Tuesday, April 24, 2012
Never Waste Food Again - Must Read for all. Please share with your friends and relatives too..by Green Yatra
Posted by
Green Yatra
at
3:56 PM
“Use it up, wear
it out, make do, or do without” is a favorite adage in both frugal and green
circles, and it is something I strive to live by. One of the best ways to “use
it up” is to think differently about our food and ways to avoid wasting it.
Lloyd wrote a great post a while back about the statistics for how much
food we waste in the U.S., and the numbers are, frankly, appalling. On
average, we waste 14 percent of our food purchases per year, and the average
American family throws out over 600 dollars of fruit per year. Most of the food
we waste is due to spoilage; we’re buying too much and using too little of it.
We’ve all had it
happen: half the loaf of bread goes stale because no one wants to eat
sandwiches today, and the grapes we bought as healthy snacks for the kids’
lunches languish in the crisper. With a little creativity, and an eye toward
vanquishing waste in our lives, we can make use of more of our food before it
goes to waste. Here are a few ideas for you.
Using Up Vegetables
1. Leftover mashed
potatoes from dinner? Make them into patty shapes the next morning and cook
them in butter for a pretty good “mock hash brown.”
2. Don’t toss those trimmed
ends from onions, carrots, celery, or peppers. Store them in your freezer, and
once you have a good amount saved up, add them to a large pot with a few cups
of water and make homemade vegetable broth. This is also a great use for
cabbage cores and corn cobs.
3. Don’t
toss broccoli stalks. They can be peeled and sliced, then prepared just
like broccoli florets.
4. If you have to dice
part of an onion or pepper for a recipe, don’t waste the rest of it. Chop it up
and store it in the freezer for the next time you need diced onion or peppers.
5. Roasted root
vegetable leftovers can be turned into an easy, simple soup the next day. Add
the veggies to a blender, along with enough broth or water to thin them enough
to blend. Heat and enjoy.
6. If you’re preparing
squash, don’t toss the seeds. Rinse and roast them in the oven, just like you
would with pumpkin seeds. The taste is pretty much the same.
7. Celery leaves
usually get tossed. There’s a lot of good flavor in them; chop them up and add
them to meatloaf, soups, or stews.
8. Use up tomatoes
before they go bad by drying them in the oven. You can then store them in
olive oil in the refrigerator (if you plan on using them within a week) or in
the freezer.
9. Canning is always a
good option. If you’re doing tomatoes, you can use a boiling water. If
you’re canning any other type of veggie, a pressure canner is necessary for
food safety.
10. Before it goes
bad, blanch it and toss it in the freezer. This works for peas, beans, corn,
carrots, broccoli, brussel sprouts, cauliflower, and leafy greens like spinach
and kale.
11. Too much zucchini?
Make dark chocolate zucchini cake, zucchini bread or muffins. If
you don’t want to eat bread now, bake it and freeze it, then defrost when
you’re ready to eat it.
12.Pickle it.
Cucumbers are the first veggie most of us think of pickling, but in reality,
just about any vegetable can be preserved through pickling.
Ideas for Cutting Down
on Fruit Waste
13. Make smoothies
with fruit before it goes bad. Berries, bananas, and melons are great
candidates for this use-up idea.
14. Jam is really easy
to make, and will keep for up to a year if you process the jars in hot water.
If you don’t do the water processing part, you can keep the jam in the
refrigerator for a month, which is a lot longer than the fruits would have
lasted.
15. Dry your
fruit and store it in the freezer or in airtight containers.
16. Make fruit
leather.
17. Make a big fruit
salad or “fruit kebabs” for your kids. For some reason, they seem to eat more
fruit if it’s in these “fancier” forms.
18. Use up the fall
bounty of apples by making applesauce or apple butter.
19. Don’t throw out
those watermelon rinds! Pickled watermelon rind is a pretty tasty
treat.
20. Make a fruit
crumble out of almost any fruit you have on hand. Assemble and bake it now, or
leave it unbaked and store it in the freezer for a quick dessert.
Putting Extra
Grains to Good Use
21. Make croutons out
of day-old bread.
22. Turn day-old bread
into homemade bread crumbs.
23. Freeze leftover
bread. This way you’ll have day-old on hand whenever you need bread crumbs, or
croutons rather than using fresh bread.
24. All of those
little broken pieces of pasta in the bottom of the box? Collect them and mix
with rice and veggies for a simple side dish.
25. A few tablespoons
of leftover oatmeal isn’t enough for a meal, but it is great sprinkled on top
of yogurt.
26. Add chopped bread
to a soup. It will dissolve and thicken the soup.
27. Made too many
pancakes for breakfast? Put them in the freezer, then toss in the toaster for a
fast, tasty weekday breakfast. Ditto waffles.
28. If you make plain
white or brown rice with dinner, use leftovers for breakfast the next morning
by adding them to oatmeal. This provides extra fiber and allows you to use up
that rice.
29. If your kids don’t
like the bread crusts on your sandwiches, save these bits and pieces in the
freezer to turn into bread crumbs later. Just throw the crusts into a food
processor or coffee grinder to make them into crumbs. Season as you like.
30. If you have just a
smidge of baby cereal left in the box, and it’s not enough for a full meal, add
it to your babies pureed fruit. It adds bulk and fiber, and keeps baby full
longer.
Make the Most of Meat
31. Don’t toss those
chicken bones after you eat the chicken. Boil them to make chicken stock.
32. Ditto for bones
from beef and pork.
33. The fat you trim
from beef can be melted down and turned into suet for backyard birds.
34. Turn leftover bits
of cooked chicken into chicken salad for sandwiches the next day.
35. Use leftover roast
beef or pot roast in an easy vegetable beef soup the next day by adding
veggies, water, and the cooking juices from the meat.
Use Dairy Before It
Expires
36. If you’ve got a
few chunks of different types of cheese sitting around after a party, make
macaroni and cheese.
37. Eggs can be
frozen. Break them, mix the yolks and whites together, and pour into an ice
cube tray. Two frozen egg cubes is the equivalent of one large egg.
38. You can also
freeze milk. Leave enough room in the container for expansion, and defrost in
the refrigerator.
39. Use cream cheese
in mashed potatoes or white sauces to give them thickness and tang.
40. Put Parmesan
cheese into the food processor with day-old bread to make Parmesan bread
crumbs. This is excellent as a coating for eggplant slices, pork, or chicken.
Herbs and How to Get
the Most Out of Them
41. Chop herbs and add
them to ice cube trays with just a little water. Drop whole cubes into the pan
when a recipe calls for that type of herb.
42. You can also
freeze herbs by placing them in plastic containers. Certain herbs, such as
basil, will turn black, but the flavor will still be great.
43. Make pesto with
extra basil or parsley.
44. Dry herbs by
hanging them by their stems in a cool, dry location. Once they’re dry, remove
them from the stems and store them in airtight containers.
Don’t Waste a Drop
45. Leftover coffee in
the carafe? Freeze it in ice cube trays. Use the cubes for iced coffee or to
cool down too-hot coffee without diluting it. You can do the same with leftover
tea.
46. If there’s a
splash or two of wine left in the bottle, use it to de-glaze pans to add flavor
to whatever you’re cooking.
47. If you have pickle
juice left in a jar, don’t pour it down the drain. Use it to make a fresh batch
of refrigerator pickles, or add it to salad dressings (or dirty martinis).
48. You can also
freeze broth or stock in ice cube trays, and use a cube or two whenever you
make a pan sauce or gravy.
49. If there’s just a
bit of honey left in the bottom of the jar, add a squeeze or two of lemon juice
and swish it around. The lemon juice will loosen up the honey, and you have the
perfect addition to a cup of tea.
Finally….
50. If you can’t think of any way to use that food in the
kitchen, compost it. Everything except for meat and dairy will work in a
compost pile, and at least your extra food can be used for something useful.
Such as growing more food!
visit www.greenyatra.org for more notes and information
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