Today's Reuse Roundup post comes from Rachel Ray of Palo Alto, CA (no, not that Rachael Ray).

I hope her tip inspires you to send me your best kitchen tip(s) for waste minimizing--you could win a Google Nexus 7 tablet and signed copies of both of my cookbooks. Only 1 day left to enter the contest (it ends tomorrow, March 7th)!!

Email tips to gabi@brokeassgourmet.com. 

Rachel says:

Today's Reuse Roundup post comes from Laura Beaudet.

I hope her tip inspires you to send me your best kitchen tip(s) for waste minimizing--you could win a Google Nexus 7 tablet and signed copies of both of my cookbooks. Only 1 day left to enter the contest (it ends tomorrow, March 7th)!!

Email tips to gabi@brokeassgourmet.com.

Laura says:

I was glad to see your call for ideas to reuse stuff that would otherwise be wasted, because it's something that makes environmental good sense as well as economic good sense!

I make my own yogurt at home. I really like the thick Greek-style yogurt that's made by draining a lot of the whey out of regular yogurt. If you throw away the whey, it's pretty wasteful, but I've found a great use for the whey I strain out of my yogurt. I also like to bake my own bread, and my basic recipe calls for four cups of water for four one-pound loaves. I've found that by using the whey from my yogurt-making instead of plain water, I'm increasing the nutrients in the bread, as well as giving it a wonderful sourdough-like tang. It also keeps me from wasting all that good whey.

Here's a picture of today's batch of yogurt draining in a Chinois.

And here's a picture of some of the drained whey with a loaf of bread I baked using the whey from the last yogurt batch. 

Today's Reuse Roundup post comes from Daphne Bilge, of Berkeley, California.

I hope her tip inspires you to send me your best kitchen tip(s) for waste minimizing--you could win a Google Nexus 7 tablet and signed copies of both of my cookbooks. Only 2 days left to enter the contest (it ends March 7th)!!

Email tips to gabi@brokeassgourmet.com. 

Daphne says:

Today's Reuse Roundup post comes from Devrah Lawver, of San Ramon, CA.

I hope her tip inspires you to send me your best kitchen tip(s) for waste minimizing--you could win a Google Nexus 7 tablet and signed copies of both of my cookbooks. Only 2 days left to enter the contest (it ends March 7th)!!

Email tips to gabi@brokeassgourmet.com. 

Devrah says:

My tip to reduce kitchen waste is to meal plan! So basic! Meal planning allows you to only shop for what you need, not just what looks good, plus, it also usually ensures that you eat a little healthier and don't do that "I have nothing to eat"- fridge stare down.

I don't use a paper chart or app, having this big white board on the wall works for me. I take a photo of it before I go to the grocery store (and I use scratch paper to make a shopping list). I know there are cute notebooks (maydesigns.com has super adorable meal planning notebooks that are personalizable), but I have enough notebooks and charts to keep track of in my life. I like it simple.

What I like about meal planning, is that I also account for leftovers. Oftentimes leftovers are for lunch the next day. You can see that this week I am having veggie tacos one night, but then I use the leftover ingredients in a mexican cassarole. Now that I am living alone, meal planning keeps me from over-buying. I can't go to the store and just pick stuff out or else I end up with too much that ends up going bad and wasted. I am also in grad school two nights a week, so I don't have time to run to the store just to pick up something for dinner, I do all of my shopping on the weekends, making two or three stops depending on my list (sprouts, trader joes and target... I don't bother with Costco or Safeway unless I need something specific).

 

Today's Reuse Roundup post comes from Ian and Tanya Grant of Seattle, WA. Their tip involves their kale, smoothies, a bunny, and a dog.

Hopefully they will inspire you to send me your best kitchen tip(s) for waste minimizing--you could win a Google Nexus 7 tablet and signed copies of both of my cookbooks. But get on it because the competition closes this Friday, March 7th! 

Email tips to gabi@brokeassgourmet.com. 

Ian says: 

Ok, so here's what we do to reduce waste. We make smoothies! If our fruit/kale collection for the week is going to hell, it gets thrown into our Ninja blender and gets annihilated into a giant explosion of vitamin nourishing amazingness.

I hate vegetables, so as long as I'm not tasting it or can look it in the eye, we're good.

My wife Tanya is anti-throwing away, so she'll even take the things that would be gross and feeds them to Bunny (our bunny) and Riley the dog. They'll eat anything.

Here's what Tanya says because she says I'm not being helpful:

"When it comes to produce I hate throwing things away - it feels like such a waste. When bananas get overripe I tend to throw them in smoothies, or peel and freeze them for future smoothies. Any fruits or veggies can be frozen and added to a "green" smoothie in place of ice. When it comes to the parts of fruits and veggies that people don't normally eat, it helps to have some pet garbage disposal on hand. Our rabbit and dog love to eat kale ribs, apple and bell pepper cores, and carrot tops. They're all filled with vitamins, so even the pets get a healthy boost."

Cheers!