Zero Waste in the Kitchen and Fridge Tips from Rebecca
YOUR NEW BESTIE, REBECCA!
Community advocate and waste minimalist, Rebecca Harris, is set to bring you a number of helpful videos around waste reduction and budget cooking, much like her freezer tips recording featured last month. Keep a look out for Rebecca on our Facebook and on our YouTube channel as well as on the blog here this month. She has a wealth of knowledge and experience to impart in the name of food resiliency! Find her first video on Zero Waste in the kitchen and fridge below!
Zero waste in the kitchen and fridge
A waste reduction video for you! We start with a brief recap on using the freezer to reduce waste - keeping vege scraps for stock, efficiency: checking seals and airflow so it's working the best it can, freezing stock and lemon juice in ice cube trays so that you don't have to defrost too much for what you need it for - and then we move not very far from the freezer to talk about zero waste in the fridge and the kitchen.
These videos are all about keeping things do-able time and money wise. No-one wants to be preached to or given tips that aren't realistic for their time and budget, while zero waste is the goal, no-one is perfect and no-one is truly zero waste, so we want to find a starting point with things that can be easy to fit into your life and build from there.
Labelling - if you know when you bought or opened something, you can keep track of when it needs to be used by. Best before dates are more of a suggestion so use your best judgement and your labelling to figure out when to use things by.
Storing fruit and veges correctly is really important to keep them fresh as long as possible.
A big thing that sounds obvious is to eat everything you buy and don’t throw things away - getting confident with cooking really helps for this, then when you end up with one sad carrot, some celery leaves and some root veges you can make some soup instead of putting them in the bin.
Growing basic herbs that you use a lot of on your windowsill inside will save a lot of money on buying them at the supermarket and is a fun project - a pack of basil seeds and dirt will probably cost less than a single packet of herbs from the supermarket and will last a lot longer.
Save the water that you wash and rinse your dishes in, along with tea leaves, coffee grounds and eggshells - all these things are great for your garden!