7 Ways to Reduce Our Food Waste to Help Mitigate Climate Change

Did you know food waste is a major contributor to climate change? An average American consumer wastes about one pound of food per day according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations.  A family of four loses about $1,500 a year on wasted food. The EPA states that food is the largest component of our daily trash going to landfills. The wasted food then sits and releases potent methane gas contributing to climate change.  Want to do something to help our planet and save money?  Here are 7 tips to help reduce your food waste.  

1. Meal Plan

Take some time once or twice a week to plan out what you are going to have for meals.  This way you buy exactly what you need. If this seems like an overwhelming task, start by just planning 3 dinners per week. Continue to add a meal as you feel more comfortable and it becomes more routine.  

2. Serve Small Portion Sizes to Children

Remember that children’s stomachs are only the size of their fist so consider this when serving them a meal.  If you are exposing your children to a new food, start with just one bite on the plate.  They can always go back for seconds.  It can be less overwhelming for them, and a lot less food is wasted.  

3. Store Leftovers in Clear Glass Containers or Mason Jars

 Having my leftovers in clear containers makes is easy to see what I have and take inventory.  I try to keep all my leftovers on one shelf so I know exactly what I have.

4. Weekly Clean Out and Reorganization of the Fridge

This is a great way to keep the fridge clean and organized.  It is less likely for food to get lost and forgotten, only later to be found rotting in the far back corner of the fridge. Take inventory of what you have before you go shopping.  

5. Weekly Family Food Challenge    

Create one meal each week with leftovers or food that needs to be used up before it goes bad.  Otherwise known in our house as,“Mish Mosh.”  Veggies can easily be made into a soup, added to a smoothie, stir fried, or roasted in the oven.  I find anything is good with a fried egg on top or my favorite Vegan Kale, Cashew Pesto from Trader Joe’s.  If your children are old enough to help with the cooking, get them involved.  Be creative and have fun! You may discover a new favorite family dish.  

6. Freeze Leftovers

If you know you aren’t going to have time to eat the leftovers or you made way too much soup and your family is sick of eating it for the 3rd night in a row, freeze it.  It will be perfect and much more appreciated a month later after a busy day.  Using frozen leftovers can make meal prep so much easier!

7. Educate your Children                                                                                                          Talk to your children about why it is important to reduce your family’s food waste.  Make it a family challenge. From experience, I find my children love rising to a challenge.   

Food waste is inevitable. Consider composting to keep rotting food out of the landfill.  If you don’t have the space or the desire to compost, check out Mr. Fox, a local seacoast company that will pick up your food waste and turn it into rich compost for you.  

What else can you do to reduce food waste?  Please share these 7 tips with others!

Friday Night Snack Boards

Who appreciates a night off from cooking, especially on a Friday?! I made my first snack board for a Sunday, afternoon football game with the fam.  I’m not a big football or sports gal but my husband is and I LOVE food, so I always look forward to a good excuse to play around in the kitchen.  The boards then evolved into Friday Night Snack boards as I realized that there was little to no cooking, super easy, a fun activity for the family to create, little dishes, crowd pleasing, and nutritious.  These boards have become our Friday night tradition, and something the girls love and look forward to.  Snack boards are a great way to satisfy everyone’s tastes and are a fun way to get the kids involved in dinner prep, which I think is always a win.   

We start with a large wooden cutting board, or a cookie sheet works great too.  My girls and I go through the fridge together, trying to find veggies to represent each color in the rainbow.  This is a great way to encourage eating a variety of veggies containing a variety of nutrients. I do the chopping and then we work on the creative, artistic part together, layout.  We make sure our board contain veggies, protein, starch, and a healthy fat like avocado. A few things I like to have on hand for our boards are: a spread for dipping, crackers or rice cakes for mini sandwiches, lettuce or nori squares for mini wraps, meats, cheese, seafood, eggs, nuts and seeds for protein.

Below is a list of some ingredients we like to use:

Simple Mills Almond Flour Crackers

Thin Stacker Rice Cakes

Nori squares

lettuce

Sweet Potato fries

Goat or sheep cheese

Hummus

Organic Turkey

Salmon salad

Hard boiled eggs

Raw nuts

Raw seeds

Fermented Veggies

Avocado

Veggies to represent all the colors in the rainbow (if you are looking for a fun challenge)

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

DIY Hand Sanitizer Spray

Have you ever looked at the ingredients in hand sanitizer?  Here are the ingredients in Purell:

Water, Isoproply Alcohol, Caprylyl Glycol, Glycerin, Isopropyl Mysristate, Tocopheryl Acetate, Acrylates/ C10-30 Acrylate Crosspolymer, Aminomethyl Propanol, Fragrance (parfum).

I don’t know what most of those ingredients are so I definitely do not want to be putting it on my family’s hands since everything we put on our skin gets absorbed into our blood stream.  I do know that Fragrance is one ingredient, out of many, to avoid! The word fragrance is an industry loop hole.  Companies can put the word fragrance or perfum on a label, potentially hiding hundreds of toxic chemicals. There are about 80,000 chemicals in the US and most have them have not been tested for human safety.  The US has banned 11 of these chemicals while Europe has banned about 1,300! Just like food, it is important to read our labels and look for ingredients that we can read and understand.  I love that this DIY hand sanitizer has 4 ingredients, all of which I know and feel comfortable putting on my family’s skin.

I keep one in my purse, at all times, and I put, a mini plastic spray bottle with the hand sanitizer solution in my daughter’s lunchbox.

Give this simple recipe a try and let me know what you think.

Ingredients:

20 drops Tea Tree Essential Oil

10 drops Lavender Essential Oil

1 ½ tablespoons Witch Hazel

distilled water

·       Make sure to choose a brand that is 100% pure essential oils.  I like Pure Haven, Now, and Doterra. 

Instructions:

1.     Add the essential oils and Witch Hazel to each individual glass spray bottle.

2.     Fill the rest of the bottle with distilled water.

3.     Shake

Misa's Veggie Muffins

Misa’s Veggie Muffins

Inspired by Danielle Walker

makes a dozen

These muffins are full of veggies and naturally sweetened with dates and sweet potato.  They make a great snack or breakfast with added protein like eggs or yogurt.  These muffins are kid tested and parent approved! 

Ingredients

6 medjool dates, pitted

½ cup baked sweet potato

3 eggs

1 cup grated zucchini

½ cup grated carrots

1 ½ cups almond flour

1 ½ teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

½ teaspoon nutmeg

pinch of sea salt

optional ¼ cup chopped walnuts

Instructions

1.     Spread the zucchini and carrots on a paper towel to drain some of the moisture while you prepare the batter. 

2.      Preheat the oven to 350 F.  Line a muffin tin with silicone muffin liners or grease with coconut oil.

3.     Place the dates, eggs, and sweet potato in a food processor and blend until smooth.

4.     Add the almond flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt and process until flour is mixed in. 

5.     Add the grated zucchini and carrots into the batter and stir with a spoon. 

6.     Divide the batter evenly into 12 muffin tins.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Cool before serving.

Enjoy!