I'm going to the market less and less, and although I really like having created this habit during the lockdown, it's not always easy for me to do shopping for the whole week.
On the one hand, I don't want to run out of food, and on the other, I don't want to throw it away because we didn't finish it. It's quite a balance, and it's not always easy to strike.
Although we can buy canned food, I prefer to continue buying fresh food whenever possible. Now more than ever, I want to eat well at home—tasty and healthy food.
These tips are useful today and always. Food waste is a serious environmental problem, and being mindful of what you buy and what you throw away is a way to protect the environment and your wallet.
Avoiding food waste starts, for me, before going to the market - I'll tell you more below, but lists can be a great ally.
Although we used to be told we had to eat everything on our plates, I personally don't like the idea of forcing people to finish what's left, though I do like the idea of not serving ourselves more than we need. I prefer not to throw away food I've bought and to let children—and adults—eat what they need, without pressure or guilt. As I said, it's all about finding a balance, and I hope these ideas help you waste less food.
1. Buy dried legumes. They're much cheaper than canned or jarred, and now that we're spending more time at home, we have the time to cook them. I always cook them in a pressure cooker, so time is never an issue. Save any leftover legumes and use them in different ways. If you only have a few left, rinse them and add them to a salad, blend them to make hummus (chickpeas, white beans), or refried beans (black beans) to dip with bread, or use them to fill quesadillas—a great option for snacks or light dinners. I always soak them overnight, and I also often cook them with kombu seaweed to make them easier to digest.
2- Store. Stems, peels, and anything else you don't use from the vegetables can be used to make stock. Clean and dry them, then gradually freeze them. When you have a container full, take them out, put them in a pot, and cover well with water. Add salt and one or two bay leaves. You can use the stock to cook rice, as a base for soups, or to make ramen soup.
3- Freeze. If you have fresh fruit that no one eats, you can cut it into pieces and freeze it to make smoothies—even if you don't drink them regularly, they're very handy for breakfasts and snacks. With apples, pears, and peaches, you can make delicious compotes that will help you complete a breakfast, a snack, or serve as dessert, or use them to make cakes and muffins—apple compote, for example, is a good substitute for eggs in vegan baking.
4- Be flexible. We all like to make a recipe perfectly, but when the availability of ingredients isn't guaranteed, you can substitute them. When I substitute ingredients, I think more about the texture than the flavor; for example, walnuts for almonds, kale for spinach, broccoli for cauliflower. Don't be afraid to substitute; you might find a new combination you'll love.
5- Prepare. If you have spinach, kale, or chard that's starting to go bad, wash it and blend it with a little water (you can add garlic and herbs if you're going to use it as a sauce). Once well blended, freeze the mixture—in small cubes if you have them—to defrost and use one by one in other meals later, for example, to make a quick sauce for pasta, rice, or tofu, or to make smoothies.
6- Clean. Instead of waiting until the fridge or freezer is a mess, the day before you go shopping take everything—or almost everything—out of the fridge, clean it well, take stock of what you have, and use everything you can in that night's meal.
7- Make a list. Although I don't manage to do it every week, I do like to make a list of three dinners (the main meal in our house) and the ingredients I need to make them. The rest of the list includes my weekly staples, plus pantry staples I've run out of. This way, I have three dinners guaranteed, plus leftovers (both ingredients and the finished dish) to get me through the rest of the week.
How do you avoid wasting food?