I love a good chat about single-use plastic, ending the fast fashion crisis, and other complicated environmental quandaries. But one of the easiest ways to combat the climate– and waste– crisis is sitting right in our pantry. At least, that is, until we forget about it and it grows some fuzzy friends. That’s right– fighting food waste reduces landfill waste AND greenhouse gas emissions.
In 2018, 35.3 million tons of wasted food was sent to landfills. In fact, food breaking down in landfills (absent of oxygen) accounts for 24.1% of all landfill waste and 6% of global greenhouse gas emissions. So rather than contribute to the crisis, here’s some easy steps to make the food-to-mouth (not landfill) plan work for you.
Create a meal plan
This one isn’t terribly sexy, but it is practical. Having an idea of what you’ll eat in a given week lets you buy only what you actually plan to cook with. For those who struggle with the rigidity of a meal plan, even having a loose framework— Tuesday is pasta night, Friday is pizza— can make sure you don’t fool yourself into thinking you’ll have four nights of salads (when the reality is closer to one).
Bonus: Meal planning also reduces decision fatigue— the fewer “mundane” decisions you have to make on a daily basis, the more mental energy you have to change the world. That sounds pretty neat!
Make your “soon to expire” foods easily accessible
It’s no secret that you should consume your soon-to-expire foods first. The challenge is actually following through with this. Some people have lots of success with an “Eat Me First” bin in the pantry or refrigerator, or a bin on the counter as a visual reminder to use ‘em up.
It’s also worth noting that many expiration dates aren’t quite as set in stone as we think. Here’s a fascinating read on when your food will actually go bad.
And if you’re sure you won’t be able to use something up? Check with your local community or food bank for someone who will.
Make friends with the freezer
“Old me” diligently stocked up on veggies but kept them in the refrigerator, where I was sure I would get to them (feel free to laugh at my naive optimism)…and nearly always forgot to use them up. Now, when I bring home groceries or get my Imperfect Foods produce deliveries (fyi, this link offers you $20 off your first purchase), I try to tackle the prep work immediately. I dice parsley, peppers, and onions, and freeze them in mason jars (great for pulling out a pinch at a time!) or Souper Cubes (perfect for the times I want a precise measurement, like 1/2 cup of spinach).
My family is also, regrettably, notoriously averse to eating the same thing for multiple meals. So while some people are batch-cooking superstars who happily eat the same thing for days, I instead freeze leftover portions for later use. I use Souper Cubes for soups and sauces. Oven-ready meals (like chicken pot pie or lasagna) can be frozen in Pyrex for an easy freezer-to-oven-to-table transition.
Got bread that’s going stale (or the ends that, let’s face it, nobody eats)? Toss it in the freezer & save it for bread crumbs! You can also extend the life of dairy products (especially those that are used for cooking, such as ricotta and buttermilk) by freezing.
Be Mindful of Portions
The average dinner plate size has jumped from 9” in the 1950s to 11.75” today (and I can assure you that our appetite didn’t actually keep up with this size jump!). Opt for a smaller portion at first (and feel free to go back for seconds!). The logic is simple: Food that makes it to your plate often catches a case of the cooties along the way, so it gets discarded… while food that stays in the pan can be claimed by someone else or gets saved for later.
Save it for the stew
Veggies that are past their prime— wilted, browning, or otherwise unappetizing on their own— can still be a tasty addition to cozy soups and stews (my favorite is broccoli cheddar). You can also save the “odds and ends” of fruits (at least of the bell pepper variety!) and vegetables for homemade vegetable or chicken broth. Since the actual vegetables are used only for taste and are strained from the final broth, stems, outer rings of the onion, and other less-than-ideal parts of the vegetable aren’t a problem.
Try keeping a silicone bag in the freezer to store these veggie “odds and ends” until I’m ready to make the broth (which I get around to once every few months). This is the yummy vegetable broth recipe I use.
Pro tip: You can also make chicken stock using the leftover bones & pieces from rotisserie chicken. Buying a whole chicken— although I certainly don’t manage it all the time— typically has less packaging than pre-cut and is so easy to make… and you get homemade stock to boot.
Last Resort: Compost
If you really missed the boat and your lettuce is growing a third head, divert your food waste from landfill with composting.
Some cities offer free composting services, and others have paid services that will pick up your compost. If you (like me), didn’t luck out to have a food-scrap-loving farmer down the road, you can start your own compost bin. I use a stainless steel bin to hold my food scraps in the kitchen, then transfer them to this tumbling composter (it has two sides– so one side can “rot” while you fill the other). For the last year, I’ve also used the Lomi composter, which I absolutely love.
What about plastic packaging?
Since it is, after all, still #plasticfreeJuly, here are just a few ways we have limited single-use plastic in our kitchen. While not all of these suggestions will fit your lifestyle, diet, and family needs… chances are some of them will.
Kitchen Storage Solutions
Skip the Ziploc baggies and single-use plastic with sustainable alternatives for meal prep and leftovers. You'll reduce waste by using whatever containers you have on hand... but glass, silicone, and metal containers are better long-term, non-toxic solutions.
Here are the workhorses of my kitchen:
Mason jars-- I use freezer-safe 8 ounce and 16 ounce mason jars for baby food (including pumped breast milk) and fresh chopped veggies. That way, onions, peppers, and other frequently used ingredients are ready to go when I need them.
Pyrex containers-- Great for leftovers, and for freezing oven-ready meals (busy weeknight with homemade lasagna? Yes please!)
Souper Cubes-- These nifty silicone cubes are staples in my kitchen (and if I sing their praises often, it's because I use them daily!). I use the 1/2 and 1 cup portions to freeze cookie dough, cheese, pizza, and enchilada sauces, and homemade broth. The 2 cup portions are used to freeze soups and stews, while I use the 2 ounce cubes for tomato paste and fresh-squeezed lemon & lime juice (bye-bye plastic neon green squirt bottles).
Silicone bags-- I keep these in the freezer for mixed fruits & veggies, along with veggie scraps (perfect for broth-making) and almost-stale bread (for breadcrumbs or croutons).
Glass jars with clamp lids-- One & two liter jars make my makeshift pantry look polished-- and keep flour, sugar, and grains easily accessible.
Shop Bulk like a Boss
There's no way around it: To reduce waste, you have to find creative solutions to reducing the packaging that makes it through your door. At grocery super-stores, "shopping the perimeter" of the store, focusing on things like fruits and veggies, is likely to reduce packaging (although, as a kiddo wisely pointed out to me once, organic food is unfortunately often only available in packaging, rather than loose. Pick your battles accordingly.) We also use Imperfect Foods (this link offers you $20 off your first purchase), which offers "imperfect" organic produce shipped straight to my door (and anything extra on a given week, we freeze for later).
You can also take advantage of bulk bins at your local food co-op or grocery store (don't overthink this one too much--- you can bring any clean containers you own! I like bringing these jars with pre-printed tare weights, but you can always weigh your jars at the store). It’s also worth asking how the co-op fills its bulk bins— I’ve seen cases where grocery stores dump giant plastic bags of granola into the bulk bin, which isn’t actually reducing waste at all.
But let's be honest. If you live outside of just a few metro areas, your options for bulk bins may be limited. More online zero-waste grocers are popping up with a returnable packaging model-- such as Loop, which offers waste-free food and household products. Thrive Market (40% off your first order with this link) also has a packaging recycling option available to some customers— this is what I’ve increasingly had to rely on on now that my closest food co-op is 45 minutes away. Gotta pick your battles.
Green Your Caffeine Routine
Single-use coffee has taken over the globe-- quite literally, as the number of K-Cups in landfills could wrap around the planet ten times. The first step to opting out of wasteful caffeine habits is ditching disposable K-cups-- if you already have a Keurig, consider a reusable K-cup pod (these have good reviews). Alternately, you could opt for a single-serve coffee maker (mine is happily on its second owner after 6+ years) or give pour-over coffee a try.
Many bulk stores offer coffee beans and or bulk ground coffee. If that isn't the case, Driftaway Coffee is a sustainable coffee company that offers fair-trade coffee in compostable packaging (I love their cold brews!). Bulk tea, if it isn't available at a local shop, can be purchased in compostable packaging from Arbor Teas.
There are even alternatives if you like your caffeine a little fizzy! I grew up down South, where we called every soft drink "coke"... but even if you call it "soda" or "pop" (makes me cringe every time, but I promise I'll love you anyway) you can opt to use SodaStream to cut down on single-use plastic. SodaStream offers dozens of flavors, including Root Beer, Dr. Pete's (the equivalent of a Dr. Pepper), Lemon-Lime, and Orange soda, and you can find the refills in most grocery stores.
Carb-load without a Plastic Overload
Local bakeries (even the bakery at the grocery super-store) likely offer some unpackaged bread options, or you can bake your own. This is my favorite sandwich bread recipe-- and once you become comfortable baking with yeast, everything from burger buns to soft pretzels and tortillas is at your disposal (I’ve made and loved every recipe. I just linked you to). Bread also freezes well (cotton bags or beeswax wrap are both easy storage options), so you can bake in batches and save it up for later.
(Hint: Any time a recipe calls for instant yeast, you can also use active dry yeast by ‘proofing it’, or letting it sit with the warm water and sugar from the recipe for just a few minutes. This is helpful because you can find active dry yeast--but rarely instant yeast-- in recyclable glass jars.)
Done with my "cheesy" jokes? Sustainable Dairy Options.
Finding limited-packaging dairy requires some creativity, but every bite of tangy, creamy cheese is worth it (unless, of course, you happen to be vegan). Here's some switches you can make, ranked from easy to "pro" level:
Easy swap: Buy your eggs in a paper (rather than styrofoam) egg carton.
Choose block cheese rather than pre-shredded. Many grocery store deli counters stopped filling customer containers during Covid, but it's worth asking-- and even if you get pre-packaged block cheese, you'll cut down on packaging. (You can make fast work of block cheese with a KitchenAid grater attachment).
Make your own sour cream in seconds. Here's how: Combine 3/4 cup heavy whipping cream + 3 tablespoons buttermilk in a clean, lidded mason jar. Shake well to combine and leave sit on the counter for 24 hours (to literally “sour” cream)— then, enjoy immediately or move to the refrigerator for up to a week. Yield: Approximately One Cup (and it's even better than store-bought!).
Medium effort: Some grocery stores and food co-ops offer milk in returnable glass jars (literally the milk-man model)— this isn’t realistic for everyone, but here’s a map to check if you have any local dairies with glass jar services.
Pro status: DIY everything from cottage cheese to ricotta and mason jar ice cream. Home-made yogurt is a great starting place if you have an Insta-pot (it all but makes itself!), otherwise cream cheese is worth a try.
Guilt-free Munching
This is where most people get tripped up. Unfortunately, you're not very likely to find Chex Mix, Oreos, or Doritos in the bulk aisle... and snack food packaging is notoriously difficult to recycle (we use Thrive Market for any packaged snacks because of their plastic recycling program, but, of course, recycling is often still down-cycling).
Here's the good news: Very rarely is your craving food specific. For example, you might think you want Lay's potato chips... but actually, you'll be content with anything salty. And chances are, you'll be just as happy with a slice of pie as a Toaster Strudel. So keep some easy munching on hand, like granola and fresh fruit (plus, cookie dough in easy reach in the freezer!). And if you really want the Doritos-- give yourself a little grace. :)
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