When I first volunteered to write this article I was thinking back to my days as a volunteer Community Food Advisor and my time working as an RN in Health Promotion. I was thinking about meal planning, grocery shopping and freezing food. Then I had these memories as a child, back in the days where we were forced to eat everything on our plate. I can still hear my grandmothers voice telling me to eat my bread crust saying, “it’s good for you; it’ll put hair on your chest”. Being female, I did not want hair on my chest but reluctantly ate my crusts anyway (I won’t tell you if her advice was right or not, haha). Now, I don’t advise people to eat everything on their plate, we know that can lead to obesity, however, there are some tricks we can use to reduce our waste and save some money. Did you know that in 2017, the average Canadian family wasted 140Kg of food which equates to approximately $1100 according to Love Food Hate Waste Canada or 2.2 million tones nationwide, which equates to $17 billion. Check out their website for more tips as well as Food loss and waste – Canada.ca.
Meal planning– I started planning our weekly meals in 2005, after doing the Community Food Advisor training, and I never looked back. Ideally we would plan all meals and snacks, but I admit, I mostly just plan our suppers, then make a grocery list of what’s needed for the week including our usual lunch and breakfast foods. I do plan to use food about to expire. Meal time is no longer scrambling to decide what to make, we almost always have all the ingredients needed, we eat out less, save money and eat more healthily. Meal planning also allows me to plan how to:
1. Use all of an ingredient. I have a friend whose husband was laid off in 2020 due to Covid and money was tight. One thing she started doing was making sure she used all of her ingredients. She took a rotisserie chicken and sliced the breast for sandwiches. She then picked off the rest of the meat and put it in the fridge. She boiled the carcass to make a broth. She used some of that broth to make enchilada sauce and froze the rest for later use. Then she used the remaining meat and enchilada sauce to make chicken enchiladas for supper that night. One rotisserie chicken led to several healthy meals.
2. Plan to use leftovers. Christmas wasn’t that long ago. Several of us would have had turkey, ham, stuffing… I’ve seen lots of different recipes online for those leftovers. I’m sure there is already a lot of awareness for using leftovers, but it is helpful to plan for it. Sometimes when I make a lasagna or chili, I’ll make extra bolognaise or tomato sauce to make a different meal later in the week. You can also freeze tomato sauce and bolognaise, so make a large batch to save time later! Or, I will bake extra chicken so I have leftovers to make chicken ceaser wraps or quesadillas a couple days later. In my family, we also only use half an avocado in Cobb salad, so we have fish tacos the next day and use the rest of the avocado to make guacamole. Just make sure you use up your leftovers before they go bad to prevent food poisoning, the key here is planning.
3. Shop for the amount needed. Now, usually buying bulk saves money and, some stores often have buy 3 get one free or save 50% on some items. If it is an item you use often and with a long shelf life and you have the space, that’s great. But if it’s going to expire before you can use it, you’re actually just throwing your money into the compost bin (hopefully compost, but more on that later). Another reason to menu plan- the more times you go to the grocery store, the more likely you are to buy things not on your list. So again, meal planning- saves time, money… and reduces waste! If you want to buy bulk, but know that you are not able to use all of it, look at splitting it with a friend or neighbour, or talk to our local food bank or community kitchen to see they would like the rest, before you buy.
Freezing– Now, I’ve mentioned freezing broth, sauce and leftovers, but there are a lot of foods that can be frozen, which might surprise you. I like to freeze my bananas when they brown for baking banana bread or muffins later. I actually just toss them in my freezer, in their peel, and then peel them when thawed. Then I make a large batch of muffins and freeze the muffins by the dozen for later. Going on holidays? I throw my bread and milk in the freezer, and then let them thaw in the fridge when we get back. Just make sure your milk is in a freezable container (there are lots of tricks online). Also, label and date the items. Some things are difficult to identify once frozen, and if you’re like me, as much as you think you will remember, you will forget. Frozen items expire too, so stay safe.
Upcycle Food- I mentioned freezing bananas for baking, but there are other items that can also be used when they start to turn. Most fruit and veg can be added in cooking or baking. Bread can also be dried into crumbs or bread pudding. You can also try preserving food, such as jam, canned tomatoes or pickled eggs.
Advocacy– Support businesses who donate food about to expire to charity and farmers as food or compost. Loop Food, Loop Resource started in BC and is now in AB and Sask. Let’s advocate to bring loop food to Ontario.
Compost– Now even following all these tricks and tips, you will probably still end up with food waste, for instance, what are you going to do with a banana peel? So put your leftover food (and facial tissue, paper towel, even dog bags) into compost! And again I hear my grandmother’s voice, “the garden loves egg shells and coffee grounds”. So, please compost! The city gives compost bins for free. You can compost without stinking up your home and filling it with fruit flies and our planet will thank you.
Your neighbour,
Shannon MacIntyre,
CBLCA Environment Subcommittee member
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