We have gotten to the point with our waste reduction efforts that we are going beyond waste source separation. We have shifted the focus to waste elimination by not even creating the waste in the first place. In our last waste audit I was stunned to really see (in numbers) how much food waste we were producing. It is all composted but still...it is unnecessary. Here are some tips that have helped us to reduce the amount of food waste that we are putting into the compost. 

While it is easy to use up extra peppers or  lettuce it can be tougher to find a use for leftovers that you don't use as often....like rosemary or other herbs that don't go in everything.  One of the simplest things you can do to ensure you aren't throwing out food you never used up is to meal plan. If you want to cook a meal that requires half of a container of cream then find another meal to make later in the week that requires you to use the rest of the container. Or double the recipe to use the full container and then freeze the leftovers.

You can easily freeze leftover tomato paste when you don't use the full jar. Spoon it into clumps on a cookie sheet and place into the freezer until frozen. Remove and place into a glass jar in the freezer.

If you have spinach or kale that is going to go bad before you can use it up simply puree them in a blender with a bit of water. Pour into ice cube trays and freeze. Remove and place into glass jars in the freezer. I pop them into my smoothie in the morning if I have run out of the fresh stuff or it is a quick way to add greens to your sauces. 

When bananas start to over ripen just throw them in the freezer with the peel on. You can easily pull them out and quickly defrost for use in smoothies or banana bread.

Cut up leftover bread into bit sized pieces and freeze in an airtight glass container. To make breadcrumbs just grab and handful and process in the blender. To make croutons place them on an oven safe tray, season with salt, pepper, basil, oregano and bake for 10 minutes.

While re-using food scraps this doesn't necessarily reduce the amount of food waste you are producing it does give the waste a few more uses before you compost it.  

Asparagus stalks, carrot peels, celery stalks, the ends of onions. Don't throw them out! Place them in a air tight glass container in the freezer and when your container is full use them to make your own vegetable stock.

Use your orange, lime and lemon peels to make your own cleaner. There have been lots of different recipes pinned for this and a lot of conflicting opinions on what actually works and what ends up smelling like rotten fruit. Check out this recipe by ecokaren that has been tested and works!

How many times have you gone into your fridge and found something pushed all the way in the back that is probably from a few months ago? If you keep your fridge clean and organized you will be able to see what you have in there which will reduce the chances of food spoiling before you have a chance to use it. Using glass containers really helps too because then you can easily see the food without having to open the container.

Ditching the plastic habit for food storage can be very tricky, especially when freezing food. While there is less of a health hazard freezing food in plastic vs heating food in plastic there is still the environmental impact to consider. Plastic food containers have become a convenience factor for many families resulting in our landfills being clogged with plastic bags that are used once maybe twice.

What is stopping people from storing their food in something other than plastic?

Common Myth #1 - "I can't put glass in the freezer because when it thaws it will shatter"

Freezing food in glass is perfectly safe! In fact it is safer from a health perspective than freezing your food in plastic. Don't overfill your containers and when defrosting your food make sure you do so slowly. Don't throw it in the oven or douse it with hot water as sudden changes in temperature could cause the glass to break. Pull your food out the night before and place it in the fridge to defrost.

Common Myth #2 - "I need to wrap my food in as many layers as possible to prevent freezer burn"

Freezer burn is caused when air is in contact with food. The key to preventing freezer burn isn't triple layering your food in plastic wrap or using special freezer bags. You simply just need to make sure that the food is exposed to as little air as possible and you can do this without having to use plastic. 

Storing your food in something other than plastic can be easy (and cheap) if you follow these simple tips and product replacement suggestions. 

Food Storage Tips

- Repurpose glass jars to store sauces, stews, chili and beans.

- Replace plastic wrap with natural wax paper which you can compost afterwards.

- Buy in season produce and freeze yourself rather than buying frozen foods in the off season.

- Look for glass storage containers that are on sale, looking for a variety of sizes.

- Repurpose the bags frozen foods come in (ie: frozen fruit) to freeze other foods.

- Freeze leftovers (ie: fruit) on a tray prior to putting into a glass container to ensure you can separate when you need a handful.

Food Storage Replacements

Ziploc Perfect Portions - Use your frickin hands and then wash them!

Saran Wrap/Plastic Wraps - Natural wax paper

Ziploc Bags/Freezer Storage Bags - Glass containers that are easily resealable so you can grab portions out and then close again

Plastic Containers - Glass containers 

Switching away from plastic probably won't happen over night. We are still working on it ourselves. Keep in mind that while you are making the switch that if you are still using some plastic to store your food make sure you do not use plastic marked with #3, #6 or #7. 

Have you stopped using plastic to store your frozen food? What is your favourite replacement product?

Related Posts - Check them Out

Replacing GMO Foods

Baked Beans - Tossing the Can

Buying Bulk....and Not the Costco Kind

We day time potty trained B over a year ago, which was an extreme exercise in patience. Of course on the day I am are running late for work he decides to poop on the kitchen floor and hallway floor and the stairs!  We went into the process not knowing a thing about it other than what I had read online and in a book but what we did know is that we wanted it to be as eco-friendly as possible. 

1. Skip the pull ups and go straight to underwear or cloth training pants. Pull ups will mean you will be generating waste for longer and prevent your little one from feeling the wetness in time to stop it and get to the bathroom. Cloth training paints are a good option for a little bit of protection but still allowing them to feel wetness.

2. Look for second hand potty training accessories. We didn't bother with the little potty and went straight to the potty seat on the big toilet. This way we only had to buy the seat, not the potty and then the seat. Once a week wash your seat with a 50/50 mixture of hot water and vinegar.

3. Teach your child 'if its yellow let it mellow' for pee at home. Stress the 'at home' part with them so they don't get in trouble for not flushing at school. Doing this will save 1.6 gallons of water each time they pee which over the course of 1 year would add up to over 4500 gallons of water saved. 

4. Toddlers have been know to take a million times more toilet paper than they require. I use B's fascination with counting to my advantage and get him to count out one-two squares to use. Now he only takes the 3 squares and isn't wasting toilet paper. Also, it is way less for me to clean up when I walk into the bathroom and there is toilet paper in the toilet, hang over the edge of the bowl, down onto the floor and up into the garbage can.

5. Chances are if you potty training you are doing a lot more laundry. If you don't get to it right away it can sometimes be hard to get the pee smell out, especially with some of the softer pajama material. An easy way to get rid of the smell is to strip the item with this simple recipe.

6. Instead of candy and plastic toy rewards for potty success look for options you already have around the house. We had a ton of stickers that we get in mailers or birthday party grab bags so we used those for rewards (1 for pee, 2 for poop). Big rewards could also be activities like going to the museum or local farm. 

What eco-friendly potty training tips do you have?

Related Posts - Check them Out

Hidden Water - Part 4

The Chapter After Breastfeeding

Green Mommy Guilt

This last month I have cleaned things that I have never cleaned before. Things I guess that I have never really thought about...like floor vents. I vacuum them when I am doing the carpets but I rarely pull them right up to actually wash them.  

The best way to wash your floor vents is with a mixture of hot water and vinegar. I soaked them right in the sink. If you have metal vents then don't leave them in for very long (1 minute) or else any areas that are no longer coated will rust. 

Baseboards were scrubbed, window screens were taken out and washed in the shower. That little spot on the front loading washing machine door where the film builds up....scrubbed that away. I also spent a good deal of time in our 3rd bedroom/office AKA the place things go when we don't know where else to put them. I'm cleaning it up bit by bit in hopes that one day we will actually be able to keep the door open.  I started to shred all of our sensitive documents that I have saved through out the year. I put  them in a brown bag out in the garage beside the compost bin. Every time I put something in the bin I add a handful of the shredded paper which helps to keep the compost stink away in the warmer months. 

Spring cleaning isn't just about dusting and scrubbing, it is about decluttering things and your life. That pile of things you have to sell, the pile that has been there for years. What is the "cost" of it taking up space? Will it save you stress if you just list it on Freecycle or donate it? We have these large rocks in our garage that have been there for 5 years. We keep talking about how they are worth money and we should sell them but we don't know what price to list them at. 5 years they have sat in our garage taking up space and the reality is that it will be easier to just put them up online as 'you want them come and get them'. Even easier would be putting them at the end of our driveway with a Free sign on them. They are going up online next week so we can free up the space they are taking up and so someone else can use them for what they are intended for. 

GET YOUR MIND OUT OF THE GUTTER

If you are a cloth diaper user you know that every once in awhile you have to strip your diapers to get rid of build up and banish smells. The same can be said for your clothing...a lot of "stuff" can build up on clothing and it can be hard for detergents to get rid of them completely. The worst offenders seems to be white deodorant marks, sweat smells from working out (damn you spin class!) and urine smell from potty training.