Prevent Wasted Food

Preventing Wasted Food is a National Thing!

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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 enlightening & motivational, about the systemic, global problem of wasted food. Five years later, we’re happy to be a partner — for the second consecutive year — of National Food Waste Prevention Week, April 10th-16th, 2023.

(Temps don’t stay constant!)

There’ll be loads of resources and connections from all over the country, social media engagement on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, tips for wasting less at home, events, an art contest for K-12 students, webinars, and fun game show-style quizzes. There will also be more Spanish-language resources and materials! Keep checking back at their website for updates and happenings.

The goal of National Food Waste Prevention Week is “to educate and inspire real cultural change around food waste… to help families save money, reduce the negative impact of food waste on the environment, and address hunger in our communities.” Pretty ambitious — but the good news is there are hundreds of partners from every part of the country, representing every sector of the food system, signing on. Hooray! Preventing Wasted Food is a National Thing!

Oregon is one of the top three states with 38 participating agencies and organizations so far, thanks to our colleagues at the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) Materials Management division, which is a principal organizing partner for this national event. DEQ also lends its unique “Bad Apple” campaign characters (like the broccoli figure) to the national effort. Maybe you’ve picked up one of these stickers at our Farmers’ Market table!

We would be remiss if we neglected to mention the fact that DEQ grant funding jump-started NFLB five years ago. We are proud to be one of DEQ’s partners in its statewide campaign to reduce wasted food.

How You Can Participate in National Food Waste Prevention Week:

  • TAKE THE PLEDGE to use good habits to reduce food waste at home and work, be accountable, and share your knowledge with others! Then post your commitment on social media (if you so choose).
  • TAKE A QUIZ: Are you as savvy as a 5th Grader? Daily fun facts and tips. (Maybe you ARE a fifth grader!)
  • Encourage your child to enter the STUDENT ART CONTEST. This year’s theme: “How Does Reducing Our Food Waste Protect Our Planet?” Check out last year’s winners!
  • Learn something or make a new connection in a WEBINAR. The offerings range from general interest to geeky. Many will be state- or regionally-specific.
  • FOLLOW National Food Waste Prevention Week on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for fun facts and tips before, during and after the week!
  • TRACK YOUR FOOD HABITS FOR A WEEK using NFLB’s “Wasted Food Discovery Week” form (also available in Spanish). Browse our Recipes for Leftovers, or download one or more of our other Smart Strategies to help you change those behaviors and save money!
  • SEE FUN EDUCATIONAL VIDEOS in English and Spanish from NFLB’s own “Magic Mama” Kjersten Hallin. This spring, Kjersten will once again be presenting these, along with movement, music and curriculum-enhancing activities in Corvallis schools. Contact us to request a visit to your child’s classroom!

EVERY WEEK CAN BE WASTED FOOD PREVENTION WEEK!

Many of you, during our regular encounters at the Corvallis Farmers’ Markets, have mentioned your concerns about the entire spectrum of food waste, from unharvested produce at field and farm, to the full dumpsters behind a big box grocer or retailer, to the garbage receptacles at restaurants, in school lunchrooms, at sporting events and festivals.

We’re happy to report that the problem is now being addressed in nearly every state and in many municipalities, through governmental programs and public-private partnerships across all sectors of our food systems. Sophisticated, data-driven initiatives from non-profit and non-governmental research organizations like ReFED, Project Drawdown, and the NRDC have created resources and conceptual groundwork for systemic change by 2030.

But it still comes down to each one of us, in our own households, to make the biggest difference. It’s now well established that most food waste happens IN THE HOME, and that reducing food waste is the #1 personal action we can take to reduce greenhouse gas emissions driving the global climate crisis.

National Food Waste Prevention Week happens each April, just like Earth Day. Shouldn’t EVERY DAY be Earth Day? Let’s make EVERY WEEK Food Waste Prevention Week!

Congratulations, Conscientious Food Consumers (and everyone who’s working on it). You are part of a nationwide, even international, movement!

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 Eco-Edutainment videos into wider circulation. In November, we held our first public event in years, "Food: Too Good To Waste!" -- a family-friendly, active-learning presentation of those videos, along with educational resource tables, prize drawings and local, fresh veggie/fruit Tasting Tables, at the Corvallis Community Center.

It was the first public presentation of the videos -- three short but information-packed episodes (in Spanish & English) -- created, directed and produced by NFLB Educational Specialist Kjersten "Magic Mama" Hallin during the first two years of the pandemic.

We announced them last year in "Kitchen Confessions," and during the summer of 2022, the finished work received some nice publicity in our local paper.

Magic Mama's Waste-Less Message is delivered in the videos with catchy songs, rhythmic beats, animated sequences and easy-to-remember takeaways, interspersed with fun explorations of such important concepts as the carbon footprint or "foodprint" of your diet. We visit a local organic farm, meet some of the people who work there and learn some new connections about the resources involved in food production, "from seed to plate." 

Local kid actors in many of the scenes help to make Magic Mama's message more relevant for younger viewers. And while kids of all ages -- as well as adults -- can benefit from viewing the videos, the material was developed to help meet school curriculum standards for grades 4-6.

Sing Along with Magic Mama! "Don't throw it away! ... Food Too Good To Waste!"

Takeaway: Video #3

At our video premiere event, we had a lot of fun engaging our all-ages audience in singing, moving, snacking and learning new ways of relating to the food we eat -- and possibly waste -- every day. This included a couple who drove up from Springfield for something different to do on pre-Thanksgiving weekend!

Here's some of the great comments we received afterwards:

  • Everyone should see this!
  • Fun and inspiring!
  • Very impressed by the diversity represented by the actors
  • It's good to see the faces of the people who grow our food

    TURNIP-TOP PESTO * Turnip Greens * Kale * Dill * Olive Oil * * Lemon Juice * Garlic * Green Pumpkin Seeds * Salt
  • Our kids loved the Claymation scenes
  • How did you make the turnip-top pesto?
  • Can you bring this to our school/community?

Haven't seen our Eco-Edutainment videos yet? You and your family are in for a treat! Take a break from Netflix or the latest movies, and have fun learning together. Kids of all ages love them!

Seen 'em before? Share with others in your network and help Magic Mama and NFLB spread the message: "Food is Too Good to Waste"! You can also share your thoughts with us in the comment section below. Muchas Gracias!

If you'd like to bring Kjersten/"Magic Mama" and the Eco-Edutainment experience to your child's school, please let us know by using our handy Contact Form. A teacher's companion guide for 4th, 5th and 6th grades is also in the works.

We'd like to thank our community volunteers and event partners who helped make our video premiere on November 19th such a success:

Freshly-prepared veggie/fruit trays, on the way to the Tasting Table
  • Corvallis High School's Green Team, for several pairs of nimble hands, great attitudes & nearly-zero waste kitchen prep of our beautiful fruit/veggie "food mandala" trays & refreshing agua fresca beverages. See a time-lapse of Calla, Emma, Eddie, Farren, Eliza and Kjersten in action!
  • Tina Dodge and the OSU Food Hero program, for providing wonderful giveaways and informative materials (in Spanish and English) for our event attendees. If you've got kids at home during school breaks, set 'em loose in the kitchen with easy recipes and videos for dozens of kid-approved dishes from this chock-fulla-resources site! (We've mentioned Food Hero a number of times in Kitchen Confessions.)
  • Corvallis Community Center (C3) staff -- especially Carl and Rue, for going above and beyond with technical assistance;
  • Chris, volunteer with Benton To Go and the Waste Prevention Action Team;
  • Lauri at Green Girl Reusable Partyware;
  • The rest of our stellar volunteer crew, who helped with set up, compost pails, food running/serving, and cleanup: Macy, Cole, Kelli, Sydney, Bethany & daughter, Kate and Kalesh.

SCENES FROM OUR COMMUNITY EVENT!

Enjoying the presentation!
The “Seed to Plate” audience participation activity showed the use of resources involved in food production
(Almost) Zero-waste Show & Tell: Kjersten displayed this single bag of compostable trimmings from prepping the fresh fruit & veggie snack trays!
Tina from OSU’s Food Hero had some great giveaways and info
Our stellar volunteers included Macy from the Education Action Team & Cole
Fresh, local, and beautifully prepared trays of veggies & apples from Gathering Together Farm and Midway Farms
Chris from Benton To Go helps Jeanette identify one of our prize drawing winners
Miles of free compost pails!
Our fantastic clean-up crew!

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 least one thing we all do every day that can help… one thing that each of us has some control over: what we eat. “The way we eat has a direct impact on the climate crisis,” notes the Environmental Working Group, a nonprofit advocacy organization working on human health and environmental issues since 1993.

NFLB’s Avocado Hero!

Most of us know we should eat more veggies! It also happens to be one of the most effective ways each of us can tread the Earth with a lighter carbon footprint. Now, more than ever, it’s time for those of us who choose/prefer an animal product diet to examine the impacts of our choices — and to shift toward more sustainable ones.

Fortunately, many carnivorous Americans are willing to do just that! A recent report, “Climate Change and the American Diet,” outlines both the acceptance and the challenges Americans have around eating less red meat and more plant-based foods. 

SO IT’S TIME to address this huge topic that we’ve shied away from (thus far) in Kitchen Confessions — the environmental (not to mention human health) consequences of animal-based diets. Especially when those kinds of food products get wasted! Keep scrolling that document, and you’ll see that most waste happens in the household, including 31% of seafood, 21% of meat, and 20% of dairy groceries.

To be clear: we’re not here to guilt trip anybody over their dietary choices and preferences.

Graphic: Kjerstin Hallin, NFLB’s Eco-Educator

CONFESSION: I’m an omnivore myself, consuming varying proportions of pork, chicken, turkey, cheese and other dairy products, eggs and seafood, as well as grains, veggies and fruits. Beef — not so much! (Although in the past I’ve certainly eaten my share of burgers.) NFLB’s Founder/Director, Jeanette Hardison, CONFESSES that her family is of the same dietary persuasion. “We also try to swap in non-GMO tofu and other meat alternatives on a regular basis,” she says.

SO WHAT’S A “CONSCIENTIOUS CARNIVORE?” It’s a non-vegan, non-vegetarian Conscientious Food Consumer who:

  1. Recognizes the impacts of dietary choices.
  2. Buys/consumes fewer animal products.
  3. Wastes less of what they do buy.

It starts with a concept the Earth Day Network calls a “Foodprint” — the quantification of environmental impacts of what we eat. Beef is the most resource-intensive form of animal protein, requiring 20 times more land and producing 20 times more GHG emissions per gram of edible protein than protein from plants (such as beans).

OSU Professor Bill Ripple has determined the “farm to fork” environmental cost of beef and dairy consumption to be up to 48 times that of high-protein plant sources. For chicken, pork and seafood, he found, it’s 3-10 times more.

Animal agriculture accounts for more than 14% of greenhouse gas emissions (earthday.org)

From cultivated feed crops to every step in the supply chain and up to the animal processing stage, the industrial model of meat production requires enormous amounts of land, water, fossil fuels/energy, and labor, as well as presenting issues around animal welfare.

Curious about your own/your family’s ‘foodprint’? Take this quiz, check out the “Meat Calculator”, resources for kids and other Foodprints for the Future references. Whether your efforts toward a carbon-minimizing diet are modest or ambitious, we hope the suggestions below will be helpful!

8 Ways To Be A Conscientious Carnivore:

  • Step it up — big time! — to not waste animal food products and the $$ investment they represent. * Start with Smart Storage, right after you get the groceries home. (Just don’t freeze and forget it!)  * Refer to this freezer storage and food safety guide (you can even freeze eggs!) * Keep track of/use up random leftovers in an “Eat First!” area of your fridge or freezer — especially things like last weekend’s BBQ chicken, opened packages of lunch meat, half-cartons of milk or yogurt. * Use USDA’s FoodKeeper app!
  • Be okay with eating less -but higher-quality- meat/poultry, seafood and dairy, like pasture-raised beef or eggs from free-range chickens. Yes, they do cost more — but if you’re buying fewer animal products, it could balance out. It’s also extra motivation for avoiding waste! Mix in a good proportion of mushrooms, vegetables or grains with your meat of choice, and you’ll stretch your budget, too.
  • Plan and prepare one or more meat-free meals each week, like “Meatless Mondays” or whichever day(s). This works great for one of my faves — chili! Swap out the meat-based elements in a few of your favorite dishes with plant-based oils and alternative proteins from grains, beans, nuts, tofu, seitan, or maybe even a cultivated “meat substitute.” (We’re not talking about crickets –yet.)
  • Downsize dairy consumption, and experiment with dairy alternatives. You don’t have to give up your favorite old-fashioned ice cream or half-n-half in your coffee! Just think smaller and less-frequent servings. For me, it’s pints instead of quarts of ice cream, vegan caramelized onion “cheese” spread, and using plant-based coffee creamers more often.
  • Search out cookbooks and websites not centered around animal proteins or ingredients — like these simple recipes. There’s endless inspiration for tasty adventures with plant-based menus from around the world that will get you using your spice rack more often!
  • Occasionally go vegan for dessert! Baked goods and treats made without eggs or dairy are popping up on frozen dessert/bakery shelves and coffee shops all over now, so it’s easy to give it a try. Vegan substitutions in recipes are also now more common, so you can experiment at home with plant-based milks and butters. Sweet!
  • Involve kiddos in the planning and preparation of some meat-free/plant-based dishes and menus. There’s a wonderful variety of kid-tested vegetarian (and special-diet) recipes here and at OSU’s Food Hero.
  • Be sure to use your Yard Debris/Mixed Organics cart from Republic Services to compost spoiled meat and dairy items, when all else fails! Their industrial processes convert food waste — even bones — into high-quality compost instead of landfill greenhouse gas emissions.

In the months and years to come, we’re all going to be hearing a lot more about the necessities and how-to’s of “plant-rich,” “plant-based,” and “climate-friendly” diets.

Congratulations! Whether you are a practicing Conscientious Carnivore, aspiring to become one — or not a carnivore at all — you’re making a difference. Please help by liking and sharing our blog on Facebook!

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 $$ in your household food budget in this new year. You can look forward to even more useful tips, anecdotes, resources and friendly nudges for making the most of your groceries — every day, every meal!

Now that we’ve all had awhile to settle into 2022, it’s a great time to challenge ourselves to a Do-It-Yourself Wasted Food Discovery Week . It’s a simple, three-step self audit to help you determine:

  • How much and which kinds of food got tossed;
  • Why they got wasted;
  • Optional: weight or volume of wasted food items; and
  • How much did you spend for those items or portions?
    Wasted Food = Wasted $$!

If you live in Corvallis, Albany, or Philomath, please utilize your Yard Debris cart from Republic Services for compost waste.  When you keep food out of the landfill, you’re also doing your part to reduce those powerful methane greenhouse gas emissions that contribute to climate havoc!

Once you multiply one week’s totals by the number of remaining weeks this year, you’ll probably get a valuable reality check on how much $$ you can save with simple actions and tools like the ones in our Smart Strategies tool box (available in both Spanish and English).

Karen’s Confession: My Wasted Food Discovery Week “reality check” last year yielded a bottom line of more than $1,000 in potential savings! So I am certainly extra-motivated in this new year to prevent hundreds of my hard-earned dollars from going into the compost bin. You can read about what I learned and shared in KC blog #24, “Waste Happens. Own it-Track it-Save!”

Karen’s Wasted Food Discoveries (omg!)

GREAT TOOLS CREATE GREAT HABITS!
Jeanette’s 2021 success story

NFLB Program Director Jeanette Hardison

In the past year, the NFLB staff has worked extra hard to walk our talk and make changes in our own homes.

We know how challenging it can be at times in family situations and multi-member households, so wasted food/money still happens! This past week, I had to compost some moldy bread ends and some stale cheddar puffs, and Karen shared with me her chagrin about wasting a whole package of Bob’s Red Mill organic oats.

However, in 2021 my family and I realized some notable changes around leftovers and withering produce in the fridge. I have been surprised and delighted to find that, after more than a year taping Eat First! signs to a leftovers section in our fridge, it has become automatic to start our meal prep there!

Whether it was cooked rice, some extra tossed salad, or items closest to their “Best By” dates, it has became so automatic we no longer seem to need the signage!

This part is pretty important: Hubby and I found that if items remained clearly visible, identified AND date-labeled (tape on front is most helpful), it was super easy to eat everything up!

So in using NFLB’s Smart Strategy tools, my fridge clean-outs have mostly become a thing of the past. It’s good to know how to build muscle-memory for this money-saving habit! YOU CAN TOO!

*****

How much will you save in 2022, Conscientious Food Consumers? Join the Kitchen Confessions staff and everyday folks like these in everyday actions that can make a HUGE difference! Here’s some other resources you may find useful:

Smart Strategy: Prep Now, Eat Later
ACTION: How to use your Yard Debris/Mixed Organics recycling cart from Republic Services
Smart Strategy: Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guide

Here’s to a healthy and waste-less 2022! If you’re shopping the Winter Farmers’ Market at the Benton County Fairgrounds (we’re there every other week near the main entrance, across from Riverland Farms), be sure to drop by our booth and say hello!

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 on living, working, virtual learning, shopping, cooking and eating our way through a pandemic. Getting real about wasted food in our homes, and doing what it takes to get the most out of our grocery dollars — each and every month. It’s time for some congratulations, all around!

We’re going to share some modest triumphs — ours and a few of yours — in the daily struggle against shriveled, moldy and slimy produce, leftovers that turned into science experiments, freezer-burned whatever, and many other tragedies involving formerly-edible food. These anecdotes illustrate positive outcomes from increased awareness of our daily food habits.

Remember also to pat yourselves on the back, Conscientious Food Consumers, for helping to conserve all those precious natural and human resources — energy, soil, water, labor, packaging, transportation and delivery systems — that went into your food. And locally, you’re helping to meet the goals of the in the Corvallis Climate Action Plan, in which reduction of wasted food is a high priority (p.17).

We like how Mishele M. of Corvallis puts it:
“It’s a mindset, that it’s unconscionable to throw anything away. That food gave its life for us, so why would we throw it away?! We don’t take our resources lightly.”  Here’s more about why prevention of wasted food matters.

CONFESSIONS CONVERTED/LESSONS LEARNED: NFLB staff

Jeanette’s non-edible composting

JEANETTE: It’s a happy day in my household when I prepare to empty the contents of my compost pail and see ONLY non-edible food scraps, peels, and trimmings. I feel like, yay! We’re getting it right!

Karen’s see-through Eat First! bins

KAREN: Thanks to Kitchen Confessions, I’ve had to keep up with reality-checking in my own kitchen and being candid about it all… Especially after using our DIY Wasted Food Discovery worksheet, and I realized I was potentially wasting as much as $1,000 a year!

So I set a goal of saving at least $5 per week through better leftovers management in my Eat First! areas, and converted a couple of clear plastic salad containers into see-through Eat First! bins. They keep the items in one place, instead of migrating all over in the fridge! One for greens (layered with damp paper towels) and one for wrapped fruit/veggie, cheese or protein remnants. For at least one meal each day, I rummage in there and head for the blender, skillet or sheet pan.

LESSON LEARNED: It’s easy to save $5/week by making one meal each day using items from Eat First! It’s also easier now to stay on top of my “alligator pears”!

JEANETTE: Best.Glass.Of.Juice.Ever.
A few forgotten mandarin oranges in the bottom of our fridge drawer were discolored and shriveling. I hoped there was still some way to enjoy them, NOT just waste them in compost. So I cut one open and voila! Inside there was still plenty of moisture and good color. I remembered I had a plastic hand juicer tool in the cupboard and went to town. Result: a glass of deliciousness!

 

CONFESSIONS CONVERTED/LESSONS LEARNED: Community members

  • No milk or corncob scraps left behind (Stasi K of Corvallis)
    When milk doesn’t smell or taste perfect anymore but is still “ok” to consume (a bit sour but not curdling), I use it right away in place of buttermilk in pancakes or I’ll freeze it to cook with (heating it provides additional safety).

We also take boiled corn on the cob, slice off and eat the corn, then take the remaining cob/husks and simmer them in the same water for half an hour to make corn stock for a nice flavor addition (can be used like veggie stock). Just strain off the solids.

FOOD SAFETY NOTE: for dairy and other safe food storage info, search StillTasty.com or FoodKeeper, a comprehensive resource from the USDA. It’s one of several handy tools on NFLB’s Apps page.

  • Friendly fridge reminders (Mishele M of Corvallis)

My spouse and I grew up with Depression-era parents, so in both our families the culture is to never, ever throw anything out unless it’s truly inedible. If something DOES start to get old, we just cook it instead of eating it raw.

I’ve trained my hubby not to take items out of the freezer for a meal if something else is already waiting to be eaten up in the fridge. We’ve also found that keeping things well-labeled and to the front of the fridge shelves helps us know which items to attend to next!

When root veggies go soft, we crisp them back up in cold water. That works well for greens too, like Swiss chard and beet greens. We just place them upright in a glass in the fridge or on windowsill.

NOTE: Here’s more helpful tips on freshening up veggies and other compost-rescue strategies.

  • No cukes or zukes left behind (Susan S of Corvallis)
    We used to store our purchased cucumbers in plastic bags, and weren’t eating them up fast enough. Then we learned from NFLB’s A-Z Fruit & Veggie Storage Guide how to properly store them loosely in the crisper drawer. Now our cukes last longer and don’t get slimy, maybe a bit limp or dehydrated, so we slice and crisp them up in cold water.

With zucchinis: we like to shred them and mix with salt, which pulls out the moisture, then grab fistfuls and squeeze out as much of the juice as possible. From there it can be substituted in place of potato in latkes/pancakes, or as a base layer for homemade pizza. The zuke gets soft and it makes the pizza super moist!

  • Cider now, cider later (Pat W of Corvallis)
    One reader responded to our apple blog last year with this no-waste tip: I always split jugs of fresh cider and put (half) in the freezer for another time.

*****

Got a Confession/Lesson Learned to Share? We’d love to hear your anecdotes about how you’re able to waste less food! Let us know by commenting below.  You can also submit via our contact page: https://nofoodleftbehindcorvallis.org/contact/.

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 Conscientious Consumers. It’s the middle of summer vacation, so hopefully you are having some opportunities to enjoy spending time in the kitchen together!

How many of your treasured memories involve cooking and food preparation in the family kitchen? Did the pandemic help your family rediscover the joy of cooking at home?

Many kids are eager to help in the kitchen from the time they can maneuver on their own two feet in there and comprehend an adult’s instructions. From that point on, they’re learning significant life lessons about the value of food, food preferences, nutrition and how to shop, as well as desirable practices in the handling and preparation of food. Sustainable food practices are skills that will serve children for the rest of their lives!

Just like us grownups — but as appropriate for their age and with adult supervision — kids can learn how to plan meals and create shopping lists for what’s on the plan, to properly store perishable food and, finally, how to prepare it. After the meal, they can learn how to properly freeze leftovers and other foods, and to start regularly scouting the “Eat First” areas in the fridge or freezer. (All these “Smart Strategies” available in Spanish.)

Young Farmers’ Market patron’s waste-less pledge: “Take only what I will eat”

KNOW-HOW FOR KIDZ WHO COOK

You may already be familiar with the glow of pride and accomplishment on a child’s face when the family enjoys a dish or meal that he/she/they helped prepare, or that they made all by themselves!

Excellent resources for kids learning to cook are available from Oregon State University’s KidSpirit year-round programs (scholarships available), and Food Hero, offered free by the OSU Extension Service’s Family and Community Health division.

Both programs emphasize safe kitchen practices (including washing hands often) and offer an extensive selection of kid-friendly recipes for making healthy food, while helping kids develop confidence and have fun! Food Hero’s compendium of family resources includes gardening, large-batch cooking, and information for older adults and in Spanish.

Be sure to check out the huge list of videos at Food Hero’s Kids Cooking Show — including Grape and Cucumber Salad, a fresh and yummy summertime snack!

WASTE-LESS KIDZ WHO COOK:

  • Are learning to make the most of a family grocery budget, instead of just tossing things in the compost or garbage. (The average American family of four wastes at least $1,600 a year on food that was purchased but not eaten!)
  • May stretch their comfort zones as picky eaters. (I had one of those in my home.) A kid who says “beets are gross” may be willing to sample some pretty pink-colored hummus that he/she/they made themselves from a kid-friendly recipe. Bonus: beet juice is great for coloring summertime Easter eggs!
  • Eat “ugly” produce (like apples with minor bruising, spotted grapes, strangely-shaped tomatoes) or other food products with less-than-perfect characteristics — and have fun doing it.  Next time you see the OSU student Organic Growers Club at the downtown Saturday Farmers’ Market, ask if they still give away free “ugly” produce!
  • Learn portion control early. Many kids are happy to serve themselves when they get the chance. Let’s help them be like our young Farmers’ Market patron (above) who pledged to “take only what I will eat” on her next plate!
  • Learn good waste-less habits early. Check out these waste-less training tips for kids from SaveTheFood.com to see how they resonate with your parenting approach.
  • Make friends with their family freezer. Remember those overripe bananas that were saved from the compost a couple months ago by popping them in the freezer? It’s Banana Smoothie Time! Or popsicles…  Or maybe even banana ice cream for breakfast!
  • Get creative with what’s collecting on the “Eat First” shelf in the fridge. See a video of the “aha” moment for this father and daughter below! Delight your budding chef with the task of assembling “Bagel Faces” from leftover veggie and fruit pieces, or maybe the last few olives in the jar. Thanks to Mollie Katzen and her charmingly-illustrated cookbooks for younger children.
  • Keep making friends with their family freezer.  Oh boy! Frozen grape “ice cubes” (great for iced tea and sodas)! All because somebody got proactive with the last third of a bunch that had started to shrivel. Veggie freezing tips here.
  • Enjoy portion control as part of summertime grilling and social gatherings. Foil-wrapped grill packages or bamboo skewers (with the sharpest point removed) are perfect for this. First kids help prep ingredients, then load up their own appropriately-sized servings. Wrinkled cherry tomatoes and peppers from the “Eat First” shelf can be pretty tasty right off the grill! Same with summer squash, onions, leftover chicken nuggets/tempeh, or what have you.

Getting creative with what’s already in the fridge! Credit: StopFoodWaste.org

*****

NEW IN LOCAL SCHOOLS THIS FALL!
A fun educational video in English and Spanish, starring local kids

We’re pleased to shine a brief spotlight on NFLB’s amazing “Eco-EduTainment” program for local schools, run by our Outreach Specialist Kjersten Hallin, aka Magic Mama. When the pandemic shut down schools, she also shifted digital and began developing an educational video as a fun new way to teach kids about the massive issues around food waste and climate change.

Anyone who’s seen “Magic Mama” at the downtown Farmers’ Market (prior to COVID19) or in their classroom knows what a delightful presence she brings to this huge topic. Her curriculum, delivered with the help of some catchy raps performed on unusual handmade instruments (like a repurposed pizza box), inspires kids to “rock” the prevention of wasted food in their own families and social circles of influence.

More than just entertaining, Kjersten’s presentations also help schools fulfill their district’s core and STEM education goals. (Please click on the photo to jump to NFLB’s Eco-EduTainment program page.)

Watch for exciting details about the Eco-EduTainment videos, launching in 4th and 5th grade classrooms this fall!

 

Pumpkin Banana Shake

Recipe by Donna T., of Corvallis

MONEY SAVED: $3

INSPIRATION:
When your bananas are riper than you want for eating fresh, just peel and cut them into 8 slices each (6 slices if they are small bananas), and then freeze the separated pieces on a parchment-lined plate or cookie sheet.

Next day, move the slices to a freezer bag. Then when you need 1 banana for a recipe or a smoothie, you know that 8 slices equals 1 banana.

Having bananas and pumpkin ready to use and measured out will help you make good use of them out of your freezer.

RECIPE (with leftovers* clearly identified):

  • 8 oz sweetened soymilk
  • 1/2 cup canned pumpkin – uses pumpkin frozen in measurable portions from an opened can
  • 1 frozen banana – uses banana frozen into measurable portions
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp nutmeg
  • 1 1/2 Tbsp peanut butter

Blend and enjoy! If you use cow’s milk or unsweetened non-dairy milk, you may wish to add 1 Tbsp maple syrup or honey.

LEFTOVER PUMPKIN TIP: After opening a new can or a jar of my home-canned pumpkin, I freeze the leftovers in 1/4 cup portions in a muffin tin. When needed, just pop them out by running water on the bottom of the tin. Allow the frozen portions to thaw slightly before using so your blender doesn’t have to work quite so hard. Store the rest in a plastic bag in the freezer, ready for your next shake!

Tom Kha Gai (Thai Coconut Soup)

Recipe by: Sue C., of Corvallis, adapted from 40 Aprons.com

INSPIRATION:
I’ve been thoroughly enamored with Thai food lately, and this is one of my favorite recipes for using up leftover bits of meats and veggies in the fridge. For this dish:

  • 3 wilted carrots,
  • Some aging green beans,
  • An old zucchini,
  • 1/2 green pepper,
  • A frozen jalapeno from last year’s garden, and
  • Rice leftover from several take-out meals.

Vegetarian, Vegan, or Ominvore friendly!

MONEY SAVED: $15

RECIPE (with leftovers* clearly identified)

  • 1 Tbsp coconut oil
  • ½ – 1 onion, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped (or jarred/frozen garlic)
  • 1 jalapeno pepper*, sliced
  • ¾-inch piece of ginger, sliced (or jarred/frozen ginger)
  • 1½ frozen lemongrass*
  • 2 tsp Red Thai curry paste
  • 4 cups chicken or vegetable broth
  • 1 14-oz can coconut milk
  • 8 oz mushrooms, sliced, if desired
  • Leftover/favorite vegetables*, cut in bite-sized pieces
  • Leftover chicken or other meat* (if desired), cut in bite-sized pieces
  • Leftover rice or noodles*
  • 1 Tbsp coconut sugar
  • 2 Tbsp fish sauce
  • 3 Tbsp lime juice
  • Chopped green onions, cilantro and sesame seeds for garnish
  1. In a medium pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion, garlic, jalapeno, ginger, lemongrass and red curry paste, and cook, stirring frequently, for 5-10 minutes or until onions are softened.
  2. Add broth and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.
  3. Add in coconut milk, fish sauce, coconut sugar, lime juice, mushrooms, and leftover vegetables.
  4. Simmer until vegetables are cooked to taste. Add any cooked leftover meat, rice or noodles and simmer until flavors are melded.
  5. Garnish and serve.

 

Tuna Patties with Picklejuice Crema

Recipe adapted from Simplyrecipes.com, by Karen K. of Corvallis

MONEY SAVED: About $9

INSPIRATION:

During the Catholic era of my childhood, we always ate fish on Fridays. In those days, that meant fish sticks or tuna fish cakes! So I got inspired when I was perusing my Eat First pantry area and found a couple cans of tuna that were a bit past their “Best By” dates.

I also had on hand: 1) going-stale crackers (cutting down on my carbs); 2) a bunch of cilantro that I had been picking at for awhile (fortunately most of it was still good bec I stored it in a glass of water with a plastic bag-tent over it); 3) just under 1/2 of a red onion; and 4) about half a jar of organic dill (not sweet) pickle juice left after all the pickles had been consumed.

I had saved that because I found out that pickling brine (I call it juice) — particularly w/o preservatives or added sugar — is really good for you! (Kind of like an apple cider vinegar shot.) It turns out there’s a zillion ways to use pickle juice — including drinking it! I’ll never pour my pickle juice down the drain again.

I didn’t use a recipe for the pickle juice crema — I just did what I usually do when making a simple tarter sauce for fish, substituting pickle juice for dill weed and mustard.

Omnivore/kid-friendly, easy to make for lunch or dinner. Can substitute canned salmon, crab or other meat like chicken but will need to adjust cooking time accordingly.

RECIPE with leftovers* clearly identified:

  • 2 cans tuna,* 5 or 6 oz (preferably sustainably harvested)
  • Water, 1 TBSP (reserve liquid when draining tuna packed in water)
  • Crackers* (or bread ends), crumbled, 1/2 cup
  • 1 egg
  • Lemon juice, 1 TBSP
  • Lemon zest, 1 TSP (or so)
  • Extra virgin olive oil, 2 TBSP (1 of these is for cooking the patties)
  • Tabasco or other hot sauce, 1/4-1/2 TSP (to your taste)
  • Red onion/green/other onion or chives or shallots: 1 TBSP (or so)
  • Cilantro or parsley, chopped, 2 TBSP
  • Dijon or other mustard, 2 TSP
  • Salt/Fresh ground black pepper to taste*
  • Lemon wedges for serving

TO PREPARE:

  1. Drain the cans of tuna, reserving at least a tablespoon of the packing liquid. If using tuna packed in salted water, consider omitting salt as a seasoning for the patty mix.
  2. Mix together the tuna, tuna water or oil from the tuna can, crumbled bread/crackers, lemon zest/juice, onions, mustard,
    salt/pepper, hot sauce. If using tuna packed in water, add 1 of the 2 TBSP of olive oil. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
  3. Mix in the egg, then use your hands or a scoop to portion the mix into 4 balls. Flatten the balls into 4 equally sized patties.
  4. Heat 1 TBSP of olive oil in a stove top frying pan on medium heat and saute patties for 3-4 minutes per side.
  5. Serve with lemon wedges and Picklejuice Crema.

Makes 4 medium-sized patties.

For Pickle juice Crema, whisk together:

    • Used DILL pickle brine* from jar, 1-2 TBSP (depending on the size of cooked patties & your taste) Make sure there is no off-smell or mold on the surface of the liquid!
    • Mayonnaise, 1/3 cup
    • Sour cream or plain yogurt, 1/2 cup

OPTIONAL: Before cooking, if time allows, you can chill the patties for an hour on waxed paper in the fridge. The recipe I started with suggests this will help the patties stay together while they are cooking, but I didn’t find it was necessary.