15 practices of a waste-conscious home cook

[NeoGreen]

https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/15-practices-waste-conscious-home-cook.html

15 practices of a waste-conscious home cook
Katherine Martinko, February 21, 2019

And how it really just comes down to one thing.

Whenever the topic of going zero waste in the kitchen comes up, the focus tends to be on grocery shopping – taking cloth bags and refillable containers to the store to avoid bringing single-use plastics into the home. This initial plastic avoidance step is crucial, but the challenge doesn't end there.

Waste-conscious, plastic-averse home cooks have a whole list of practices that they use to be more eco-friendly (and frugal, by extension) in the kitchen. Some of these habits develop over time, as one becomes a more proficient cook, but others require a conscious decision to generate less waste. These are some of the things I do and have seen others do:

1. Cook from scratch.
What convenience foods lack in nutrition, they make up for in packaging, which is precisely what a waste-averse home cook does not want; hence, a stubborn determination to make everything from scratch, whether it's pie crusts, mayonnaise, ketchup, bread, granola, baked goods, ricotta, or ice cream, to name a few.

2. Preserve their own food.
Whether it's canning tomatoes, making jam, or freezing seasonal berries, a waste-conscious chef makes a point of preserving food on their own terms for future consumption.

3. Scrounge for glass jars.
One can never have too many glass jars! These are used for shopping, storing leftovers, freezing, canning, and transporting foods and beverages.

(snip)

https://www.treehugger.com/green-food/15-practices-waste-conscious-home-cook.html

[TeapotInATempest]

1. I like these suggestions, but can we be honest?

There's a certain amount of class privilege in them. People working multiple jobs or caring for young children or elderly parents simply don't have time in the day for making everything from scratch, canning, etc. They also may not have the proper equipment (in my younger years, I had an oven that was so old the numbers had all worn off the temperature knob so I always had to guess what the oven temperature was set to, lol). People with various disabilities may be physically incapable of doing these things.

Not to knock the article, because I try to be as green as possible and believe that it's important, but I hear too many of my peers who get on a high horse about other people's perceived "failings" and I realize they've never been working-class or poor and don't seem to know how privileged they are.

[Kaleva]

2. Canning certain foods isn't cost effective IMHO

Canned tomato sauce and diced tomatoes bought from a store is inexpensive. I can buy 14.5 ounce cans for $.67 each and sometimes as low as $.50. A little over 2 such cans makes a quart.

Spending 7 hours babysitting a 1 month old at $4 an hour will give me enough money to buy the equivalent of 18 quarts of tomato sauce and diced tomatoes. Enough to last me a about 10 or so months. And I'm not spending all that time starting plants from seed, caring for the plants as they grow, harvesting and canning.