Climate March: Menu planning to reduce food waste

One of my goals for the year, related to Climate Action. A monthly post, around a theme, of household actions to reduce climate change. Small ideas, it is true, but, “step by step, the longest march can be won.”

“No Food Left Behind” is the name of a local initiative which teaches people how to both store fresh food more effectively and compost the (hopefully limited) remains. They give out lovely countertop compost buckets. I have one for my classroom. At home, we use an ancient yogurt container. Both topics are important, but pre-planning is also essential, especially if you are trying to eat mostly local foods.  Reducing food waste and eating closer to home are two easy, effective, inexpensive, and positive ways to mitigate—and adapt to-- climate change.

I’ve always been a menu planner. My mother taught me, although she was more of a pantry cook, working from what she had on hand every night and doing semi-weekly shopping expeditions. I pulled the meat from the freezer when I came home from school before I tackled the dishes and she cooked when she came home from work around 6:30. I sat on the counter and watched. When I left for college, I was in charge of meals in the household. Every week, we decided what we were going to eat, I made the shopping list, and we headed to the local produce and meat market. I learned, several years later, that my roommate and I were known as the “Three Chicken Legs Girls” because we always bought three legs, never breasts or thighs. Two for a dinner and one for the Thursday night soup, which gathered all of the left over rice and veg from the week.  We ate well  within our 30 dollars a week for two budget. Years later, when I shifted over to local foods, especially veggies, I returned to that more formal planning system.

Step One: What’s out there?

Start with the question.  What veggies do we have to work with right now? This week, the list reads: winter squash, onions, and potatoes in the larder, a few tomatoes n the shelf, frozen peas and corn,   canned beans, roasted  tomatoes, and sauce, garden  collards, carrots, celery, and cabbages. Salad mix later in the week.  I could dig one of the parsnips in the back yard if I wanted it. I think there is a beet or two back there as well, if the rabbit hasn’t found it. List all of the options! Check the fridge for accuracy.

Step Two: Recipes

Although I don’t use a formal recipe for every meal, I do have a file where recipes are divided into six week segments, depending upon ingredients. It’s all on notecards.   Because I’ve been working on the file for several years, it is pretty accurate.  If you are shifting to local veggies, it is important to find tasty meals that do not require red peppers in January, unless you have them frozen from August.   There are cookbooks that have used this concept for years. Check out Deborah Madison to begin.  This is really fun; good  cookbooks make excellent reading at bedtime.

Step Three: Menu planning

Lay out the week, Monday to Sunday. Note the evenings you have to be somewhere before or after dinner, so that you are not making something long and complicated on those nights. Consider making a huge pot of soup for the week’s lunches.  Put the veggies that will go bad, like greens or something that was left from the week before, early in the week.  Consider the oven—can you bake bread, a squash, and dinner quiche all at the same time? Do you need a round of beans in the crockpot?  Move your dinners around to consider all of these issues.   We are more likely to have greens and mushrooms on Monday night and save the winter squash for Thursday. Write up the final plan and hang it on the fridge as a reminder.

Step Four: Weekly Shopping

We do a Big Shop once a month, filling in all of the bulk items, dairy, and cleaning supplies. The food co-op offers a monthly discount to encourage bulk purchases and we take advantage of it. We have a list that guides us, which I update occasionally. Because of this, our weekly shopping can take place on the way home from a walk, tucked into one backpack.  Vegetables are more complex. We raise our own, store what we can for the winter, buy direct from Sunbow Farm, go to the Farmer’s Market, and then fill in what few gaps there are at the co-op.  There’s no reason for all of this complexity aside from freshness and supporting local farms; you can purchase all of your veggies from Fred Meyer’s.  

This week’s plan:

Thursday: Pasta with tomato sauce, salad.  Also, bake bread and the winter squash

Friday: Cream of Squash soup, salad

Saturday: left-over soup, toast

Sunday: Mushroom risotto, cabbage and apple salad

Monday: Chinese Buffet (New Year’s Eve!)

Tuesday: Black-eyed peas and collard greens (New  Year’s Day)

Wednesday: greens and tofu and rice