Happy Earth Day!

I’m excited that the news has been full of articles recently on interesting options for making cooking greener, from responsible kitchen renovating to rethinking the energy that goes into producing the food on our plates.

It was a Slate article on the economics of home economics, however, that made me think of one often overlooked activity that can make a home kitchen greener: do something about food waste. It is one of the unfortunate consequences of social inequity that I actually have the luxury of having to deal with excess, or wasted, food. Isn’t that an additional motivation to reduce waste, though?

I don’t just mean the amount of solid waste, either; that said, composting does seems like a great strategy for reducing total waste produced in the home. Guy and I have also been thinking about whether a garburator might work (we both recall our parents having them installed in their kitchen sinks when we were growing up.)

What I mean by “reducing food waste” is reconsidering what is used and what isn’t each time we shop for, cook, and eat food. So I decided to come up with a list of five ways that I think can help to reduce food waste.

Five Ways to Reduce Food Waste

1. Cook in smaller portions. Though this seems counterintuitive, it makes perfect sense for a household of two. The concept of the postwar casserole, or M. F. K. Fisher’s advice to conserve energy by stuffing ovens to the brim each time they are used, would work better if I had twelve mouths to feed. What I found when I reduced the portion sizes of my cooking was that we enjoyed the novelty of each meal more. Smaller portions reduce the fatigue of consuming endless leftovers. Particularly as an individual who was raised to “clean my plate,” cooking in manageable portion sizes means that I’m not obliged to overeat in order to avoid wasting food. Of course, there is an exception to every rule, and I do cook a handful of items in bulk: stock, dumplings, or ragu, for example. These all go into the freezer in small portions for later use. Which leads me to my next item…

2. Label freezer food. My favourite part of the freezing ritual is using my red Sharpie. While it seems like overkill to tag an item as “Whole Strawberries, June 30, 2007″ when said item is easily identifiable in a clear freezer bag, labelling all items routinely keeps the freezer well-organized and helps me to have a clear idea of how long foods actually linger in there. Keeping the freezer organized enough to actually use what is hidden in its bowels is a great way to reduce food waste.

3. Store foods well. The struggle against food decay is one of the central eating dilemmas faced by humans. While the refrigerator is certainly a technological innovation that has helped us to reduce this problem significantly, it is not a blanket solution. Some foods last longer - or at least survive more happily - outside of the fridge: tomatoes and bread, for example. Other foods last longer in the fridge if they are repackaged right away after bringing them home. Different cheese types (e.g. semi-soft, brined, hard) require very different forms of wrapping. Leafy greens or herbs like to be stored unwashed, released from any human-imposed elastic bonds, in paper towel and the thin produce bag they came in. Forget about the fruit bowl - apples like to be refrigerated, period. Ginger, even cut, keeps best in the fridge, unwrapped. It is worth looking up how to store your regular groceries optimally. Of course, all things go “off” eventually, and that means that you might need to…

4. Cook it to avoid chucking it. There are plenty of times when perishable food isn’t, well, at its peak anymore. If it’s still decent (and the obvious caveat here is that you have made an evaluation that the food won’t kill you or make you terribly sick), then cook it to extend its life a little more. I tend to do this using a cooking method with plenty of salt, sugar, or acid, in an effort to counteract further decomposition. And since we’re talking about the grimmer aspects of cooking…

5. Use the nasty bits. Though I agree with cross French chefs that peelings don’t necessarily belong in good stocks, there are plenty of extra bits and bobs after preparing food that might seem like waste - at first glance. Try giving them a second life. Bacon fat or the hard end of a cured meat can be saved for sautéing brassicas like cabbage or brussels sprouts. Fibrous stalks from parsley, spinach, kale, or asparagus can be used to flavour soups and sauces. Parmigiano-reggiano rinds are so good in soup that they should almost be considered a “real” ingredient. My favourite? Fish skin. Deep-fried fish skin from a fish of reputable provenance is a sheer delight.