“One half of the food prepared in the US and Europe never gets eaten.”–Dive!, the movie
We as a society might waste this much food, but we’re also coming up with good ideas about how not to. Here are just a few ways we’ve already talked about combating the problem:
- Finding inspiration at our screening of Dive! the movie at 18 Reasons, tomorrow from 7-9 pm.
- Picking up a book on the topic to dig a little deeper into the issues; in our own book section you’ll find Economy Gastronomy and American Wasteland.
- Keeping your eggs, veggies and other food fresh without refrigeration (and possibly better tasting!) with these funky designs for your kitchen.
- Getting involved with one of the organizations that have cropped up in the past couple of years to solve our country’s waste issues. Halfsies offers restaurant-goers a choice that provides a healthier portion size, reduces food waste, and supports the fight against hunger; Food Shift works with consumers, businesses and communities to build awareness and close the gaps in food delivery and consumption; and Marin Organic hosts a gleaning program which gathers excess produce from farms and delivers it to public schools, to name a few.
- Reconsidering what you think of as food waste, and thinking about your options before you throw food in the trash.
It’s this last point that brings me to the matter at hand today….I’m pleased to announce Bi-Rite’s first Earth Day Food Waste Challenge! Yes, the name could be sexier. But the idea couldn’t, because the point of this challenge is for us all to practice how we as individuals can put a dent in the amount of food that goes to waste. For an issue as complicated and overwhelming as our waste-disposal system and the challenge of feeding everyone who’s hungry, I’m empowered by the ability each of us have to waste less in our own day-to-day. So how will the challenge work, you ask?
1. We want to hear from you, our community, about what foods you find yourself throwing out most often. First that comes to mind for me is herbs; I’m always challenged to finish the whole bunch (although the “Any Greens Pesto” recipe from Eat Good Food makes it easy!). Tell us in a comment here which foods you can never seem to use up before they go bad.
2. We’ll take the answers we hear most from you, and make those our target foods for our Food Waste Challenge, which will take place at Bi-Rite Market the week leading up to Earth Day (Sunday, April 22nd).
3. During that week, we’ll give you recipe cards for each of the target foods. Each card will have a few different recipes that make use of its featured ingredient. We’ll invite you to email us a photo of any dish you cook from it–I’ll post each photo sent in on our blog.
4. We’ll donate 10% of proceeds from sales of the target foods that week (up to $1,000) to Three Squares, an organization that works throughout the Bay Area to provide nutrition education and improved access to healthy food in low-income communities. They’re teaching people how to shop for ingredients and cook smartly, and this will help them towards the 600 classes they teach every year!
So without further ado, let’s kick this thing off! Please reply to this post with a comment on what foods you find yourself throwing out most often, so we can help you find creative ways to use them up next month!
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little bits of leftovers: small amount of pesto/sauce that wasn’t as tasty as had hoped for
limp kale, carrot top greens, fennel greens
wilted/mildew produce. cheese that has turned.
Definitely Celery & beet greens. I freeze veggie scraps for future broth/soup making, but too often, they appear freezer-burned by the time I am ready to make my soup. Thoughts?
Ooh, sorry … I perused the earlier comments too quickly … so great to see their are other veggie stock makers out there! I’m not sure I get what you mean by “freezer burned” veggies, Emily. Frost definitely develops on mine, too, mainly b/c they are often wet when I throw them there, but I’ve never found it an issue that matters or impact taste (like, say, frozen cookies or whatever). I’d just go ahead and throw them in a pot and make your stock! You could also try using a heavier freezer bag and make sure it’s airtight to reduce some of the frost formation.
Cheers, @pknewby
sour cream — I only buy it when a recipe calls for it, but it isn’t offered in small containers, so I always end up throwing out the rest of the container.
Do you eat greek yogurt? I’ve found that you really cant tell if you replace sour cream with greek yogurt, because I’m with you, I’d never use the whole container of sour cream. Greek yogurt can be both breakfast/a snack w/ fresh fruit, or it can thicken sauces/ casseroles/ dips or can be dolloped on top of a burrito!
The first things that come to mind are celery, carrots, & cilantro, because most stores don’t sell them in reasonable quantities. Though recently we’ve started freezing leftover vegetables & saving them for broth.
Milk. I wish you could buy it in bulk so you could get just the right amount for what you needed.
What a novel idea, haven’t heard that one before! Completely agree, for me personally milk is a challenge (I end up making a lotta smoothies towards the end of a bottle!). Good thought for us to run by Straus!
I’ve never done it, but a lot of people who buy in bulk when it is on sale freeze it.
Celery, carrots, sour cream, cream cheese, radishes, lemons, limes.
Viva Three Squares1
You can freeze cream cheese (so you could cut the block in half and put half in the fridge and half in the freezer). The texture changes slightly in the freezer (more crumbly), so this could slightly affect what you are making with it. I have had previously frozen cream cheese and bagels and don’t mind the texture.
I have never used more than a few stalks of celery out of a bunch before it goes bad. I guess I could just do the ants on a log thing.
Whole bunches of herbs are a challenge. Except for basil, when making pesto
or parsley, I end up drying the rest when I’d really rather have fresh herbs.
I’d love to have a bin of mixed herbs available, like with mesclun, so that there could be a variety to buy by the pound. Celery tops are also a challenge. There are many Greek recipes that use lots of celery, including the leaves, but you certainly can’t use so much in stocks because it is a dominant flavor. A celery bunch can be stored in the fridge by putting the root end in a wide-mouthed jar with an inch of water and tent the top with a plastic bag. Celery strips are great
to serve with dips of all kinds. Good for you.
Definitely celery. I never need to use a full bunch.
It would be great to buy 1/2 at a time.
Well today’s your day Kim, because you CAN buy 1/2 a head of celery any time! Or a single stalk…or whatever amount you need…because we sell it by the pound! (Think many of our guests may not realize this–thanks for bringing it up.)
Celery, green onions, and things you buy in bunches that you never need much of. Carrot tops seem a shame to waste, but I’ve never heard of anything you can do with them (not like beet tops). Citrus – either left over halves/quarters of lemons and limes, or whole oranges and grapefruit that get mushy or hard, simply because I buy them without remembering that I’m not really a fan. I actually throw out very little (I think a lot of people underestimate the actual expiration time on a lot of foods and throw away things that aren’t actually bad, like moldy cheese. Cheese IS mold, just cut it off!) I also compost a lot, so I feel like that makes waste a little less wasteful, but I’d love to know how to make spare scraps more useful.
Fruits and veggies. When I see them going bad I will freeze them until I am ready to use them. I’ll also juice them too! For example, with herbs (cilantro and parsley) I will throw them in a juicer with whatever veggies I’ve got in the fridge. Fruits, specifically bananas and berries, I will freeze. When I’m ready I’ll throw them in the food processor with some dates or almond milk and have a delicious dairy free, raw dessert!
1/2 jars of tomato sauce (seems to grow mold by the time I’m ready for the other 1/2), sourcream, ginger root leftovers, green onions
I certainly have troubles with herbs as well! They seem to go to waste as I can never finish using them all. Also, citrus is a tough one sometimes. Especially lemons/limes. I need them when I cook and love to have them around, but they can easily go moldy after 3-4 weeks in my veggie drawer.
For all of those with celery troubles out there – make stock! You need quite a bit of celery for it.
Thank you for your wonderful work!
Lettuce, herbs. I also have the same problem with my leek/carrot/celery tops getting freezer burned by the time I’m ready to make more stock. We just have SO many tops in the winter, there gets to be quite the backlog.
One quick suggestion…veggie pot pies and roasted veggies are a good way to use up limp vegetables. Pot pies are great for limp carrots and celery, and roasting up limp beets and parsnips works well.
I agree with the writer, herbs is a tough one & thx for the “any herb pesto” suggestion – great idea! Lots of comments above on limp greens, carrot tops, and so forth. A few suggestions about this. First, limp greens can be easily rehydrated by putting into a bowl of cold water, letting it sit 5-7 minutes, and watch them plump back up! Turn them onto a dish towel to dry and store in a plastic container or plastic bag (reused, of course
) for salad anytime. For carrot tops, herbs, veggie skins, and so forth, keep a plastic bag in the freezer for your “scraps” and make your own veggie stock. All great ways to get the most out of your veggies! There’s a video on my blog Play a Good Knife and Fork on how to make veggie stock if you are so inclined to check it out. So easy! Cheers, PK (@pknewby)
The rest of the anchovies in the can… (Recipes usually call for one or two, and since I don’t typically eat them on their own, I’m always scrambling for ways to use them. What’s their useful refrigerator life, anyway?)
And bunches of thyme, sage leaves, sour cream, buttermilk…
herbs (except basil), cauliflower greens and buttermilk!
Celery, sour cream, coconut milk (i buy it to make a couple of portions of curry but can’t figure out what to do with the other half of the can)
For those who throw out citrus, when I have too much, I press and freeze the juice and defrost when I have a friend coming over for cocktails. For bananas, I freeze them and, when I’m ready to eat one, I let it sit for 20 minutes and then serve with cinnamon and it’s almost as good as ice cream. While I’m at it, if you only like broccoli crowns, my tip for broccoli is to cut the outside off the stalk and chop or process the stalk to use in coleslaw or stir fry.
Most attrition around our house is due to mold and slime. Mold most often in the form of citrus fruits that have sat too long in the damp climate and on cheeses that are a little past their prime. I do cut mold from fruit and cheeses and can sometimes save them if I spot it fast enough. Slime usually affects cilantro that I do not use fast enough — the stems will slime over whether I keep it in water or in plastic.
I’m on a fixed budget so I literally cannot afford to throw anything out – think depression era mentality.
Here’s some stuff that I always recycle:
- sour milk, buttermilk is excellent for baking.
-anchovies go into most Italian sauces I make including one with chocolate & chili peppers!
-herbs – when I’m done using fresh I put them in my herb pot to dry out. I even use the twigs for roasting or stocks.
-Vegetable scraps — I freeze all veg scraps (esp. onion skins) & save for stock
-unused bread freezes well – cubed and toasted I use for soups or make into bread crumbs
-citrus peel – I save for marmalade or citrus paste ( I put citrus paste in everything including meat dishes and desserts!)
Love the depression era mentality, Ann! Glad my gramps taught me that from a young age….
[...] With Earth Day fast approaching, the good people at Bi-Rite Market have issued a challenge. A Food Waste Challenge. [...]
I sometimes throw out wilted lettuce and celery, the end of loaves of bread, and the end of a tub of Greek yogurt as my favorite brand only comes in large tubs.
oh my goodness! what am i going to do with all these boiled eggs? maybe i can make a nourishing face mask with a few. i am excited to hear some non food applications to these common ingredients. i know ive felt like i could floss with celery veins. also, my mom has always had me taking medicinal baths with oranges, ginger, she would put yogurt and mayo in my hair…
Dear CHANGE
FOOD IS TOO PRECIOUS OF A
COMMODITY TO THROWN AWAY LIKE
GARBAGE.
A call for Federally mandated food
donation laws is essential at this time.
Absolutely 100% of all hunger can be
eradicated in the United States by
making food rescue donations from food
establishments MANDATORY. The issue
of food insecurity is too vitally
important to let this precious
commodity be thrown away
The ONLY answer to the problem of
eradicating hunger and circumventing
current food sharing restrictions
popping up in each small community, is
federally mandated laws making food
donation not a choice but a
requirement. This mandatory food
donation will go hand in hand with
mandatory food give out stations which
will be manned with the same people
sharing food legally and illegally now,
To go after communities about food
sharing is like cutting off the legs of the
spider it is a never ending fight because
the legs just grow back. I do not believe
in fighting or defying I believe in
identifying the problem and solving it.
The problem is people are hungry and
we can’t share food with them legally.
The solution is to make it illegal NOT to
share with the hungry.
I totally agree the problem with
eradicating hunger is not lack of food
but problems in food distribution. It is
for this reason that we are calling for
Federal MANDATES requiring all Food
Establishments to donate all edible food
each day instead of most current actions
which toss this perfect food into
landfills. This takes it from a maybe I
will bother with the trouble of donating
it and easing great hunger-to it is
against the law for me not to donate it
and eradicate all hunger in the United
States
Kathy Mitro kathymitro@yahoo.com
386-795-9643 Daytona Beach, Forida
WHAT CAN YOU DO:
You can give as much media attention to
getting these laws passed as possible.
Voice your support for these laws.
Put this call for mandatory food donation
information on your website.
Post this petition on your website it goes
out to 6 federal agencies that are
responsible for passing bills and laws.
The President of the United States:
REQUIRE all food establishments to do food
rescue each day – Sign the Petition!
Talk this up to as many people as possible
we are planting a seed for these laws to
grow around.
Give me your written support and I will
post a list of endorsers on the petition
website
I am available at any time for any type of
media exposure internet, newspaper
television. I can be contacted at numbers
included in this email.
THIS IS TOO EASY AND TOO SIMPLE OF A
FIX TO OVERLOOK.
THE SIMPLICITY OF IT IS SHEER BEAUTY.