5 Easy Ways to Cut Down on Kitchen Waste

“1. To avoid a kitchen "compost" [kitchen scraps keeper], save thee cost of buying one, and just use a blender, just for making "scrap frappes"! Put the scraps in a blender used just for them. The scraps can be carrot & cucumber peels, carrot, beet, radish tops, egg shells, coffee grounds, and cut up banana, sweet potato skins, and use any water you cook/steam veggies/pasta in to put in the scrape frappe, ad turn it on liquefy stetting. You can then dilute the frappe further (I dump it in storage totes I use for rain barrels outside, I put an empty, upside down milk crate in the totes, so any critters that may fall in the totes full of water, can easily get out) then water plants/your lawn/house plants with it. The tiny particles, will compost faster. So there's no need to have scraps sitting around a kitchen, at all, or a high maintenance compost pile. 2. get a pet rabbit! It can eat most kitchen scraps, weeds, lawn clippings (with no chemicals on them), just lots of biomass. If you give your rabbit a corner potty, it will be easy to empty every day. I use Cedariffic cat litter in my rabbit potties. The litter, does NOT clump, and is too fine and tasteless for them to try and eat it. I then dump the potty contents in a dug out fallow garden bed, along with shredded paper, then cover with soil, and smooth it over. Then I mulch the whole bed, with shredded brown packing paper, that makes it look nice and deters weeds. Over the winter, the "additives" will decompose. In the spring, I plant seedlings through the mulch, with toilet paper rolls around the stems, to deter cut worms. 3. I have a meal plan, so I know what exactly we're going to eat each day. 4. I keep a food and supplies inventory, divided into categories, like fresh, frozen, refrigerated, cans, boxes, bottles, packages, household, health, baking, and even what I cook and freeze, like muffins, pasta sauce, pizza, sauce, cornbread, pizza crusts, soup, etc. Each item, is set up with a 12 square grid. I color green, what I have. It also helps me know how long things will last, like a jar of peanut butter, will last 2 months, so I need only 6 jars per year. 5. I try to stockpile for a year, all shelf stable and dry goods. One an item, has been bought for the year, either 6 items, or 12 items, then, one only buys more, when one is used. It's a perpetual system. As more items become stockpiled, the grocery budget shrinks because all shelf stable items are already on hand. The only thingss that need bought, is produce and odd items that randomly come up, like for birthdays and holidays. Most shelf stable items have an expiration date a year later, so, they never go out of date by the time you use one, because when you use one, you get another one that expires a year later. 6. learn to cook & prepare food. If you do this, then you can use food effectively, by making several dishes, that could use the same ingredient. For example, if you buy a cucumber, to put in garden salads only, and you have a garden salad, 3 times a week, that cucumber could be bad, by the time you get to the 3rd salad day. So, instead, you could also use the cucumber, in a refreshing cucumber salad, with shredded cucumber, with fresh herbs, or a creamy dressing, or even just cucumber sticks, etc. To use it up b4 it spoils. Other veggies, like tomatoes, peppers, sweet potatoes, squash, can be diced an frozen, b4 they spoil, and then added to hot dishes later. Even bananas can be frozen. 7. heed serving sizes. If you cook, you can halve or quarter recipes, instead of making the whole recipe, of 12 muffins, 2 dozen cookies, or 8 servings, when you have only 2-4 people to serve. This prevents left overs. 8. have a few ready made frozen meals, as a back up, so if you decide you don't want to cook, you have an easy plan B. 9. Some people, might find it cheaper, to just buy ready made frozen meals, soups, ready meals, heat & serve, pre made salads, etc., instead of buying, and managing so many separate ingredients, and spending so much time cooking and cleaning up after cooking. With this method, it may actually cost the same, especially if you order them, with free delivery, and you don't have to use up gasoline to go get them. The time savings, is incredible, with this method. No driving, waiting in traffic, finding a parking place, walking all around, waiting in line to check out, or taking time to check out, loading and unloading, no loading or unloading and minding kids, no taking away from doing other things, (kids doing homework, baby sleeping, etc), no going out in the cold, rain, heat, etc. Many average grocery stores, are starting to have same day grocery delivery of fresh, frozen, refrigerated, and anything else they carry. Some can deliver within an hour! Just bring in, and put away. There's so much time saved. Plus, it provides jobs for others, when jobs are dwindling. 10. I use a series of progressively smaller containers, so I don't have half full containers taking up space. Then I know to use the smallest containers first. I even make "houses" for bottles (shared fridge, they have their condiments in the door) out of apple juice bottles cut in half. One apple juice bottle "house", will hold 2 regular sized, mustard, mayo, ketchup, soy sauce, small maple syrup, etc bottles. This way, all those bottles line up in 3 "houses" and single don't need shuffled around, to find other things in the fridge. Also, the bottles stand up, don't clink, or fall over. It's so easy to find the needed bottle. 11. I freeze coconut oil, in mini ice cube trays. Then when I need a tbs to cook with, I just take a cube out and it easily melts quickly in a heating pan. Also, fresh chives can be cut and frozen. ”