We Can’t Go On, We Must Go On
It has taken me some time to write this post. I get asked often to share tips for how home cooks can prevent food waste, and it puts me in an uncomfortable position. I chafe at the idea that the right recipe for pickled collard stems is going to solve the problem of food waste in this country without first pulling the lens back and looking at the larger, structural problems that have led us here.
It is a very typically American to place the blame for food waste on the individual, and I have no interest in piling on. I’m already working on another post about how the devaluing of women’s work led us to the crisis of care that we are currently experiencing in our society, and how the invisibility and underappreciation of that work is missing from our conversations about home food waste.
I want to say up front that my goal is never to shame anyone for the shortcuts taken to feed themselves or their families or for the waste they produce. Managing a household as a single mother/parent or in a family where both parents work full time is overwhelming. Having even one child with multiple extra curriculars is going to test your family dinner habit.
And yet, here I am writing this post! Knowing that this will not give you the time and space and infrastructure we all need to make our home lives easier, I still want to highlight what I think is the most vital component of an efficient home kitchen. We’ll fail at times, but we’ll do our best because it matters.
A House to Hold
I’ve previously written about how food preservation, particularly lacto-fermentation and small batch preserving (especially skillet jam), can prolong the lifespan of your food and decrease waste. Today, I want to talk about how meal planning, and the larger task of home kitchen management (what Harriet Fasenfest calls householding), reinforces food preservation to build a greener, less wasteful kitchen.
A Mindful Investment
Meal planning does take some time up front, but it quickly pays off as time saved at each individual meal and peace of mind. If I can find two hours on Sunday afternoons for this work, I find it provides a buffer for the chaos of the rest of the week. Those couple of hours in the kitchen are the calm before the storm, the moment where I steady the ship and make sure we are on the right course.
Money and Well-Being Saved
My sister and I often talk about how if we miss our Sunday planning time, the rest of the week is doomed. There will be take out. There will be impulse buys. The quality of our meals will suffer, and money will be wasted. While we both could make a strong case against ever allowing your children to sign up for a travel ball team, we definitely know that meal planning is the only way to maintain your sanity throughout the season. Planning allows us to continue to cook for our families and to provide a space to be intentional about it. We prioritize it because it matters to us. It makes us feel better. It makes our family life more enjoyable and meaningful.
Schedule it as a Family
Involve the whole family in these tasks! My son can chop vegetables, or pack and label lunches. He can take inventory of what’s in the fridge or freezer so we can make our grocery lists. (I am doing my best to make the invisible work visible to him and teach him the skills he needs to be a true domestic partner.) My husband can go to the market and wash dishes when we’re done. The best part is once the meal plan is written, and I hang it on the front of the fridge, it tells the members of my household what’s for dinner so I don’t have to. You can even use the plan to assign dinner making responsibilities to different people certain days of the week.
Making Do: Not All Meal Plans Reduce Waste
You printed off some recipes. You make your grocery list and realize it’s going to cost you are fortune to cook the meals you’ve planned. You forgot that you have a pantry so packed with food you can’t even tell what’s in there. If you want to save real money and stop throwing away food you have to learn the art of making do with what you have!
My Top 3 Tips to Reduce Waste (& Save Money) through Meal Planning
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