Prevent Wasted Food

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 all to the “new normal” and the early editions of our “Kitchen Confessions” blog. Life is still busy, groceries are more expensive and too much of them are still going to waste, plus many of us are tethered more than ever to our phones! So what’s an electronically-enabled Conscientious Food Consumer to do?

Perhaps a bit of digital intervention might be “app”-ropriate! Particularly given our country’s ambitious goal of reducing food waste in half by 2030.

Many of us recall when grocery shopping was primarily in-person and involved hand-scribbled lists, consulting hard-copy cookbooks, chefs on TV, and recipe swaps with family and friends. We can still do those old-school things, of course, but nowadays, there’s an app for pretty much everything!

For this edition of our Kitchen Confessions, we took a superficial dive into the wild-wide-world of digital food tools, and came up with a brief listing of ones we’re either currently using or are willing to try out. In particular, we looked for app developers with a well-stated commitment to our shared mission — empowering folks to waste less food and save money at home, everyday!

We found the most app-ealing ones to offer: ease of use, free downloads, reasonable usefulness without purchasing an upgrade, and transparent policies regarding what happens with your user data. For the most part, the apps listed below correlate with NFLB’s Smart Strategies, and can help you take these old-school website- and paper-based tools to the next level!

As Conscientious Food Consumers know, wasting less starts with 1) Shopping your fridge, freezer and pantry first, 2) Meal Planning, followed by 3) Smart Shopping (lists). After you get home with the goods, it’s time for 4) Smart Storage (as well as Smart Prep, if possible), and finally, making sure you’re keeping track of what’s on hand, and sharing or donating your excess. There’s apps and old-school resources for all of that!

In Europe and some large U.S. cities, there’s some well-known apps like Flashfood and TooGoodToGo doing the important work of  food rescue: connecting consumers with restaurants, retailers and food-based businesses whose excess meals and products would otherwise end up in their dumpsters. These are not operating in our area, so they’re not on our list.

We’re also highlighting three apps we’ve listed here since Day One of our program, as well as a few links to websites and printable resources that we like — because not everyone loves using apps!

We hope you’ll find them both useful and fun to use! (Please see important note at the end***)

FRIDGE/FREEZER/PANTRY INVENTORY & SHOPPING LISTS

  •  OMG  Oh My Groceries! When was the last time you LOL’ed while making a grocery list? It happens every time we use this app, which does only one thing — it generates a categorized and shareable shopping list. This developer should win a prize for best sense of humor and his pay-it-forward, enlightened sense of mission. (Apple users only)
  • Cooklist This muscle-bound, very-smart app does it all: helps organize and track your kitchen inventory, monitor date labels so you know how (not-)fresh everything is, generates shopping lists with your product preferences, and can even place your shopping orders. (Apple & Android users)
  • Old School (website): NFLB’s Freezer Inventory (English and Spanish). You’ve probably already seen or picked up this downloadable pdf on yellow card stock, one of our most popular Smart Strategies!

MEAL PLANNING & RECIPES

  • Big Oven We’ve listed this one since Day One because it helps you use up what’s already on-hand! Plug up to three items into the free recipe tool, and out pops dozens of recipe suggestions. Registration is now required to integrate certain features like the shopping list and meal planning, and to save your favorite recipes. (Apple & Android users)
  • Mealime was recommended to us by a Farmers’ Market booth visitor for healthy meal planning. It incorporates your personal preferences for suggested menus, along with portion sizes, to generate shopping lists for recipes that can be whipped up into a meal in just 30 minutes! (Apple & Android users)
  • Old School (website): The Guestimator Speaking of portion sizes, here’s a great tool for prepping and cooking the perfect amount of food for all your guests, particularly during the holidays!

SMART STORAGE/FOOD SAFETY

  •  USDA’s FoodKeeper  Authoritative, searchable database for freshness and safe consumption for everything edible. (Apple & Android users)
  • Old School (website): Eat Or Toss is absolutely golden! Credible advice for those questionable food item characteristics you might find while rummaging in your fridge, freezer and pantry, plus “use it up” recipes.
  • Old School (website): Still Tasty An oldie-but-goodie, user-friendly, searchable fave of NFLB/Kitchen Confessions staff. Check out the “Shelf Life” section!

FOOD SHARING/DONATION

  •  OLIO Share extra or unwanted food with your neighbors with this trusted app, used worldwide. Welcome to the sharing economy!

TRACKING WASTE AT HOME

  •   Mitre’s new app, the Food Waste Tracker, helps you get a precise reality-check of what’s going on in your kitchen. We’ve just started using this eye-opening app, which quantifies daily consumption and waste patterns. The anonymous data generated will likely inform future progress reports on national food waste habits. (Apple & Android users)
  • Old School (downloadable): NFLB’s DIY Wasted Food Discovery Week form (English/Spanish)

Happy App-ing! We’d love to hear about your experiences in the comment section below. Which are your favorite apps for wasting less and saving more, at home, everyday?

***PLEASE NOTE: We don’t claim to be product evaluation pros! The above mobile app or company listings are provided by No Food Left Behind Corvallis for informational purposes only. They are not necessarily endorsed by the Corvallis Sustainability Coalition, its governing Board, nor its partner organizations.

 

 

 

 

 

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 beets, cherries to cherry tomatoes, chives to cucumbers, peaches and peppers to parsley, radishes, herbs, all kinds of leafy greens and so many others, we are blessed with a variety of lovely plant edibles here in the Willamette Valley. Whether you grow your own, buy from a store or farmers’ market, now’s the time to make the most of the abundant fruit and veggies in season!

Recent garden haul: strawberries, basil, radishes, lettuces, arugula — ready for PREP NOW EAT LATER & proper storage

That means wasting less, more “Prep Now/Eat Later” and proper storage of those products, and respecting the time and energy all the water, energy, human time and labor, soil amendment and transportation cost that went into their production and delivery. Not to mention all that $$ YOU SPENT on produce or on seeds, plant starts, garden supplies and water!

It helps to keep a little science in mind when handling produce fresh from the garden, market or grocery store. Did you know that certain fruits and veggies are best stored separately, due to a certain naturally-occurring ripening agent?

EEEK! IT’S ETHYLENE!

Ethylene gas is a plant hormone released by certain fruits and vegetables during their maturation process — think apples, avocados, tomatoes, bananas and peaches, to name just a few. We’ve all had our share of revolting experiences with the wrinkly, shriveled, spotty, mushy, moldy and rotting after-effects of ethylene vapors (like our Kitchen Confessions here)! Neighboring fruit or veggies, BEWARE!

Here’s a few things for Conscientious Consumers to know:

  • AN INTRO TO ETHYLENE — from a helpful gardening site we found during our blog research. Here’s another good summary, and a more academic treatment of the subject is here.
  • FRUITS RELEASE MORE ethylene than veggies (generally speaking), and unripe fruits — with skins and stems intact — tend to be lower emitters. A warm environment (such as indoors on your counter) encourages ethylene release, affecting both the fruit itself and any neighboring produce.
  • REFRIGERATION slows down the effects of ethylene and gives you more time to make use of those fresh and highly-perishable items.
  • KNOW YOUR CULPRITS. Which fruits and veggies are ethylene-emitters, and which aren’t? Which are ethylene-sensitive or not? (Not: blueberries.) Which ones are affected by ethylene off-gassing after harvest (think plums, peaches), and which are not? There’s lots of lists available from your favorite search engine. 
  • You can LEVERAGE ETHYLENE to speed up ripening for those rock-hard avocados or nectarines you just picked up. Stick ’em in a bag together and check in a day or two.
  • BRUISES or BROKEN SKIN on produce make it extra-vulnerable to both ethylene and spoilage, so prompt action is needed! In many cases, you can just trim off the damaged parts and prep the rest for juicing, smoothies, cooking, purees, and freezer meals or treats.
  • Ethylene isn’t all bad — riper fruit tastes better!

AVOID THE “EEEK!” FACTOR & KEEP IT FRESH!

  • SEGREGATE and STORE each produce item in its own bag, basket or container, on the counter or in the appropriate area of your fridge or freezer. CHECK DAILY for the ripeness status of tricky perishables like avocados, peaches and tomatoes.
  • After ripening on the counter and transferring to your fridge, label the ripest items to EAT FIRST!
  • HANDLE WITH CARE. Especially when picking produce yourself or transferring to baskets or containers, try to avoid damaging the skins or removing the tops/stems of fruits like strawberries and tomatoes, to prevent additional off-gassing or gas absorption.
  • Do take the time to PREP leafy greens and veggies like carrots and radishes, for quick salads, snacks and less waste! (photos below)
  • Ethylene-suppressed avo, almost-ripe & chill in its own little cubby in our fridge door!
    Prepped garden radishes w/tops

    LEAVE  THOSE CUTE LITTLE CAPS ON your strawberries to keep ’em fresher, longer! You can also go zero waste and make use of those strawberry tops in several ways –they’re highly nutritious.  Just DON’T wash berries until ready to serve and eat.

  • JUST FREEZE IT — especially with cut or past-prime fruit. Keep track of what’s in there with our ever-popular Freezer Inventory form (also in Spanish).
  • USE A PAPER BAG to separate and store ethylene-emitters like peaches, pears, plums and nectarines. It will contain the gas, ripen the fruit AND protect their produce neighbors from accelerated spoilage!
  • Try using an ETHYLENE ABSORBER product like BluApple in your produce drawers. (Note: not necessarily a product endorsement.)
  • REMEMBER FOOD SAFETY — wash and store produce carefully! Damp fruits or veggies in a plastic bag can encourage bacterial growth and mold — so make sure to dry them off first. Check the USDA’s FoodKeeper site for complete info.
Smart Prep w/greens: harvest, wash, spin, layer
Click photo for handy Fruit & Veggie Storage Guide!
  • GREENS CAN STAY FRESH up to a week when you do smart prep and storage! Rinse, spin and place between layered strips of recycled-content paper towels. Repurposed plastic clamshell containers work great for this! Revive wilted greens in a bath of cold water.
  • HELP KIDS learn about growing food, as well as food storage and handling, through OSU’s Food Hero program. There’s tons of colorful reference guides (like this one about strawberries), multicultural, kid- and elder-friendly recipes, and helpful gardening info.

Remember, Conscientious Food Consumers, the best way to avoid “Eeek! Ethylene!” encounters is to EAT IT UP!

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/.

Zukes & cukes & squash, oh my! It’s Preservation Time.

Photo credit: OSU ExtensionGreetings, Conscientious Food Consumers!

With the colors of fall brightening our dwindling hours of daylight, the harvest scramble is underway, along with a new season of eating.

Colorful outdoor displays of pumpkins, varieties of apples, corn and squashes of every shape announce the season at the grocery stores and the farmers’ markets. Neighbors are sharing/offloading zucchini and other overflow garden items.

Following the autumnal equinox, the race is on to get it all prepped and into our fall menus, our freezers, fridges and pantries. Speaking of menus — check out our “Budget Bites” page featuring delicious ideas for meal planning on a budget from NFLB/Sustainability Coalition partner, First Alternative Co-op. We love the Co-op’s recipe blog! Even more inspiration for eating seasonally is available with recipes from the Food Action Team of the Sustainability Coalition.

This year, along with COVID-19, interest is surging in old-fashioned food preservation practices like pickling, freezing, dehydrating and canning. If you’ve shopped at Bi-Mart lately, you may have noticed posters in the aisles with food preservation safety tips for everything from making jelly to jerky, courtesy of OSU Extension Service’s Home Food Safety and Preservation Program.

In the following sections, we will also make use of that expertise to help you make the most of your autumn abundance. You can also get your questions answered by a Master Food Preserver volunteer by calling the toll-free hotline at 800-354-7319 from 9 am to 4 pm, Monday-Friday, through October 9th.

DRY OR DEHYDRATE IT
Skip the snack aisle at the grocery store and bake your own crispy, healthy chips from apples, beets, kale, sweet potatoes and even sliced zukes! It’s not hard to find recipes online, but “Downshiftology” has a million fans (literally) for good reason.

For longer-term preservation of a variety of fruits and veggies using your oven or a food dehydrator, check out this how-to booklet.\

TIP: Use extra caution regarding food safety by following the pre-treatment instructions for destroying bacteria on food items prior to drying.

Beyond trail mix — how to use and enjoy fruits and veggies after drying.

FREEZE IT
– First prep, blanch, and package your future winter meal ingredients, just as for summer fruits and veggies (see our “summertime chillin'” blog).

– Use our Smart Strategies: Storage guide for Freezing Fruits and Vegetables for specific treatments.

– Download the FoodKeeper Food Safety app from the link on our website. It’s a mini-reference guide from the USDA on safe food storage and freshness guidelines for hundreds of food items.

– Don’t forget to make notes on your Freezer Inventory List!

PICKLE IT
For no ‘cukes left behind — nor mushrooms, peppers, corn onions, beans, beets, cabbage, zucchini or what have you! (Can you recite that old tongue-twister about Peter Piper and the pickled peppers?)

Pickling — using vinegar or fermentation — is one of the oldest methods of food preservation. The process has been improved through research and the evolution of food science during the last century, and now there are also resources for those with low-salt or other special dietary requirements. For the safest results, the experts at OSU Extension Service recommend using “up to date recipes from reliable sources.”

No offense to your great-aunt and her recipe!

CAN IT
Whether you’re experienced or a novice, OSU Extension Service has the detailed information you need for successful pressure cooking and/or canning, including checklists for steam- versus pressure-canning methods. It also lists publications on how to care for your home canning equipment.

Veteran canners will also appreciate the new Canning Timer and Checklist App!

In this week’s Kitchen Confessions:

Jeanette Confesses:
These two remnants of artisan cheese were bagged and buried in the meat/cheese drawer of our fridge. By the time we discovered them, they were definitely over-aged!

$$ WASTED:  $3-4

LESSON LEARNED:  Place on “Eat First” shelf next time.

Karen Confesses:

These pears from a neighbor’s no-spray tree were almost ripe when they were given to me, so they wouldn’t end up rotting on the ground! I put them in a clear plastic clamshell in the upper area of my refrigerator compartment, since my “Eat First” area was already crowded. They degenerated into this state while I was temporarily absent from home during the worst of the wildfire smoke.

$$ WASTED:  None (gift); Cost: guilty conscience

LESSON LEARNED: Prepare and eat them right away! Make note of/rotate items in my “Eat First” area.

Wildfires Update: A month ahead of Thanksgiving, we are immensely grateful for the return of breathable air and for the heroic efforts of those working to contain the massive wildfires here in Oregon.

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!