s K’Rene (Karen) Kos | Page 5 | No Food Left Behind – Corvallis

Prevent Wasted Food

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 the greatest pleasures of summer is the color, aroma and savory satisfaction of garden-fresh tomatoes, that ubiquitous vegetable (actually a fruit) that gardeners tend to have in over-abundance this time of year. Besides zucchini! (Also technically considered a fruit.)

Tomatoes are the 4th most-popular fresh market produce item for good reason: this versatile veggie-fruit can be sliced, diced, baked, stewed, roasted, sun-dried and pureed for so many of our favorite meals, year-round. Tomatoes are an essential ingredient of fresh summer salsa and many vegetable medley dishes from a variety of cultural and ethnic cuisines.

Of course, they’re also quite perishable and can be pricey, especially premium tomatoes still attached to their vines. Why not take advantage of our seasonal abundance and stock up on locally-sourced ‘maters that you prepped, froze and perhaps canned yourself? They’re sure to be fresher and better tasting than those imported from Mexico or China, not to mention anything you can buy in a can six months from now.

So let’s “mind our ‘maters” and make sure they end up where they can be properly appreciated! Here’s a few tips we hope you will find helpful:

  • Place tomatoes on the kitchen counter to ripen, away from direct sunlight, with the stem end up to prevent bruising. Monitor the ripening, then wash and prepare them for consumption at their height of flavor and juiciness! In a fridge, these qualities will diminish after just a few days.
  • Tomatoes are one of those veggies that naturally emit ethylene gas as part of their plant maturation cycles, so avoid placing or storing them near other produce that you don’t want to ripen too quickly or spoil.
  • Got too many ‘maters? Share with friends, or find the downloadable OLIO app on our website for locating people with whom to share your prodigious produce (keeping COVID-19 concerns in mind). Unfortunately, most local food banks and soup kitchens are currently not accepting donations of fresh produce, so let’s share with each other.
  • Once your tomatoes have spent time in the fridge, let them return to room temperature before preparing and consuming.
  • Ugly ‘maters still taste great! Bruised or cracked tomatoes may not work for the presentation of your bruschetta or for picky kiddos, but they are fine for freezing or canning, or as the foundation of a refreshing cold gazpacho soup, fresh salsa, or tomato juice/cocktail. (Just cut out the cracked areas and use the rest.) Over-ripe tomatoes tend to have black spots, signs of mold or an “off” smell — so off to the compost bin they go.

With COVID-19 keeping us all home more this summer, children will enjoy learning veggie-prep kitchen skills, like how to safely dice a tomato through the kid-friendly recipes and visual learning resources (in both English and Spanish) on OSU Extension Service’s “Food Hero” website. There’s 25 recipes to start with for fresh tomatoes! Numerous other veggies and categories of food can be explored as well.

This Week’s Kitchen Confessions:

JEANETTE CONFESSES: This is one of 3 or 4 portions of shredded pulled pork left from prepping for family meals. Fortunately most remaining portions went into the freezer in baggies, but this portion in the fridge got “left behind” (moldy), forgotten for too long.

$$ WASTED: About $6

LESSONS LEARNED: Either put all extra quantities in the freezer, or make sure small meal portions get onto our “Eat First” shelf or flagged on our Meal Planner so they’re eaten sooner!

KAREN CONFESSES: Before local tomatoes were in season, I bought mild sweet mango salsa which my son likes, and we enjoyed it with one meal of burritos and nachos. He went home afterwards and I placed the opened jar in the fridge door with the rest of my condiments. Since I prefer a green chile-based salsa (a bit more spicy), it tends to get used first and, eventually, I was dismayed to find a “science experiment” brewing inside the mango salsa jar.

$$ WASTED: About $2 (1/2 the cost of full jar)

LESSON LEARNED: Label it with the date opened and note it as ingredient for “Gazpacho” on my Meal Planner. Store opened jar in “Eat First” area in my fridge or encourage my son to take the rest of the jar home with him next time!

Happy Salsa Season!

‘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, while our gardens and markets were bursting with colorful varieties of seasonal produce. Now the challenge is on: getting it all harvested, properly stored, processed, prepared and onto our plates before too much of it ends up in the compost!

Despite our best intentions, fruit and vegetables are still the most common foods that end up going to waste. We can be more proactive about waste prevention right after the produce enters our homes, by taking the time to

  • properly store it in the right places, and
  • do some prep and processing so it’s ready to be cooked and/or consumed.

You’ll be delighted by the convenience and cost savings these habits can deliver for you and your family!

To support this process, No Food Left Behind (NFLB) offers the A-Z Fruit & Vegetable Storage Guide. for preserving the “fresh factor” of your summer produce. For example: fresh basil leaves will turn black if subjected to refrigeration. Keep bunches of basil green and fragrant by storing them in a cup of water on the kitchen counter, with an optional plastic bag “tent” over the top to keep them moist.

Prep Now, Eat Later:  Clean and prepare your produce for upcoming meals and snacks before they go into the different “chill” areas of your fridge — and you’ll see how quickly they tend to get used up and eaten! A batch of carrot and celery sticks, stored in a tall glass of water on the fridge shelf, makes it very easy to grab a healthy snack throughout the week.

Blanch before freezing: Some fruits and most veggies will need more prep before going into the freezer, through a pre-cooking/cooling process known as “blanching.” This easy process helps preserve the flavor, vitamins and colors of your produce — though it requires some careful attention. You can get the details on this process from OSU’s Extension Service, a quick Web search, or a thumb-through of your favorite cookbook!

Don’t overload your freezer. The “chill” needs to have some space to circulate around your stored items. Be sure to check this Refrigerator and Freezer Storage Chart for recommended time limits.

Food safety questions? Just call OSU’s Extension Service’s Food Safety and Preservation toll-free hotline at 800-354-7319, staffed by certified Master Food Preserver volunteers, Monday – Friday between 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., through October 9, 2020.

What’s in your freezer? Don’t freeze it and forget it!

JEANETTE keeps track with NFLB’s  handy-dandy Freezer Inventory Guide. It works best when combined with NFLB’s other “Smart Strategies” to help you plan more, waste less and save more money.

This week’s Kitchen Confession:

KAREN CONFESSES:

With peak veggie/salad season underway, I picked up some cilantro-based salad dressing from the refrigerator case at my local store. After I got home, I left the bottle on the kitchen counter, anticipating using it on a salad with my evening meal. (Typically I use dressings that don’t need refrigerating until after the bottle has been opened.)

Tragically, I neglected to READ THE LABEL specifying that refrigeration was always required. The salad did not happen that evening after all, but the bottle remained on my kitchen counter. Two days later, the magic of organic compounds fermenting had burst the lid, and the dressing was ruined.

$$ WASTED: $3.49

LESSON LEARNED: Read product labels! Make a note on my “Smart Shopping List” next time I’m looking for a new salad dressing.

NATIONAL FARMER’S MARKET WEEK: AUGUST 2-8, 2020

Whether you do your own garden and harvesting or not, let’s not forget the valuable labor of the farm workers who bring the bounty of the fields and greenhouses to our grocery stores and markets. Hooray for the harvesters! You can celebrate these essential workers and Oregon’s direct-to-customer growers August 2-8, National Farmer’s Market Week.

We are now tabling at the Corvallis Southtown Farm Stand & Market from 5-7pm on Tuesdays through October. If you haven’t done so already, check out this charming neighborhood-style market at the dead end of SE Alexander Avenue, and stop by to say hello!

 

 

 

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 season is here! Luscious, juicy and vibrantly red — like these, picked fresh from a Corvallis backyard garden — the local bounty of strawberries is just now waiting to delight our taste buds.

Normally in early June, we would also be anticipating a taste of the World’s Largest Strawberry Shortcake at the annual Strawberry Festival in Lebanon — but predictably, this year’s festival (the 111th) became a casualty of the coronavirus.

Here in Linn and Benton Counties, we have the luxury of enjoying locally-produced strawberries, as well as blueberries, marion and blackberries, raspberries and so many other varieties. Let’s not forget how most of those delicious fruits get to our markets and our tables — via Oregon’s agricultural workers. Hooray for the harvesters!

These incredibly hard-working people have kept the berries (and everything else) coming, despite the deadly risk of COVID-19. In late May, the Oregon Department of Agriculture, with help from OSU’s Extension Services and the Oregon National Guard, began distributing free PPE and field sanitation supplies throughout the state. Another state initiative announced June 10, the Food Security & Farmworker Safety Program, provides $30 million to help local producers with the increased costs of keeping our state’s essential agricultural workforce housed, transported, trained and safe in the pandemic conditions.

Given this monumental effort to secure our local food chain, it’s up to us, Conscientious Food Consumers, to do our part: No Strawberries Left Behind!

Step 1 (fresh): Eat A.S.A.P.! Store berries in an unsealed container on your fridge shelf away from other produce like apples and avocados, which emit traces of ethylene gas that will cause the berries to over-ripen. Don’t wash them until just before preparing or consuming, preferably within 3-7 days of purchase.

Step 2 (fresh – large batches): To prep and freeze large batches (like flats) of berries, check out these step-by-step instructions from our local experts at the OSU and Pacific NW Extension Services. (Note details regarding sugar/no sugar prep for maintaining quality of frozen fruit.) Make sure your hands and all kitchen utensils and surfaces are clean before getting started!

Tip: Avoid frozen “berry bricks” by spreading out prepped berries across waxed paper on a cookie sheet and freezing them loosely at first. Transfer portions of the pre-frozen berries into airtight containers and return to the freezer. Or stick ’em with a skewer for strawberry popsicles!

Step 3 (fresh and previously-frozen): Note the date for your berries-in-waiting on your handy-dandy Freezer Inventory List, kept on or near your fridge. Make sure to eat ’em up within 10-12 months!

Alternate Step 1 (preserving through dehydration): If you’re into making your own dried fruit/fruit leathers using the oven or an electric dehydrator, OSU’s Extension Service has the definitive how-to guide.

This week’s Kitchen Confession: A Berry Sad Story

Karen Confesses:

A friend cleaning out her freezer  when moving gave me a half-bag of frozen strawberries. I planned on using ’em right away in a smoothie, along with a small portion of blueberries I already had on hand. Carelessly, I left the berry bags in the freezer door for easy access, and didn’t take a moment to write it on my Freezer Inventory! Some weeks later… berry sad! A lack of air-tight seal on the bags ensured the spoilage.

Lesson Learned: Tightly seal berries in container, zip lock freezer bag or double-bag. Make sure berries are located where the freezer temperature is consistent. Use Freezer Inventory (take my own advice)!

$ Wasted: Around $4

Enjoy this berry beautiful season… there’s lots more on the way! Be well.

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 the coronavirus, how’s the “new normal” at your house? Besides keeping ourselves and our loved ones safe, healthy and constructively occupied, it’s been a lot about food, hasn’t it?

We’ve gotten a horrific reality check about the pandemic’s disruption of national food production and delivery systems — via news of catastrophic waste from unharvested produce rotting in farm fields, dairies dumping milk and slaughtered animals going into landfills, due to reduced work forces and virus outbreaks at meat packing plants.

As we are part of the EPA’s “Food Too Good To Waste” program, No Food Left Behind-Corvallis received news of efforts to mitigate this disaster such as the USDA’s Coronavirus Food Assistance Program and Feeding America, a national food bank network. But these efforts are just ramping up.

Rising to the challenge, here in our own backyard, is one of Oregon’s largest food rescue, gleaning and distribution organizations: Linn Benton Food Share. This non-profit food sourcing and distribution “hub” — and a Sustainability Coalition partner — has served food pantries, soup kitchens and housing shelters in Linn and Benton Counties since 1981!

The COVID-19 crisis has brought increased food insecurity to our region, and not only among the most vulnerable populations. With the goal of 2500 meals delivered per week, Food Share is mobilizing volunteers to help prepare food boxes at their warehouse. They’re pros at training volunteer food handlers and ensuring their safety. If you or someone you know can help, just scroll down their home page and fill out the short form.

Hooray for “the helpers”! (Hat tip to Mr. Rogers!)

Grocery shopping sure looks a lot different now. We’re reducing our trips to the store, trying to keep the proper distance from other shoppers, or just skipping it and ordering groceries online! Why not supplement your next online grocery order with fresh, locally-sourced food products from the Corvallis-Albany Farmer’s Markets? You can do that with the CAFM’s new online pre-order and pick up system.  Hooray again, for the helpers who are supporting the GoFundMe campaign that supports that effort!

“Eating out” is also pretty different now — more like “taking out” then “eating in” at home. A number of local establishments have switched to the take out and/or delivery business model, but with the phased re-opening of some restaurants, be sure and check the latest updates from Coalition partner Visit Corvallis.

Back at home, the “new normal” means we’re planning and preparing most (if not all) of our own meals, being more conscious with the food we have, and stretching our grocery budgets as far as possible. Some “Smart Strategies” to help you in those endeavors were highlighted in our previous installment of “Kitchen Confessions.”

In my kitchen, I’m juggling four “Eat First” areas in my fridge/cupboard — which means I’m Loving My Leftovers more than ever. Hey — there’s an app for that! Check the “Apps!” area of our website for a wonderful tool called “Big Oven” for thousands of recipes to help you invent new meals from the smorgasbord of your leftovers or least-fresh foods.

Simply start with just three ingredients and a button labeled “Big Oven, what can I make?” Your kids will love getting creative with it, too!

Now for this week’s Kitchen Confessions from our staff:

*****

Karen Confesses:

I put off inventorying my cupboard pantry for, like, forever! Now there’s no excuse, and I found this package of seasonal baking mix that had been colonized by pantry moths.

$$$ Wasted: $2.99

Lessons Learned: Meal planner to include more pantry checks each week; reorganize pantry with visible “best by” and “use by” date tags with more perishable food items/packages in the front.

Jeanette Confesses:
I didn’t need the whole can for my meal, so I covered it to use it in the next day or two – and forgot it!

$$ Wasted: about $2

Lessons Learned: Once opened, avoid storing acidic foods in metal container. Move remainder into a clear glass jar as a visual reminder.

*****

This “lesson” also highlights the critical issue of food safety. Avoiding foodborne pathogens is right up there with not contracting the virus! Guess what — there’s an app for that too!

Downloadable from NFLB’s “Apps” page is the “Food Keeper” tool, developed by the USDA’s Food Safety and Inspection Service, Cornell University and the Food Marketing Institute. It’s an authoritative source for how to preserve the freshness and quality of all those precious groceries.

As we head into the next phase of “new normal” in the COVID-19 era, we hope you and yours will stay well, stay connected and stay tuned!

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 applaud the roll out this Earth Day of a campaign called "FoodPrints for the Future," challenging us to accept responsibility for the impacts of our food choices and habits on our planet's livability.

As it so happens, that's a huge part of our objective with the No Food Left Behind project as well! Prevention of wasted food is also a key component of the Corvallis Climate Action Plan.

In our first installment of our new Kitchen Confessions blog, we pointed out how the impacts of wasted food deplete the Earth's resources along every step of the food chain - from the production and distribution process to right here in our own kitchens and on our plates.  With nearly 8 billion mouths to feed, we can see how food waste quickly becomes the third largest source of greenhouse gas emissions on the planet! We can all DO something about that.

But as we all know, this Earth Day is different: How can we exercise greater environmental awareness in the midst of a worldwide pandemic? There are plenty of ideas at Earthday.org, and countless other websites. NFLB's parent organization, the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, has launched a new page called "Building Resilience," with local resources for helping us stay connected to community and to support more Earth-friendly lifestyles in the midst of this crisis.

So now that most of us are sheltering at home, we have to put A LOT more time and energy into planning, shopping, storing, preparing, cooking and re-storing meals for ourselves and our loved ones. In the US, most are no longer shopping as often, we're 'stocking up' each time we do go, and we're much more inclined to think ahead about our how to feed ourselves and our families. And of course, we're being more careful with our food budgets.

This makes it all the more important to get the most out of your groceries and those food dollars! NFLB's "Smart Strategies" are designed to help you, as conscientious food consumers, do just that.

  • Take stock of what you have on hand as you stock up.  Download and fill out your "Smart Shopping" and Meal Planner lists BEFORE heading out on your grocery expedition.
  • Guidelines for proper storage of groceries (after appropriate disinfection!).  We have reference guides for freezing some of the beautiful fresh fruits and other produce you may have gotten at the Farmers' Market or store, and a handy Freezer Inventory Sheet for keeping track of what's in there. Don't freeze it and forget it!
  • Eat First! fridge/pantry shelf reminders for all those partial food portions and leftover ingredients that can easily get "left behind." As you can see from our own "Kitchen Confessions" below, it's something we can all use -- Every Day, Every Meal!
  • If you are sheltering with kids, now's the perfect time to help them learn about all of this too!

Now, normally you could see these materials in person and have a chance to talk about food issues with me, your friendly Outreach Specialist, at our booth at the Corvallis Saturday Farmers' Markets. Our program isn't tabling right now, but we hope you'll be able to shop the downtown Farmers' Market, which opened last weekend for the season with plenty of appropriate safeguards for Covid-careful patrons and vendors. We look forward to returning to the Market's "free speech zone" as soon as it's prudent!

KAREN CONFESSES:

While sheltering at home, I've had time to dig into my own fridge and freezer and "take stock" of what's on hand. I discovered these items at the back of the fridge... what a waste of wonderful preservative-free sliced turkey and 2-3 servings of jack cheese! These had once occupied a prominent spot on my "Eat First!" shelf, but got pushed back when I added new items.

$$$ WASTED: About $8

LESSON LEARNED: Use a Meal Planner to guide daily decisions; use up or rotate items on my "Eat First" shelf frequently!

JEANETTE CONFESSES:

Bought freezer waffles for my teen, but she didn't like the flavor so we should have eaten them instead - they lingered in the freezer well past their "best by" date and got freezer burned!

Organic grapes were stored correctly in their bag in the crisper drawer, but some were forgotten! Many still tasted fine even though they were ugly, but the ones with cracks became moldy and inedible.

$$$ WASTED: About $4

LESSONS LEARNED: Next time eat them sooner! Repackage waffles into resealable freezer bag and remove air. Eat grapes sooner by placing in fridge "Eat First!" section, or attaching "Eat First!" sign.

We hope these resources support you and your loved ones as we all do our best in addressing the challenges of the COVID-19 crisis.

Be well, and Happy 50th Earth Day!

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 fresh facts, resources, tips, lessons learned and anecdotes around issues of wasted food in the home.

This blog was already in the works before COVID-19, but now since most of us are primarily cooking and eating at home, it’s the perfect way to reach you all, and a great opportunity to become more aware of our own individual and family habits around food.

Making better choices to reduce the amount of edible food going into landfill or compost bins will save your family money and time, and prevent extra trips to stores. Wasted food prevention really does start at home... Every Day, Every Meal!

I'm your friendly Farmers' Market outreach specialist, Karen. For the past two years, I’ve represented the Coalition and the NFLB project at the Corvallis Saturday Farmers’ Markets, and guess what? Food gets wasted sometimes in my home too!

Of course, I feel bad about this because I know it's not just the food item itself that was wasted... I wasted all the resources that went into producing and bringing it to my grocery bag: the soil amendments, the animal feed, the energy (mostly fossil fuels), and so much water! Then there's the labor of all those people at every stage of the food production and delivery process, and even more energy needed to harvest, package and deliver my food to the market or grocery store.

If that's not motivating enough, here's the bottom line: the shocking amount of $$ I wasted! For myself, sometimes it's around $40/month, or almost $500 a year!  (Some of that would sure come in handy later this year when they reopen the restaurants.)

For the average family of four in this country, wasted food adds up to $1600 a year!

Download even more numbers about the "Facts and Impacts" of wasted food here.

With "Kitchen Confessions" we're going to get real about shriveled, moldy and slimy produce, leftovers that turned into science experiments, freezer-burned berries, and many other tragedies involving formerly-edible food. We'll share "lessons learned" and look at ways to prevent future wasting.

NFLB Project Manager, Jeanette Hardison, confesses:
“I bought these lovely cheddar biscuits from the bakery section because they were freshly-baked locally without preservatives. We should have had a meal planned for them right away. They went moldy on me first, because I stored them on the counter!"

$$ Wasted: $4 or $5

Lesson Learned: Refrigerate bakery items that don’t have preservatives.

NFLB Outreach Specialist, Karen Kos confesses: “I bought a butternut squash over the holidays, intending to stuff it or make soup, but I didn’t follow through with my meal plan! It became an “ornament” on my counter and ended up spoiled on the inside without showing it on the outside.”

$$$ Wasted: About $2

Lesson Learned: Prep squash right away by cutting in half, and store in a clear container, placed in “Eat First!” area in fridge.

Farmers’ Market visitors may have heard me joke about how “guilt can be very motivational.” Heck, yeah! But don’t stay in the guilt. Let’s feel good that we can learn from it and just do better with the next batch of bread rolls and squash!

It feels amazing when we feed ourselves and our loved ones better and put grocery money back in our wallets! It also decreases our carbon footprint – always a plus.

Please follow us on this journey of discovery and reform of our daily food habits. It’ll be enlightening, and we’ll try to make it fun!

 

Author: Karen Kos of No Food Left Behind- Corvallis, in Corvallis, Oregon