Oct. 1, 2023 "Waste not": Today I found this article by Karen Ansel on the Costco Connection Oct. 2023 issue:
Eat better and save time and money by reducing food waste
More than half of Canada’s food supply goes to waste every year, according to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada. But food waste isn’t only about frittering away perfectly good food. “It also squanders all of the resources that went into growing the food,
like water,
energy,
labour,
land,
seeds
and fertilizer,” says Anne-Marie Bonneau (zerowastechef.com), a San Francisco Bay Area–based food waste expert.
Yet finding ways to use up all those leftover food scraps can seem overwhelming. “I like to recommend progress, not perfection,” says nutritionist, food blogger and Costco member Rosanne Rust.
“Begin by consciously recognizing what type of food you throw away each week.”
Maybe it’s half a loaf of bread, the wilted vegetables in your crisper or bits of leftover cooking ingredients.
That’s a good place to start. Then, try the following tips. They’ll help you put all that food to good use—and make meal prep easier too.
Planning is everything
You might be surprised that the first step to reducing food waste doesn’t start at home. It begins when you are grocery shopping. “I recommend having a plan for every item you put into your cart,” says Rust.
Then, once you get home, store all perishables properly.
For example, leafy greens, like lettuce and spinach, are happiest in the crisper, rolled up in a damp tea towel.
Keep berries sweet and delicious by storing them unwashed in their original container on a shelf in the fridge.
Got onions, bananas and apples? These healthy staples naturally release a gas called ethylene, which can cause other produce to ripen too quickly, so store them separately.
Stash onions in a cool dark place, such as a pantry.
Then place bananas in a bowl on the counter
and apples in a plastic bag in the crisper compartment.
A little prep goes a long way
The next step is prep. “Be your own sous-chef and do a bit of prep work when you get home with your groceries,” suggests Bonneau.
For example, “When you prepare caramelized onions to top a pizza, cook extra to have on hand in the refrigerator, ready to go into your next dish, like an omelette or sandwich,” she says.
Even if you haven’t been to the supermarket lately, there’s probably an entire meal sitting in your crisper. Why not dice those stray veggies and roast them for a hearty side dish, or toss them into pasta, rice, frittatas and salads?
Adding a few “use it up” recipes to your repertoire can also work wonders, says Bonneau.
Stir-fries,
potpies,
chili,
quesadillas,
stews
and soups
are all tasty ways to put stray ingredients to work.
Make friends with your freezer
“One of the easiest ways to ensure large amounts of perishable food are eaten is to batch cook and freeze some of the extra food to enjoy later,” says Bonneau.
“You’ll not only reduce waste, you’ll also save time by cooking once and eating a few times.”
That’s just the beginning. Freezing can add months of life to leftover ingredients. You can even freeze eggs—just crack them open and whisk them well first.
While food will stay safe in the freezer, too much freezer time can cause texture and taste to suffer.
A good rule of thumb is to use most foods within three to four months.
However, you can freeze uncooked chicken, roasts and chops for up to a year.
Like most things in life, reducing food waste is a matter of habit. “Once you get into the groove of
storing food properly
and making an effort to notice what in your fridge or pantry needs to be used up,
you’ll be on your way to less food waste,” says Rust.
“You’ll likely come up with some creative meal solutions too!”
Karen Ansel, is a New York City–based nutritionist, journalist and author specializing in health, nutrition and fitness.
Sealing the deal
Air can change food’s taste, texture and colour and even cause it to spoil. Enter food storage
bags, which can help foods stay fresh.
When using plastic zip close bags, place refrigerated food in a new bag, gently pressing out
as much air as possible. When freezing foods, leave at least 1.3 centimetres (½ inch) of air
space for food to expand and seal bag completely.
Similarly, a vacuum sealer removes the air from the bag and then uses a heated seal bar to
fuse the sides together.—KA
A Big Dill
Costco members Andrea Wasko and Meaghan Gilbert, creators of a DIY quick pickling kit
(quickpicklekit.com), say there’s a safe, simple and natural way to prevent food waste. “Rather
than wasting the vegetables that took a lot of time and a lot of energy and resources to grow,
pickle them,” Wasko says. Even wrinkled produce that may look past its peak is great to
pickle, because the vinegar, water and spices revive them and extend the shelf life for up to 30 days, she says.—Christina Guerrero
In 2021, Carleigh Bodrug posted a video online of herself using leftover orange peels, sugar and water to make candy that — in her words — "literally tastes like gummy worms."
She reminded people that citrus peels are edible and don't have to be tossed in the garbage, stuck the label "scrappy cooking" on her video and walked away.
The response was electrifying.
"I came back an hour later, and that video had been viewed by millions of people," said the Barrie, Ont., cookbook author and food blogger.
"Everybody had struck up this conversation about food waste that previously wasn't being had. I just thought, 'Wow.'"
That "scrappy" culinary moment appeared to strike a chord with millions of people who were stressed out by rising food prices and ever-tighter family budgets.
It became the inspiration for Bodrug's soon-to-be-released second cookbook, and inspired her popular social media series where she shares tips such as
how to make pesto using the tops of carrots and beets
or how to turn potato peels into a delicious crispy snack.
According to a 2021 UN report, the average Canadian household produces 79 kilograms of food waste per year. This refers to food that is thrown out because of issues like
improper storage,
overbuying,
inefficiently used ingredients going bad,
and poor planning.
Wasted food has an environmental impact, in that disposed-of organic material in landfills is a source of greenhouse gas emissions.
But it's also, as Bodrug puts it, "literally like throwing money down the drain."
In Canada, the National Zero Waste Council has estimated that more than a third of food produced and distributed domestically never gets eaten,
and that $49 billion worth of food in this country is sent to landfill or composted each year.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that a family of four wastes about US$1,500 in food annually.
"I polled my audience a couple of weeks ago on what the average family spends on groceries in a week, and it was over $200 in groceries," said Bodrug, who now has 3.2 million followers on the social media website TikTok.
"I mean, there's huge opportunities there for saving."
Joshna Maharaj, a Toronto-based chef and activist, said she's fascinated by the "scrappy cooking" movement and the sudden popularity of
making fresh pickles with leftover brine from a store-bought jar of dills,
or freezing the green tops of strawberries for smoothies.
While the trend is obviously rooted in the current cost-of-living crisis, Maharaj said she believes there's also some nostalgia there for earlier time periods when nearly all cooking was done at home and nothing went to waste.
Some Canadians may recall the budget-friendly recipes or household economy habits of their grandparents, who may have learned how to conserve during the Great Depression or Second World War.
"People have a longing for being in the kitchen, but we've become so disconnected from it over time that we have a fear and anxiety about it," Maharaj said.
"But regardless of what time period we're living in, I can confidently say that cooking your food for yourself at home is the most nutritious and economical way for you to eat. There's no question."
It's possible to work toward a full-fledged zero-waste kitchen, doing things like
using spent coffee grounds to flavour cookies and brownies
or regrowing green onions by planting the leftover white tips.
But Maharaj said for most people, developing simple habits like
weekly meal planning
and regular fridge and pantry clean-outs
can significantly reduce the amount of food they throw away.
"Omelettes and frittatas are a wonderful way to use up scraps. Make friends with dishes like soups," Maharaj said.
"What's required here is just more habits and intention and time spent."
Canning,
fermenting,
dehydrating
and freezing
are also great ways to reduce food waste, especially
if you have a garden
or are buying in bulk from the farmer's market,
said Heather O'Shea, the Whitby, Ont., woman behind the blog "From Hustle to Homestead."
O'Shea also suggests home cooks keep a bag in their freezer where they toss bits of onion, tops of carrots, celery leaves and other produce scraps throughout the week.
When the bag is full, simmer the works in a big pot with some salt and pepper for flavourful home-made vegetable broth.
"Never, never buy soup stock at the store if you can make it from what you would have thrown away," she said.
The key, O'Shea said, is to start small and not to get overwhelmed.
"Start with what you can start with. Don't try to do everything at once," she said.
"There's a lot you can do to both save money and reduce food waste, so start with one thing, and then add another thing in time."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2024.
Apr. 14, 2024 My opinion: I live with my family and my grandma and mom do most of the cooking.
If I were to live on my own, I would buy canned soups and instant noodles.
Whenever we have a loaf of bread, we always put the other half in a bag in the freezer so it doesn't spoil.
I buy chips and cookies and that takes a longer time to spoil.
"Tips for saving at the grocery store as food inflation in Canada continues to soar"/ "Tips for finding cheaper protein in the meat aisle and beyond"
"Expert tips for saving money on groceries"/ "Cutting down your food budget? Here's how to save money at the grocery store"
A Vancouver man's video has gone viral after he showed a severely underweight bag of No Name frozen vegetables from a No Frills grocery store that was way lighter than advertised.
Jacob MacLellan initially took to TikTok this week to detail his lousy shopping experience, and he is using his moment in the spotlight to call for broad changes, this amid a Reddit-launched May-long boycott of Loblaw and its affiliated stores.
In the video, which has garnered more than 500,00 views and 3,000 comments in just three days, he explains that he bought a bag of No Name frozen vegetables that felt noticeably lighter than the 750 grams marked. So he decided to weigh it himself when he got home. He places the unopened bag on a scale and it shows 434 grams. MacLellan then deadpans to the camera that Canadians are “being screwed.”
In an interview with DailyHive, MacLellan says he brought the product back to the No Frills store but was met with skepticism by staff. He says he had to show them the weight of the bag with his own scale. Though he was offered an exchange, he says he knew he was entitled to a return, thanks to his time spent as a Loblaws employee in his teens.
According to the grocer’s return policy, if a customer isn’t satisfied with the quality of a President’s Choice, No Name or Teddy’s Choice product, they can return it along with receipt or original packaging for an exchange or refund.
My opinion: This reminds me of a Mar. 2021 blog post. This article exposes a bad company.
"#MeToo movement becomes #WeToo in in victim-blaming Japan"/ "Outrage as women in Japan told not wear glasses in the workplace"
"You never look good when you are trying to make someone else look bad."- Unknown
Cham: Sometimes people need to be exposed for who they are hahah or maybe I should stop being petty
Tracy Au: There's a difference between trying to make someone look bad, and exposing them for who they are. It's like those #MeToo accusers and victims, they are plainly telling everybody about the perpetrators. They're not trying to make them look bad.
The entire time Meta — the company behind the social media site that has billions of users worldwide — ignored the crime.
"I just felt helpless," said Lowery, who told Go Public her account was taken over by the fraudster in early March. "I literally sat there and cried," she said.
"I felt really bad for everybody whose money was taken." She'd connected with hundreds of people on Facebook, many of whom she'd lost touch with in person.
A Go Public investigation found Lowery is one of many being targeted by a scam the social media giant is allowing to run rampant on its site.
Here's how it works:
After locking a user out of their account,
the scammers begin impersonating the user and claiming an elderly parent has moved into long-term care and that they are selling off some belongings.
It's called an account takeover. Once the account is hijacked, the attacker can post publicly and access the victim's contacts and private messages.
It's just one example of big social media players, including Meta, making billions from users while failing "to protect them in such a basic way," said cybercrime expert Claudiu Popa, author of The Canadian Cyberfraud Handbook and a cybersecurity expert who advises government and companies.
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/facebook-account-taken-over-friends-scam-1.7205356
