Squeezing Every Penny out of my Produce

Like most of the people on this planet, I love food. My love affair with food and my lack of budget to dine out every night, results in a fair amount of cooking which I enjoy almost as much as eating the food.

Over the last year, I’ve come to appreciate even more the value of food. Everything we eat tells a story filled with the labor of the farmer, the soil and water to grow the food, the fuel to transport the food, and the energy to keep the food fresh in the store and your home. Everything we eat requires…

So many resources!

So, when a recipe calls for half an onion, I am faced with a choice. I could throw caution to the wind, chop the whole onion, and toss it in hoping for the best. I could store the half-onion in my fridge for a few days waiting for another recipe needing half an onion. I could, of course, compost the other half of the onion. But as much as I love compost, I hate to see perfectly edible food not used.

Just think of the resources!

So I’ve started something new. I took a gallon-sized freezer bag and labeled it “BROTH.” Every time I have a half-onion, carrots about to go bad, or the ends of mushrooms or leeks, I place them in the freezer bag and into the freezer. Last weekend the bag was full so I pulled out my stock pot and made a giant pot of delicious vegetable broth.

 

The spent veggies I pulled out of the broth? My compost welcomed them with open arms (millions of tiny outstretched arms). It felt good to make something out of the veggies before composting them and I generally pay good money for broth at the store. My efforts were rewarded with a delicious soup that evening.

If you want to feel an unnatural emotional attachment to a fruit, check out this fantastic video detailing The Extraordinary Life and Times of a Strawberry from the Ad Council and NRDC. Like any good drama, it is filled with romance, promise, and despair. J