Kitchen Confessions Blog
Wasting Less: There’s An App for That!
What’s “app,” Conscientious Food Consumers? So here we are, Earth Month 2024: four years out (and counting) from that global viral event that brought us…
We love composting! The challenge: compost LESS
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Ever since No Food Left Behind-Corvallis began its public outreach at our local farmers’ markets, we’ve noticed how people love to…
Eeek, it’s ethylene!! & other freshness tips for summer produce
Summer Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Don’t you love the colors, smells and, of course, the taste of fresh summertime produce? From berries to basil and…
Eeek, it’s ethylene!! & other freshness tips for summer produceRead More
Preventing Wasted Food is a National Thing!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Since 2018, we here at No Food Left Behind-Corvallis have been bringing you information and resources, which we hope have been…
Magic Mama’s Waste-Less Message
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Did you miss us? Since our last Kitchen Confessions, we’ve been keeping busy at our local Farmers’ Markets and bringing our…
Are you a Conscientious Carnivore?
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Another Earth Day/Week is behind us — so what now? Given the state of things on our planet, there is at…
Discover how much you can $ave in 2022 with our DIY challenge!
Greetings for 2022, Conscientious Food Consumers! Kitchen Confessions is back and we’re ramping up our efforts to help you waste less food and save more…
Discover how much you can $ave in 2022 with our DIY challenge!Read More
Back to school eats and Eco-Edutainment
Autumn Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! For everyone with children who are physically back in school (K-12) this fall, we hope the adjustment is going well.…
Converting Confessions to Lessons Learned
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! We’ve all come a long way since the start of Kitchen Confessions, haven’t we? Doing the best we can to keep…
Kids rocking the waste-less kitchen
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumer Families! In this edition of Kitchen Confessions, we’d like to offer some resources and support to families of Future Chefs and…
No “Alligator Pears” left behind
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! The sunshine season has finally arrived here in the Mid-Willamette Valley, and with it the bursting cornucopias of fresh colorful fruits…
Carrot Top Pesto & other “zero waste” ideas
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! We’re still giddy over the response to our first-ever Leftovers Recipes Contest (Drawing), in which local Conscientious Chefs shared creative methods…
Leftover Recipe Contest Winners!
Happy Earth Day/Week, Conscientious Food Consumers! Our first-ever Recipe Contest featuring YOUR LEFTOVERS is a big success! Many thanks to everyone who participated. You ALL…
Waste happens. Own it-Track it-$ave!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! With spring unfolding soon here in the mid-Willamette Valley, it’s time for some cleaning, clearing out and… confessing! We’ve been saying…
Recipe contest for leftovers!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! It’s time for something different with our Kitchen Confessions. We’re going to talk about recipes — and we’re going to ask…
Waste-less cooking for one can be fun!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Back in the pre-COVID era when we tabled regularly at the Corvallis winter and downtown Farmers’ Markets, I had interesting encounters…
Keeping spices spicy with Smart Storage
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! After an unsettling start to this New Year, I’m finding a lot of comfort in the kitchen these days. (Not just…
Our Top Takeaways of 2020, for 2021
Happy New Year, Conscientious Food Consumers! We, the staff of Kitchen Confessions, would like to extend to you a virtual pat on the back for…
Smart shopping and $aving — not just for the holidays!
Happy Holiday Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! As we head into the final stretch of this unprecedented year, we hope you are discovering some new and…
Smart shopping and $aving — not just for the holidays!Read More
Happy fridges for happy holidays
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! We hope your first (and hopefully last) Pandemic Thanksgiving was safe, enjoyable, and as waste-free as possible! For myself, I’m happy…
Counting our blessings and $avings this Thanksgiving
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! With Pandemic Thanksgiving 2020 just days away, we here at No Food Left Behind have already started counting our blessings: We’ve…
Counting our blessings and $avings this ThanksgivingRead More
Talking Turkey and wasting less
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Only two weeks until our first Pandemic Thanksgiving! It’s time to “talk turkey” (even for vegans and vegetarians) about less wasted…
Adventures in Leftover Land
Greetings Conscientious Food Consumers! With Thanksgiving not far off, we figured we’d get ahead of the game and talk leftovers in this installment of Kitchen…
No more “freeze it and forget it”!
If you were expecting a lurid foodie tale about eager veggies, twisting around each other in the privacy of soil, only to be exposed by…
Pumpkin guts are good for you!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Another pandemic milestone is fast approaching — Halloween without much trick-or-treating. Thank goodness pumpkin carving is still CDC-approved! So is, we…
How do you like (not waste) them apples?
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Apples are a quintessential taste of autumn. Whether you enjoy them fresh off the tree or from the market, where would…
Check before you chuck it
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! As we hurtle toward the holidays and the dark days of winter, so many are planning ahead, stocking up and proactively…
Zukes & cukes & squash, oh my! It’s Preservation Time.
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! With the colors of fall brightening our dwindling hours of daylight, the harvest scramble is underway, along with a new season…
Zukes & cukes & squash, oh my! It’s Preservation Time.Read More
Caring and sharing food in a crisis: “It’s On Us Corvallis”
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Blessed rain has returned to western Oregon during the past week, bringing fresh air to our lungs and progress in the…
Caring and sharing food in a crisis: “It’s On Us Corvallis”Read More
Post-apocalypse produce
Cover photo: squash plant ash accumulation in backyard garden in Corvallis (staff photo) Ash accumulations on bean plant leaves, lettuce, and tomato plants (photos courtesy…
No Questions Left Behind (ok, a few)
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! As autumn approaches, we can all look back on how our lives have changed since March, and the reality of COVID-19.…
Mind your ‘maters!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! When was the last time you delighted in the taste experience of a ripe exploding cherry tomato? For many, one of…
‘Chillin’ with those summertime fruits and veggies
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! It’s “chillin’ time” — mid-summer — here in the Mid-Willamette Valley. We endured a heat wave in late July with near-triple-digits,…
No strawberries left behind… And hooray for the harvesters!
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! We Willamette Valley dwellers are so blessed to be living in one of the largest berry-producing regions in the country. Strawberry…
No strawberries left behind… And hooray for the harvesters!Read More
Hooray for our local “helpers”! And less wasted food.
Greetings, Conscientious Food Consumers! Now that we’ve all had a number of weeks of staying home and doing our part to fight the spread of…
Hooray for our local “helpers”! And less wasted food.Read More
Not just another Earth Day
Happy Quarantine Earth Day, Conscientious Food Consumers! It’s the 50th anniversary of Earth Day, and the theme is Climate Action, as it should be! We…
Welcome to Kitchen Confessions!
Hello, Conscientious Food Consumers! No Food Left Behind, a project of the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, welcomes you to our new “Kitchen Confessions” blog for sharing…
Wasted Food Prevention Tool Box
SMART STRATEGIES: Planning, Shopping, Prep
Smart Planning: Meal Planner
Smart Shopping: Meals in Mind Shopping List
Smart Prep: Prep Now, Eat Later
D.I.Y. Wasted Food Discovery Week form
(to notice which foods you’re wasting and why)
EN ESPAÑOL
ESTRATEGIAS SAGACES: Planificar, Comprar, Preparar
Mi Plan de las Comidas
Piense en sus Comidas Mientras Compre Alimentos
Sea Sagaz: PREPARE AHORA, DISFRUTE DESPUÉS
Hágalo Usted Mismo: Semana Para Descubrir Alimentos Arruinados
SMART STRATEGIES: Storage
A-Z Fruit and Vegetable Storage Guide
Smart Saving: “Eat First” Sign
Freezer Inventory List
FDA’s Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart
Freezing Fruits and Vegetables
Freezing Convenience Foods
EN ESPAÑOL
ESTRATEGIAS SAGACES: Almacenamiento
Guía de cómo Almacenar Frutas y Verduras
Ahorros Sagaces: ¡COMER 1°!
Lista de los Contenidos
Tabla Formulada Para el Propósito
Did you know? In the US, wasted food accounts for …
Food is wasted when we buy more than we need, store it incorrectly, throw away leftovers or just cook too much. The average Oregonian throws out 300 lbs of food per year.
By making small shifts in how we shop, store and prepare food, we can keep the valuable resources used to produce and distribute food from going to waste. Use our Smart Strategies to help prevent wasted food in your home.
We use the term “wasted food” instead of “food waste” because our program addresses perfectly edible food, not just kitchen scraps.
Courtesy of EPA, Sources on Graphics:
USDA Economic Research Service,(ERS) Total and Per Capita Value of Food Loss in the United State (2012); USDA ERS , The Value of Retail- and Consumer- Level Fruit and Vegetable Losses in the United States (2011); Venkat, The Climate Change and Economic Impacts of Food Waste in the United States (2012): Hall et al, The Progressive Increase of Food Waste in America and Its Environmental Impacts (2009)
Wasted Food vs. Food Waste: What's the Difference?
NFLB presents to 500 Women Scientists Corvallis: NFLB Director, Jeanette Hardison gave a Tap Talk presentation along with avid local composter Linda Sebring. They discussed preventing wasted food and properly composting the rest. Check it out!
Thanksgiving Leftovers
IN THE NEWS: NFLB Director, Jeanette Hardison, shared useful strategies on avoiding wasted food at Thanksgiving and beyond on KOIN TV’s AM Extra.