Whether you love to cook or to order takeout, the holidays are the one time of year when everyone tries their hand at a traditional recipe or two. There will be tons of veggie chopping, soup stock boiling, gravy stirring, and roast trimming this time of year, which also means tons of opportunities to avoid food waste.
While you probably have plans for your leftovers, what about those carrot tops and trimmed meat fat? What about the bones, the crumbs, and the fruit bruises you pared out? Fortunately, there are some really great (and even tasty) ways to use almost every scrap and have fun doing it.
Here at Edesia Kitchen & Bath Studio, we build kitchens, but we also love sustainability. Let's dive into a few fun ways to keep your brand-new kitchen eco-friendly this holiday season.
If you have dogs, cats, bunnies, or any other small mammal (and some reptiles) then your kitchen trimmings don't have to go to waste. Dogs and cats like meat scraps that humans would find too chewy or fatty to enjoy, while rabbits, hamsters, birds, and reptiles like scraps from fruits and vegetables. There are very few trimmings that a diverse collection of pets will not eat, so set aside these goodies as snacks for any animals who will be part of holiday celebrations.
Don't forget outside pets. If you have outdoor dogs or cats, they will appreciate the treat, too. You can also drop handfuls of crumbs in your bird feeder trays.
Soup is the single best way to take care of meat bones, vegetable ends, and other savory scraps. Here's the trick: Make the broth first. Boil all the ingredients you can't bite into as a broth for at least an hour, maybe three to five hours, to extract all the bone marrow and nutrients. Then strain out the inedible and make your soup with chopped pieces of meat and vegetables that can be eaten with a spoon. This makes a delicious and highly nutritious basis for soup and might just become (or reintroduce) a family favorite.
What about the unattractive but edible bits you trim off of plated meals? Bruises on fruit, spinach stems, and the last of the milk carton can all go into your smoothie blend. A food processor or good blender can turn anything into a - pretty tasty - paste. You can use the same tactic to blend hidden fruits and vegetables into baking batter and muffin mix. It's surprising the kind of greens you can hide in blended food, and you get to enjoy the nutrients that are usually lost when we trim produce.
Depending on your location, composting may also be an option. Any non-meat food waste can be blended and cooked back into soil that will be rich in nutrients and ready to grow plants. If you don't have access to composting space, consider gathering all of your compost and donating it to a community garden instead.
Breakfast during the holidays can go through a lot of cereal, but typically the tail end of cereal bags often gets thrown out. Fortunately, it doesn't have to be. That's just refined crumbs and bits of sugar, perfect for the topping of your next fruit cobbler or homemade pudding dessert. Save your cereal ends and blend them with a little flavored sugar to make a good no-waste dessert topping. You can use it to top apple crumble cobbler or even as filler in your next trail mix.
Eco-friendly cooking practices are good for the planet. By making sure each calorie we take from the earth is used in a natural cycle, we can reduce waste and replenish the planet at the same time. Buy less, boil more, and give what's left back to the earth as compost. Here at Edesia, we love an eco-friendly kitchen and can help you design the perfect space to include your soup stock pot, recycle and compost bins, and even built-in dishes for the family pets.
This holiday season can be one of thanks and eco-friendly efficiency. Contact us today for more kitchen tips or to talk about designing an especially green kitchen for your next home renovation.