How to Reduce Food Waste at Home
Throughout history, we’ve been taught to savor, preserve and utilize every last bite of Mother Nature’s abundance. Consciously making this effort to devour food before resorting to the compost is a step toward a more harmonious relationship between humanity and our natural world.
Even with the tips and practices our family’s have passed down, many of us still find ourselves tossing more food than we’d like. Did you know that households are responsible for 47% of all food waste in Canada?
The good news is: there are easy and delicious solutions to food waste we can implement right in our own kitchens. Imagine the positive impact we could have if we shared this knowledge with one another?
With a hunger to feed and an eagerness to exchange what we have with those around us, we asked the Abeego team their tips on how to reduce food waste. By exchanging this food wisdom, we can save time, save money and make a positive impact this Earth Month and beyond.
In this blog post, you’ll learn:
What to do with leftover egg yolks
HOW TO COOK TURNIP GREENS
Toni - Founder & CEO:
“I reduce food waste in the garden by eating my plants at every stage of growth. Eating from the garden this way ensures I have fresh produce before and after what would be the traditional harvest.”
Here's how to eat turnips as they grow:
- First Harvest (micro plants): Start thinning bunched turnip rows as soon as the greens are 2-3 inches tall. These micro plants are the perfect addition to a green salad.
- Second Harvest (small roots): Thining rows allow for whole turnip roots to develop by pulling mini roots and roasting the entire plant - root, leaves & all!
- Third Harvest: Collect most of the full turnip roots, leaving 10% in the ground for the shoots harvest.
- Fourth Harvest: Gather those turnip shoots and flowers! As turnip plants flower, they send up delicate, slightly spicy shoots. Eat them raw or saute in butter and salt.
- Fifth Harvest: Let the most vital & beautiful plant flower and go to seed. Save the seeds to replant and start all over again!
I love growing Hakurei turnips and plant rows every 2 to 3 weeks for a continual harvest. Last year I planted them in the winter and was gifted fresh shoots in late March with no effort on my part!”
WHAT TO DO WITH LEFTOVER EGG YOLKS
Amanda - Marketing Manager:
“We make cocktails with egg whites on Friday night and save the yolks to whip up an easy hollandaise sauce recipe for Saturday morning brunch. While I like to use my Dad’s taste-as-you-go hollandaise technique, Sweet Tea & Thyme has a great recipe for inspiration.
Another egg yolk recipe we love is Lucas Sin’s golden fried rice. If we have extra rice from dinner, we’ll make fried rice with whatever vegetables we have wrapped in Abeego and/or leftover meats. It’s such a versatile dish you can lean on to ensure no bits or bobs of food get wasted.”
WHAT TO DO WITH STALE BREAD
Brie - Marketing Specialist
“I'm a die-hard homemade breadcrumb fan. Any time I get to the crusty end of any bread, I tear it up (that’s right - tear, don’t slice! The scraggly edges offer more surface area to brown & become even tastier), let it dry out, and make my favorite homemade breadcrumbs. I toss the pieces in a bowl with olive oil and rosemary from my neighbor’s garden (with permission, of course!), put them in the oven at 350F for 8-10min until they’re golden brown. Once cooled, I’ll throw them in my blender and use them for baked zucchini fries, cauliflower wings, or on tops of salads and pasta!”
WHAT TO DO WITH OLD BANANAS
Melissa - Content & Communications Strategist
“My go-to for using any fruit past its prime is pancakes.
Brown bananas, soft apples, and mushy berries are all perfect ingredients for an easy pancake recipe. Wilting spinach? Add it in. Leftover rosemary? Unwrap that half lemon from Abeego and make citrus and herb-flavored flapjack.
It’s amazing what a little butter and maple syrup can do.”
HOW TO SPRUCE UP LEFTOVERS
Sarah - Operations Manager
“I do a lot of Indonesia and Thai-inspired cooking at home and usually have leftover rice and noodles in the fridge. One of my favorite ways to utilize them is to combine them into a special we used to run at Noodle Box. Stir fry leftovers with onion, garlic, ginger, soy, water, sambal, teriyaki marinade, or hoisin to sweeten it and dry chilies. You can add more veggies and proteins, then finish with sesame oil, cilantro, black pepper to taste, and green onion.”
Luiz - Fulfillment & Operations Specialist
“Back in Brazil, my father made what he calls “Luiz’s Big Mix.” He gets all the leftovers, puts them in the pan with some melted butter, and adds some extras such as cream cheese, ketchup, parmesan cheese, etc. To be honest, it doesn’t look very good, and it always tastes different, but it’s always delish! Not classy, but very efficient.”
HOW TO KEEP FOOD FRESH
This is the easiest part. Wrap your favorite foods in Abeego reusable food wrap to extend their freshness window by days & weeks. Abeego breathes (letting food’s natural oxidizing gases escape) and protects (shielding from air, light, and moisture), creating the perfect environment to extend the life of cheese, greens, bread, and so much more.
Through shared food wisdom and a “do good, do better” attitude, we can disrupt normalized food waste and take back our kitchens.
We’ll leave you with our favorite quote about Earth Month from our Founder & CEO, Toni Desrosiers: “Reducing food waste is the most meaningful way to take better care of the earth—respect your Mother, and don’t talk with your compost full!”
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