Some Neighbourly Food Waste Reduction Tips

Planning

• The best way to save food is to freeze it! I freeze everything! Cut up veggies that are starting to go that you know you won’t get to or are too soft to eat raw – cut them label them and freeze them – use them in your next pasta sauce, stew, or stirfry. Lemons and limes cut them up and freeze them – use them in your summer cocktails or juice them – and save the juice for your next smoothie or baking session. I freeze rice, pasta, and leftover everything – even lettuce, arugula, or spinach – I just use them in my sauces or smoothies!! If I’m scraping my dinner plate – I take it for lunch the next day! Our family of 4’s goal is to have no more than 2 compostable bags and very small garbage bags per week. We often do better than that!
• Buy things on the discount grocery shopping day, and put things in the freezer that you know you won’t be able to eat before the best before date.
• Check the fridge for food that needs to be used before grocery shopping, so you can buy any extra ingredients for whichever recipe(s) you decide to make with the food that needs using up!
• Be reasonable about what and how much you will eat before buying it.
• Share with your neighbours if you have too much or if you are going to be away from home and have food that will go to waste.
• I make sure to check the best ways to store each fruit/vegetable to maximize how long it will last, especially if it’s something I don’t get often!
• If a food isn’t eaten by the best before date or even expiry date don’t throw it away unless it smells funky! If it won’t get eaten chop it all up and freeze it and take out only what you need (read more about expiry dates here)
• Meal plan! Every week take a look at what you already have, plan some meals for the week and buy only what you need. Leave room in the meal plan for leftovers or a meal out.
• eat all the food you prepare, buy less, waste less
• if you have food waste, make sure it goes in the organics bin. Less food waste to the landfills
• Look at the expiry date when you purchase and ensure you buy the product that expires the latest for most usage
• Make your own vermiculture and grow your food.
• I list any items that need to be used in my vegetable bin, in the search bar of my browser. Many recipes come up that combine all or most of the ingredients. I choose what appeals the most and this can save a trip to the grocery store. And less waste.
• Meal planning before heading to the grocery store has been the best way to reduce waste, lower the grocery bills and ensure that you are using everything you buy. I plan out breakfast, lunch, dinners and meal prep as much as possible before my week begins.
• Freezing food in smaller quantities in small ziplock bags.
• Pass out almost expired foods to individuals or families that will use readily use it .
• Pre-cook foods and freeze in containers therefore less waste .
• Have a time slot to cook meals yourself with music or with families/friends
• Modify recipes to use up foods
• Planning is my number one way of reducing food waste. Have your menu set for the week, knowing what food needs to be eaten first. This saves any “forgotten” food at the back of the fridge and ensures minimal waste.

Veggies

• Save all of your vegetable peelings (i.e. yams, potatoes, etc.), vegetable ends (ie. onion, garlic, carrot, beet, zucchini tops, etc.), and other things like kale stocks, and put them in a ziplock bag in your freezer. Once the bag is full, dump the bag into a large stock pot, cover with water, and bring water to a boil. Turn the heat down to a simmer for one hour. Once the liquid has cooled, use a strainer and another large pot to collect the broth. Freeze the broth in ice cube trays. Put the cubes in a ziplock bag and label “Veggie soup stock”. Add your own veggie soup stock to all kinds of dishes, ie. soup, sheppard’s pie, casseroles, etc. The soup stock adds both flavours and nutrients, and was made from food scraps that you would have otherwise composted!
• Another tip is to freeze whole ginger and turmeric, and grate it into your favourite dishes and teas. That way the ginger and turmeric don’t lose their nutrients, and they don’t dry out while sitting in your fridge.
• I leave the skins on potatoes for baking and roasting but for mashed potatoes I save the peels, toss them in olive oil and toast them in the toaster oven or bake them in the oven until crispy. We call them Garbage Pail Fries – they are delicious!
• Make soup! Use any leftover vegetables in the fridge and make minestrone or lentil soup.
• If certain kinds of produce we have, such as celery, green onions, herbs etc. Start to wilt before we can eat them, we will put them in a cup of water to help crisp them up a bit and extend their life!
• I freeze veggies when they are looking nit as fresh and use is soups. Quiche, stews. I do similar with fruit and make smoothies. I use up everything in fridge before I shop again so sometimes have to get creative. I find if you stock your fridge too full, sometimes you miss food and ot goes bad.
• Don’t discard vegetable peels and scraps. Wash well and save in a freezer bag till you have enough to make a pot of vegetable stock. This includes onion skins, carrot tops, scraps you don’t plan to serve or leftovers.
• Don’t toss those broccoli stems! Peel them,then use the stems as you would the heads/crowns.
• Things like spinach, broccoli cauliflower (including the stalks) work very well frozen. Then you can add them to soups or curries.
• make lots of stews or quiche with any vegetables you have in the fridge, freeze what you are not gonna use
• If there are vegetables in your good food box that you don’t enjoy, go to the back of the line and give them back to the Good Food Box employees so they can give them to someone else!
• I separate onions from potatoes in the pantry!
• Freeze veggies that are going bad and make a veggie stock. All the food waste from fruits and veggies can go in compost.
• I buy most vegetables in the bulk bags (like onions) and if I’m not able to use them within their fresh lifespan i pickle them. Red onions are the best for an extra topping on a curry. Sometimes I make kimchi which is a great snack and uses leftover vegetables as well.
• If I’ve used lots of vegetables in a short space of time I keep all of the cuttings/peelings that I would normally waste and boil to make a veggie stock which can be frozen and used for later!
• Also, keep all of your butter, cream cheese, sour cream, yogurt tubs and use them for freezing. One cabbage is huge. But cook it all at once and divide into smaller portions in the freezer so you have them ready to go!
• Save the ends of your onions, carrots or any vegetable scrap you think would make good vegetable stock. Store in the freezer and tehn when you want to make stock, the frozen veggie scraps are ready to go. Compost the scraps when you’re done.
• I cook wilted vegetables like spinach, swiss chard and kale to add to pasta dishes. Chicken pesto pasta with cooked vegetables is my fave.
• Stir fry veggies lightly to avoid composting.
• I save the ends and peelings of all my veggies and put them in the freezer. When I have a good amount, I boil them up to make a yummy veggie stock for soups, risotto and other recipes calling for stock! I do this for chicken bones too. Such a good way of using up “unwanted” pieces of food.

Fruit

• I take my fruit that’s beginning to go bad and throw into the freezer for future smoothies! Same with veggies! Smoothies or add to other recipes.
• Apples that are going soft can be made into applesauce or apple jam.
• Grate your citrus fruits, let the gratings dry, and store them in a glass jar. Grind up the gratings and add them to muffins, cookies, etc.
• Soak fresh berries and green beans in a 1:3 ratio of vinegar and cold water when you them home to keep them fresher longer!
• I make banana bread with overripe bananas. Sometimes I throw the bananas in the freezer whole to make banana bread later and thaw them on the counter for a few hours or microwave them for 2-3 minutes.

Bread, Eggs, Meat, & Dairy

• Save your bread ends in a ziplock bag in the freezer, and add them to dishes like macaroni and cheese, knodles (dumplings), bread pudding, etc.
• You can use milk that is going sour for baking, ie. muffins, pancakes, etc.
• I used to throw left over scrambled eggs out, until I discovered they make delicious next day sandwiches. Just mix up the scrambled eggs with mayonnaise, green onion and seasonings to taste, serve on bread or buns of your choice.All the crusts or old dry bread I freeze till I have a bag full. Then I make my own stuffing or I have an easy recipe for homemade croutons. Or I make bread pudding & also can use up that little bit of eggnog or oat milk.
• Use stale bread to make croutons. Cut you bread into squares, toss them in olive oil and your favorite herbs. Put them in the oven on a low heat until dry.
• When I buy a rotisserie chicken, we eat the dark meat the first night for dinner, and the next day I’ll use the white meat in wraps for lunch. Then I’ll make chicken stock with the bones using an instant pot pressure cooker setting, but you could use a slow cooker or boil the bones for the same result. I like to make chicken soup with broth and leftover chicken breast meat. This recipe is so easy.
• Keep a bag in the freezer so as you have bones you want to make stock with you can add them, then make a big batch. Same as “ugly” vegetables