7 Tricks that will help you reduce your kitchen waste

This post is also available in: עברית (Hebrew)

Lets leave aside jokes about being cheap for a minute, and talk about this seriously. We all want to use as much as what we buy: first, well, we live in a capitalist world and we paid for our groceries so we don’t want to waste money. Second we likely don’t want to create extra trash due to environmental considerations, that and more there are environmental costs for the groceries to get into our homes in the first place so it feels even worse to throw them. And third, it just feels wrong to throw away food when there are so many hungry kids in the world, and i’m not even talking about developing countries, some of us have hungry neighbors. So, I try to get better at reducing our kitchen food waste, or better put to maximize the usage of the products we buy, and this post will detail what I do towards this cause.

1. Freeze over-ripe fruit:

One of the coolest tips I’ve learned is freezing over-ripe fruit. If you have over-ripe fruit, slice them up and store in a box in your freezer for an hour of need.

What’s an hour of need you ask? When you got an ice-cream munch, or a smoothie. You can freeze pretty much any fruit, my favorites are bananas, kiwis, mangoes, berries and melons. Regarding how to freeze the bananas, I used to freeze them on a tray such that the pieces don’t touch one another so they won’t stick to each other while freezing, then move them to a smaller box. The problem with this method is that it takes freezer space and some hassle, so instead I usually just use a parchment paper between the banana pieces to avoid them sticking to one another. I recently read a blog post that explains you can actually freeze your bananas whole and un-peeled. I haven’t tried that yet though.

2. Use your coconut milk leftovers:

When I make the above mentioned ice-cream, there are always coconut milk leftovers, these I use for pancakes, or smoothies. If I don’t plan on using it in the coming days then I freeze it (in small silicon molds, that way I have known amounts of it and the are easy to pop out of there).

3: Beans and legumes leftovers:

If you have beans or legumes leftovers from yesterday’s meal, mix them up with some flour, flax seeds, herbs, and vegetables to make patties (detailed recipes to come..).

4. Bread leftovers:

Bread you made yesterday, or even bought bread that you forgot to freeze and has got a bit dry is great as a toast. If you have baguet or buns that don’t fit in a toaster throw them in the oven at 150 C degrees for a few minutes and they will come out crispy and tasty. Top them with one of these 30 vegan spread options. If you have leftover toasts grind them in your food processor to create breadcrumbs and save for a later use.

5. Empty nut butter jars:

I keep all the finished nut butter jars, then I use them to blend spreads, sauces or my baby’s dinner mush with my hand blender. These are also good for storing the spreads and sauces in them.

6. Old kitchenware:

I found some creative ways to use my old pre-vegan era kitchenware.

7. Cooking in batches:

Once I find a muffin or vegetables patties recipe I like and know it turns out good, I double or sometimes even triple the quantities in the recipe and freeze most of it. This way we can have a quick bite on our way out when in a hurry or in the evening when I don’t feel like preparing something from scratch, and it also reduces the overall time in the kitchen as well as the oven heating time.

Well, that’s my list, and I promise to keep updating it as I learn new tips and tricks. But more important than that, I’m sure you have your own tips, so do share in the comments so that everyone can learn from your experience!