Clearance-priced items or dining invitations from friends – those are what drive my food intake. But I’m determined to not waste food and to get the most from what I buy, so the Hennepin County Stop Food Waste challenge sounded like something to learn from. See https://hennepinfoodwaste.ecochallenge.org/
Chef Christopher Loew works with Taher, Inc., based in the Twin Cities and serving schools, businesses and colleges in 26 states. He talked with about a dozen people at Eastside Food Co-op recently offering tips for reducing fresh-produce waste. Some tips came from the audience or their questions, most from Loew.
- Write a menu and itemize the fresh goods you need, to limit impulse buying.
- Zone and organize your refrigerator. Items with longer shelf life in back, meats on bottom for food safety, stuff you want to use up in plain view.
- Vegetables that need the fridge want to be cold, damp, and have some ventilation. Spring mix goes bad the quickest. Tomatoes should not be refrigerated.
- Herbs should be kept with stems in water in a glass on a windowsill, not in the fridge.
- For vegetables that must be peeled, think of uses for the peels (onions=dye, corn husks=tamale wrappers, otherwise save to make stock, or compost. But “there is no reason to peel a carrot,” Loew said.
- Greens: Beet greens can be cooked. Carrot greens are good (chopped fine) in soup or can be made into pesto.
- Pesto = any kind of greens plus olive oil enough to incorporate as you chop fine in a food processor/blender. Stems should be chopped small, then added. Freeze in ice cube trays, then bag the frozen cubes. Later add a cube to stock or broth for flavor.
- Leftover parsley, cilantro, other herbs – offer your excess to a friend/neighbor or make into the pesto cubes above.
- Immersion blenders are great for pureeing vegetable soups (rather than transferring hot liquids to the typical smoothie blender). Hot or cold soups are great for using up any fruit or vegetable that is not very flavorful or is the wrong texture (un-ripe or too ripe).
- What to do with a broccoli stalk: peel it first, then cut thin on the bias to stir fry with other vegetables or make a slaw. Or soup.
- Butternut or other squash seeds: Roast them like pumpkin seeds. Even the seeds of monster zucchini can be roasted. (Look up method on the internet)
- Cantaloupe seeds? Use everything that you scoop out with the seeds in agua fresca to flavor the water. Strain before serving.
- Fruit about to go bad: Cut off mold and too-soft parts, cook the good fruit in a small pot with a little sugar. It should keep for a couple of weeks, for topping waffles, breads, ice cream etc. Plums are the perfect sweet-tart. Oozing berries: If you can’t eat them today, cook them down. Many fruits have natural pectins that thicken them. Food grade wax poured in the mouth of a jar of such fruit, once cooled, will keep the air out and extend the life for about 3 months.
- Roma tomatoes: Remove any bad spots, cut in half and freeze in a bag. Or put in an air fryer, which is like a mini convection oven, for 2-3 hours for sun dried tomatoes.
- Beets: Use the greens first, in salads or if wilting/unattractive, saute in balsamic or other vinegar and salt. Recipe for beet sliders: Grate the beets, start with sauerkraut on the griddle topped with the beets, salt, pepper, coriander, Swiss cheese on top of all…while grilling or toasting your bread. Transfer the griddle assembly to your toasted bread to serve.
- Rosemary stalks, once the leaves are removed, or lemon grass, make great skewers and impart their flavor to the meats, mushrooms or vegetables.
- Quick pickle recipe to extend the life of carrots, beets, other vegetables or mushrooms by about two weeks: Slice into a solution of 1:1 vinegar to water, teaspoon of salt per cup of water. If you want sweet, add couple tablespoons sugar, for hot use red pepper flakes. Refrigerate at least an hour.
- Reviving dried spices: toast them dry, no oil, in a saute pan hot enough so that they release some of their oils.
- Making vegetable stock: Cut off mold and dirty parts that don’t wash out, but otherwise keep and freeze the leavings from fresh vegetable prep. Boil, and strain at the end (see internet for more hints). Fruit and vegetable parts can be cooked together. Chef Loew described making pineapple stock from the core and skins.
- Forage: To cut down on store food bills, there are many phone/computer apps that help identify and find forage plants like lamb’s quarters, plantain (the yard weed, not the banana-looking kind), purslane – which is high in Omega 3s. From mulberries to mushrooms, there are many edibles growing even in the urban area.
The co-op will be offering a foraging class in fall.