Post-Turkey-Day Buffet

Happy (de facto) National Leftover Day! Join the crowd and enjoy the world’s best sandwich–the turkey-stuffing-cranberry goodness. Gravy and mayo are optional, but at least one is recommended.

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Don’t throw out that carcass! First, you can make a great soup with it. Then, if you’re in Rhode Island, you can compost it via EcoRI News.

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British Eco Chef Tom Hunt cooked at last week’s Feeding the 5K. In his neat blog, he discusses Ribollita, a traditional Tuscan leftover soup, and pens a culinary call-to-arms on using old bread in The Life of a Loaf.

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I’d heard about Concrete Jungle before, but this article reminded me of their awesome Atlanta tree-gleaning-ness.

November 25, 2011 | Posted in History and Culture, Household, International | Comments closed

Be Thankful, Not Wasteful

Thanksgiving celebrates plenty. Yet, for many of us in America, every day and every meal don’t look don’t look all that different from Thanksgiving.

Given that reality, it’s all the more important to be mindful of our good fortune on Thanksgiving. And while we should certainly enjoy the day, we don’t honor anyone or anything by wasting food.

That’s why I’m asking you to help ensure that your family and friends minimize waste at Thanksgiving. Let’s call it the Be Thankful, Not Wasteful campaign. Here are a few ideas on how:

  • Celebrate abundance, not excess. Don’t take too much when you serve yourself. You can always take seconds! Keep in mind that the average Thanksgiving dinner today comes in, conservatively, at 2,057 calories. And remember, what’s on our plates is seldom saved.
  • Distribute the bounty. If you’re the Thanksgiving host, suggest that your guests bring along a few plastic containers of various sizes to fill with leftovers (or have some on hand). There’s no sense centralizing so much food that we’ll struggle to use. Being so overt about leftovers may feel a bit odd, but that slight discomfort will pale in comparison to the disappointment from having to toss pounds of once-good food.
  • Properly save those leftovers. And do it quickly. Not letting foods sit out too long in the bacteria danger zone (40-140 degrees F) will mean they’ll be safe to eat and also last longer.
  • Plan for your leftovers…and eat them! Whether it’s a turkey pot pie, turkey soup or turkey tacos, find some fun ideas that’ll get you excited to use up your T-day remains.

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Share Your Tips and Tricks

Help others reduce waste around Thanksgiving by sharing your insight. We’ve already received a few helpful tips, including Rachel’s idea to make notes on the number of guests, the amount of food eaten and the amount remaining to help prepare the right amount next year.

I’m directing people to the Wasted Food Facebook page where we are compiling a series of tips, successes and–should they occur–failures. These can be videos, photos or descriptions from inside people’s Thanksgiving dinners.  Feel free to post during the prep, the dinner itself, or the “aftermath.” Together, we’ll create a living blueprint for how celebrations can balance abundance with respect for resources.

A few ideas:

• Videos describing what your friends/family are doing this year to reduce food waste. Or, if a video is too much, a photo or description of the steps taken will work just fine.
• A recipe or two for your favorite dishes made from Thanksgiving leftovers.
• Your preferred way to make the perfect leftover turkey sandwiches.
• An “unboxing” video of leftovers from the dinner you attended.

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Spread the Word!

  • Consider letting your social network know about the Be Thankful, Not Wasteful initiative. Please share this post and ask folks to take action on their own. (And of course to post their results!) If you’re on Twitter, you can use the hashtag #ThankfulNotWasteful to discuss your strategies, successes or failures.
  • Do you blog? Please consider a post or video encouraging your readers to participate. Ask readers to join you in adding their voice to the discussion.
  • Mention the initiative–and this fabulous book–at your Thanksgiving celebration. I mean, I don’t want you to start any dinner table arguments or anything, but…
  • Solicit tips and tricks from your friends and family who aren’t social media savvy and post them yourself – I know I’ll be asking my Grandma for some ideas.

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Thanksgiving is the one day of the year where we’re all focused on food. Let’s leverage that as a call to action to change our wasteful ways for the rest of the year. I think the day will be more meaningful that way. And remember — even incremental changes can have a massive effect if they’re done by millions of Americans.

November 23, 2011 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

Gobble, Gobbrrrrr

Maybe this goes without saying, but: don’t cook a turkey frozen since the 80s. An admirably waste-averse New Yorker wrote in to The Times Dining staff asking whether he could serve a Butterball abandoned in his relative’s freezer since the Reagan era.

And he wasn’t even kidding.

As we learn, the turkey experts at Butterball suggest two years as the max freezer shelf life for its turkeys (foods dehydrate over time in the freezer). And–I’m guessing here–The Times suggests not using a frozen turkey.

November 21, 2011 | Posted in Household | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Looks like in.gredients, the Austin-based zero-waste store is set to open by the end of the year. The bulk food vender will mostly sell to customers wielding their own containers, but compostable packaging will be for sale, too. I’m excited to see this operation in action!

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Statistics New Zealand just released some interesting…statistics on food waste. For example, produce makes up more than half of (capital K) Kiwi food waste. And 27% of the country composts–wow!

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A  partnership between Publix supermarkets and Waste Management has yielded a new composting facility in Florida. The Organics Recycling Facility in Okeechobee will turn food waste from 42 Publix stores into a useful soil amendment.

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This piece in The Hindu begins with this hammer blow:

Wasting food is a crime against humanity.

The rest of the story works, too, detailing food waste in India.

November 18, 2011 | Posted in Composting, Environment, Friday Buffet, International, Supermarket, Waste Stream | Comments closed

Can Unilever Unite Restaurants Against Waste?

A recent survey found that 80 percent of U.S. restaurant customers were concerned by the amount of food being tossed at restaurants and cafeterias. But shouldn’t it be 100 percent?

Either way, it’s nice to know that Unilever, who commissioned the study, has launched the United Against Waste campaign to get restaurateurs…united against waste.

Once restaurateurs sign up for the initiative, they receive decals to put on their doors and information to help them trim their waste. They can also find plenty of tips online, a forum for sharing best practices, and a chance to request a one-on-one consultation.

And in due time, the United Against Waste site will include a list of participating restaurants that have committed to reducing their food waste. Let’s hope it’s a long list.

November 16, 2011 | Posted in Restaurant | Comments closed

“Feeding” Back

This coming Friday, thousands of Londoners will get a free lunch made from food that would otherwise have been tossed. Feeding the 5,000 returns to Trafalgar Square in a massive food waste awareness event.

London’s Mayor, celebrity chefs and food waste activist Tristram Stuart will all speak on Friday, raising awareness for the fact that roughly one third of the world’s food is wasted. And several worthy food rescue groups will participate in the noble undertaking.

It’s a fabulous event that communicates just how much food we discard and how that currently discarded food could be put to better use with more social and political will. Attendees or anyone visiting the site can pledge to reduce their personal waste and businesses can do the same.

Feeding the 5K, in this guise, began in 2009. Hopefully the November edition will be warmer than the original December one!

November 14, 2011 | Posted in Food Recovery, International | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

Forget Greece. The real news out of Europe this week was the Environment Commissioner targeting a 50% food waste reduction in the EU by 2020. Beautiful.

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Not sure about the viability of replicating this school without Titanic/Avatar money, but it’s pretty neat–a zero waste elementary school in Malibu. Sure, they’re composting. But what I really want to see is the campus falconer in action.

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Food waste = money waste. Heck, yeah!


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Quote of the week:

“It’s a really awesome substrate to be digesting, because it’s extremely energy-rich.”

— US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) spokesperson Laura Moreno on using anaerobic digestion on food waste at East Bay Municipal Utility District’s wastewater plant.

November 11, 2011 | Posted in Composting, International, Restaurant, School | Comments closed

Sainsbury’s Savvy Moves

Sainsbury’s keeps upping the stakes on how a supermarket can do the right thing regarding food waste.

The British retailer commissioned research on how purchased food isn’t eaten and found that the average household tosses 10% of what they buy. And that comes at a cost–of about £50 per month.

Sainsbury’s also worked w/ quasi-governmental group WRAP to profile various shopper types. Their findings are just as important and more entertaining. For example, there are the Hungry Hoarders who shop on an empty stomach and buy too much. And the Ditzy Diarists who don’t consult their “diary” (schedule book) before shopping and, as a result of their plans, can’t use the fresh foods they bring home.

And these developments occur on the heels of the chain being the largest retail user of anaerobic digestion. And that came after Sainsbury’s zero waste to landfill pledge. Not bad, J. Sainsbury!

[Full disclosure: When I lived in London in 1997-1998, I shopped at Sainsbury’s and swore by the Biere des Flandres and day-old bread (not necessarily together).]

November 9, 2011 | Posted in International, Supermarket | Comments closed

Monday Leftovers

Finally! Someone quantified just how much greener it is to reduce food waste than to compost it. The Stockholm Environmental Institute found that avoiding waste has 30 times the benefit of composting, when it comes to cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

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If you want to see some beautiful pictures of volunteers gleaning broccoli and cabbage, look no further.

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I’m pretty sure David Giles is my favorite dumpster-diving Australian-born PhD candidate in the U.S. He’s doing neat work examining how cultural assumptions about what is appetizing cause so much food waste and I can’t wait to see what his eventual book looks like.

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Finally…not to split hairs, but I don’t remember changing my last name. (And mid-article, too!)

November 7, 2011 | Posted in Environment, Food Recovery, Stats | Comments closed

Friday Buffet

If your pumpkin wasn’t smashed Regardless of whether your pumpkin was smashed or is whole, you can compost it. If you live in San Francisco, you can convert it to energy. Me? I’ll be roasting and eating mine…

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British supermarket chain Sainsbury’s is now sending all of its food waste to anaerobic digesters (to create energy). Bravo!

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And speaking of anaerobic digestion, or biodigesters, there’s one in “the kitchen of the future,” allowing it to run on leftovers.

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Notre Dame’s Waste-Free Wednesdays are back this year, after a successful run last November raising awareness and lowering waste. The best news: the starting measure of 4.63 ounces of food waste per student per meal is about 25 percent less than last year’s baseline figure.

November 4, 2011 | Posted in Energy, Friday Buffet, International | Comments closed