imagination is key.. right ?
BECOME THE SAVIOR OF SAD LOOKING INGREDIENTS
9. Fruits and vegetables that are a bit over done can be repurposed or saved :
- brown bananas make delicious muffins or pancakes
- Very ripe fruits can be made into compotes, jams or smoothies
- Left over wine can be used to make sauces or stews
- Wilting leafy greens can be cooked or you can place them in cold water and watch them spring back to life.
10. Leave no men behind ! Scraps of food are still food (most of the time anyways).
- The peels from your citrus can be added to vinegar and water to make great surface cleaners.
- The peels from apples and pears can be reduced until you get a thick delicious jelly to add to pies and deserts.
- Veggie tops and peels can be cooked in water to make veggie stock (let it reduce until it is very dark and tasty, than store in a jar in the fridge or freeze it for another day.
- Peels of certain vegetables can be used for natural dyes ! Avocados and beets for pinks, purple cabbage or black beans for blue, onions and carrots for oranges..)
11. Freeze freeze freeze. You can chop and store in your freezer most vegetables and fruits to use another time. You can cook big amounts and freeze in one or two people size meals for lunches or lazy dinners. You can even buy a lot of seasonal produce (berries, pears, oranges..) and freeze them to use on other months.
So many options for your freezer !
12. Don't forget about the little sauces or jams. This is the good old rule of make sure that there isn't an already opened pot of cream, coconut milk, jam, sauce... Make sure one sauce is eaten before opening a different one.
13. Don't be put off by best before dates. Most supermarkets put best before dates on most things because they have to. If it smells or looks moldy, toss it. Otherwise, you're probably fine ! (But remember that we are vegans so don't apply this to meat - we ahve no idea how that stores)
- Nuts become stale when they are too old, just give them a taste and you'll know.
- Jam is still good to have when a bit of mold forms at the top after having been opened a while - just scrape it off and store it in the fridge.
- Cereals and grains can keep for years ! You can push their shelf life for another year after the best before date.
- Canned goods are usually indicate three years from when it's been shelved. You can, for most products, add another two years to that.
- Most dairy-free creams, milks and yoghurts are still fine to eat a good week after their best before date too !
14. When all else fails.. compost. Bring your left overs full cycle and let them rot in the ground ! (If you are a meat eater, avoid composting your meats with the vegetables, or if you do, make sure to use it as a fertilizer on non-edible plants like trees and flowers).
Everyone is trying to do better everywhere. Or at least, this is how I chose to see it.
In Belgium and France, supermarkets are now obligated to donate food that would have normally been thrown away. The Australian Government decided to invest 1.2 million dollars over two years to support food rescue organizations. Italy changed their laws to make it easier for restaurants to donate uneaten food.
These are all decisions made by governments for countries, not counting the ugly fruits and veg campaigns to save perfectly nice produce from being thrown away for not looking perfect, the companies donating their left over foods to staff and organizations, or the farming industry rethinking their way of growing and storing food.
THIS LOW FOOD WASTE MOVEMENT IS GROWING EVERYDAY, AND WE CAN ALL INDIVIDUALLY CONTRIBUTE TO IT. SO ENJOY THE LEFT OVERS AND THANK YOU FOR ALL YOUR EFFORT !
