Are you one of those people who cringes at the idea of wasting things? Especially food? That’s so me! I get mad when we have leftovers we aren’t able to eat and I grumble as I toss them away. To me food equals money, so throwing away food is always hard to do. I try not to waste food and have come across lots of ways of using things that might otherwise be on its way into the trash. Check out these great posts for 8 clever ways to reduce food waste! Some of them are mine and others are by some of my favorite bloggers and blogging friends. đ
1. Meal Plan!- By meal planning you can greatly reduce food waste before it happens! You’ll know exactly what you’re going to make and exactly what you need. Learn more about techniques for meal planning here at The Gingered Whisk blog!
2. Make Vegetable Broth– Use your onion skins, carrot ends, and other random veggie scraps to make a delicious and nutritious veggie broth! Its SO easy! Check out this post to learn how to utilize all those scraps!
3. Make Bone Broth– Making your own bone broth couldn’t be easier and it is so full of nutrients that our bodies need! Use every part of that animal and get the most out of it! Instructions can be found here at Sprinkles and Sprouts blog! She makes chicken broth but you can use bones from other animals to make other broths!
Photo courtesy of Sprinkle & Sprouts blog!
4. Make Breadcrumbs with Stale Bread– Don’t throw away that stale bread! Even bread with a little mold could be salvaged (if its only a tiny bit!!) Throw it in a freezer bag instead and when you’ve saved enough make some delicious breadcrumbs! Find out how, here!
5. Lots of Uses for Eggshells- One of my favorite blogs, The Prairie Homestead has a post I love referring back to entitled 30+ Things to do with Eggshells. Man is it fascinating! Eggshells have many uses surprisingly ranging from uses in the garden to actually eating them or creating calcium supplements and tooth re-mineralizing. Crazy eh? Check out the post for tons of surprising uses for eggshells!
6. Coffee Grounds Ideas- Coffee grounds can be used to create lots of homemade beauty products! They’re great for exfoliating skin, and they also are great for helping you scrub hard to clean grime off kitchen surfaces too! Check out how to make coffee scrub (Recipe from Living on the Cheap blog!) or coffee soap using your old coffee grounds! Many recipes call for regular unused coffee grounds, but I usually substitute used coffee grounds without any issues! (Plants also LOVE coffee grounds, so put extras in that compost!)
7. Create a New Food from Leftovers– Leftover food can be boring to eat, but turn it into something new and it doesn’t have to be! Check out these recipes using leftovers you may have in your fridge!
-Potato pancakes from leftover mashed potatoes– Enough said!
-Veggie burgers using carrot top greens and other various veggies and herbs you may have! From Strength and Sunshine blog!
-Make Breakfast Hash! This recipe from The Unlikely Baker encourages you to empty your fridge and make a breakfast hash with what you find! She uses sweet potatoes, sausage, bacon and eggs. Yum!
8. Start a Compost Pile- When all else fails and you are left with some food waste that can not be saved or reused in some way, compost it! It will decompose, making great organic compost for your garden! Learn about starting a compost pile in this awesome blog post from Lean and Green Frugal Living that teaches you how to do it involving your kids!
Do you have any other genius ways to avoid wasting food, or ways to use your food waste for a good purpose?! Let me know in the comments!
