Why Practice Reduced Waste in the Kitchen?
Reducing waste in the kitchen shows an appreciation for the limited resources on this Earth. It’s common and accepted to be wasteful in today’s consumerist culture, but when you start living more self-sufficiently you quickly realize just how useful our “trash” can be. When money is tight, it’s great not to have to purchase something being able to use what you already have on hand. Reducing waste in the kitchen is a free way to begin living more sustainably and embracing the homesteading lifestyle.
How to Practice Reduced Waste in the Kitchen
Turn Bacon into Biscuits
When you finish cooking a pack of bacon, save that grease! Carefully strain it while it’s hot, and use that bacon fat to create delicious easy homemade biscuits. Here is a basic bacon grease biscuit recipe to get started experimenting:
INGREDIENTS/EQUIPMENT
- 2 ¼ cup Flour
- ¾ cup Milk/Buttermilk
- 2 ½ tsp Baking Powder
- ½ tsp Salt
- ½ cup Fat that is solid at room temperature
- 2 Tbsp Sugar (opt for sweet biscuits)
- Butter or Honey (opt for brushing
DIRECTIONS
- Combine dry ingredients.
- Cut in fat with a fork or crumble with your hands.
- Add milk kneading as little as possible until just combined.
- Dust a surface with flour and continue kneading until smooth.
- Press or roll the dough until it is at least 1” thick or adjust the thickness to your preference.
- Cut out biscuit shapes.
- Bake at 475 F for 11-15 minutes or until the tops are browned.
- Brush with butter or honey straight out of the oven and let cool.
How to Use a Bag of Lemons
A bag of lemons is like gold considering how much can be made from all parts. Once you squeeze the lemons, you can use that lemon juice to make delicious lemonade or lemon pound cake. Don’t throw out those peels! They can make lemon simple syrup if you let them sit in sugar for at least 3 hours. Add this syrup to drinks, desserts, or pancakes, the possibilities are endless! If you still have leftover rinds, let them dry out and throw them down the garbage disposal for a quick homemade freshener. You can also soak them in vinegar to create a multipurpose antibacterial household cleaner. Just buying a jug of lemonade may be more convenient, but considering the extra resourcefulness it’s worth getting that bag of lemons and putting in the work to get more out of your purchase.
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Save Your Kitchen Scraps
Saving uncooked fruit and veggie kitchen scraps to start a compost is a great way to reduce kitchen waste. Save all those peels you usually throw away after cooking, and add them to your compost pile.
If you are building up more organic material than your current compost can handle, some scraps can be frozen until later and used to make homemade stocks. Don’t be afraid to use the ends and peels of herbs, garlic, onions, carrots, or celery to create a simple nutritious veggie stock. Let these ingredients simmer in water for hours until a deep flavor is developed and throw in leftover meat bones for more stock options. The homemade stock will stay in the fridge for about four days. If you want to store it for longer, freeze it and it can last 6 months in the regular freezer, or 12 months in a deep freezer. For quick thawing, freeze the stock in an ice cube tray or freeze bags flat so they remain slim and can be stacked. For more advanced homesteaders, pressure can or dehydrate your stock to make it shelf stable for years. The flavor and color may degrade the longer you keep it, especially if left in direct sunlight but it will remain safe as you exercise safe canning/ dehydrating practices.
Possibly one of the best ways to recycle your kitchen scraps is to regrow them! Save the seeds or put their roots in water/dirt, give them some sun, and watch them grow again! This method is a great way to get free plants and reduce kitchen waste.
Recycle Sauce Jars for Storage
You should not reuse store-bought sauce jars for canning, but they make great storage containers. Store your dried herbs or use them to store your homemade goods dry. Simply remove the labels, wash the jars after use and voila you have additional storage! They may not all match, but that does not take away from the beauty of recycling!
Final Thoughts on Reduced Waste Kitchen
Implementing reduced waste practices in the kitchen is a great skill to develop when living a homestead lifestyle. Many of these practices do not require a financial investment other than the initial purchase of what you were already buying. It opens a door to creating more homemade goods and getting comfortable thinking outside the box. Share some of your favorite traditional reduced waste kitchen practices in the comments!
