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We Don’t Waste Book Club

Retail Inequality by Kenneth H. Kolb

We Don’t Waste in the business of making sure everyone, no matter their background, has equal access to nutritious food. For us, that means we provide free food to communities across Denver in areas considered to be “food deserts” or “food apartheids.” These are neighborhoods that lack multiple options for affordable, nutritious food. “Food apartheid” addresses the nature of intentional scarcity by the strategic placement of retail stores and whole-food markets in wealthy neighborhoods. Kolb takes a deep dive into two neighborhoods in Greenville, South Carolina, that have spent decades without access to nutritious food, and how the retail and food industry, and even public policy, contribute to the unequal access present in these communities.

Foodtopia by Margot Anne Kelley

Food isn’t just about nutrition and survival, but is also intrinsically tied to our lifestyle. Throughout America’s industrial and capitalistic history, there have continually been surges of the “back of the yard” counterculture movement. Through gardens, homesteads, and moving out to land far from the city centers, Kelley covers 5 groups—from the 1840s up through the COVID-19 pandemic—that have taken food production into their own hands in a form of radical self-sustenance. Fueled by the drive for furthering the sustainability of our land and water resources, racial equity, anti-consumerism, and control of their health through food, these groups found independence and their own “Foodtopias” in their backyard.

To Boldly Grow by Tamar Haspel

Part memoir and part how-to guide, self-proclaimed “crappy gardener” Haspel shares the story of how she and her husband decided to reclaim their diets by growing their own food, keeping chickens, fishing, and even going out into the woods to forage for mushrooms, root bulbs, and anything else they find that is edible! Haspel’s goal is to prove that going out and making food or finding it ourselves really isn’t as difficult as it’s made out to be, as she shared her stories of triumph in MacGyvering harvesting tools, and by sharing the spectacular failures that ruined Thanksgiving dinner. In the end, Haspel discovers how the way we interact with and consume our food can change the way we think about our food—and even ourselves.

Getting Something to Eat in Jackson by Joseph C. Edwoozie, Jr.

Edwoozie, Jr. takes a deep dive into the way “foodways”—food availability, choice, and consumption—are changing in Jackson, Mississippi, and how the changing culture surrounding race is impacting food culture, and vice versa. Historically, food in Jackson had been a unifying force for Black Jacksonians in Mississippi, but as Edwoozie, Jr. discovers, the way people consume food has changed because of the existence of food deserts, the perception and reality of class differences, and how vegetarianism and veganism as a way to address health outcomes have all but displaced the traditional culture of “soul food” in the urban south. Edwoozie, Jr. spends a year following a diverse socioeconomic array of Jacksonians and discovers the habits and trends of the modern food culture and how it reflects societal changes in the area.

I Am From Here by Viswath Bhatt

There are few things more comforting than a home-cooked meal, and for Bhatt, this would be a combination of American Southern food and traditional Indian cuisine. Bhatt has been the executive chef of the Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi since 2009, earning him Best Chef: South (2019 James Beard Awards) and induction into the Fellowship of Southern Farmers, Artisans, and Chefs in 2022. This collection of stories and instruction includes over 130 recipes inviting you to grill, fry, and boil your way into a more delicious dinner evoking the flavors of an evolving southern cuisine.

What Your Food Ate by David R. Montgomery and Anne Biklé

When you think of the quality and the health benefits of the meat you eat, you’re also probably thinking about the things that animal was eating while it was alive. Montgomery and Bilke argue that the same standard should be applied to the plants we eat as well! Combining multiple scientific disciplines and weaving them into one cohesive story, Montgomery and Bilke show how the health of our soil has a direct impact on the quality of the food we consume and the health of humans as a whole. Can we produce enough quantity and quality food? We’ve got to heal the sick soil to do that, and the results of this could help reverse the modern epidemic of chronic diseases and mitigate climate change.

The Regenerative Garden by Stephanie Rose

Discover how you can work with nature, as opposed to against it, by employing permaculture techniques in your garden. Through 80 different DIY projects, you can explore how to make your garden more eco-conscious and more resilient. Whether you’re working with an acre, a small raised bed, growing a grove of trees, or a single tomato plant, there are plenty of tricks and habits for you to implement to make permaculture accessible and working hard for your garden.

Iwigara by Enrique Salmón

The belief that all life-forms are interconnected and share the same breath—known in the Rarámuri tribe as iwígara—has resulted in a treasury of knowledge about the natural world, passed down for millennia by native cultures. Ethnobotanist Enrique Salmón builds on this concept of connection and highlights 80 plants revered by North America’s indigenous peoples. Salmón teaches us the ways plants are used as food and medicine, the details of their identification and harvest, and their important health benefits, plus their role in traditional stories and myths.

How We Eat by Paco Underhill

In this upbeat and witty approach, How We Eat reveals the future of food in surprising ways. Go to the heart of New York City, where a popular farmer’s market signifies how the city is getting country-fied, or to cool Brooklyn neighborhoods with rooftop farms. Explore the dreaded supermarket parking lot as the hub of innovation for grocery stores’ futures, or how marijuana farmers, who have been using artificial light to grow a crop for years, have developed a playbook on indoor farming for mainstream merchants like Walmart and farmers across the world. In How We Eat, Underhill shows how food intersects with every major battle we face today, from political and environmental to economic and racial, and invites you to the market to discover more.

Updates

Why Congress should pass the Food Donation Improvement Act

LGBTQ Adults Are Facing Disproportionate Levels of Hunger

Eco-Anxiety & How You can Get Over It

Food Waste Prevention Week 2022: Tips, Games, and Prizes

Avocados

These days avocados are everywhere. Here are some tips to keep them ripe and ready:

• Your avocados ripen best if you keep them on the counter.

• Avocados adore the dark, so keep them out of direct sunlight.

• Once they are ripe, you can keep them a few days longer if you store them in the fridge.

• Once you open an avocado, if you are not eating the full thing in one sitting, you can keep it fresh in the fridge by placing the side with the pit still in it face down in a little water in a container. Or dampen with water, oil, or lemon juice and store in a bag in the fridge.

Potatoes, Onions, Garlic

These common comfort food ingredients prefer to be alone in the dark:

• Keep them cool and dry —To keep your potatoes and onions fresh for longer, store them in a cool, dry place.

• Keep them separated — These vegetables don’t play nice together in the cupboard. Potatoes stored with onions will sprout and rot more quickly than if they are stored separately. So keep them away from each other.

Citrus

To keep your oranges and grapefruit sweet and juicy, you want to keep them cold and dry:

• Citrus will last about a week on the counter but can keep fresh up to a month in the fridge.

• Make sure your oranges and grapefruits are dry before you store them in the fridge. This will reduce rot and prevent spoilage.

As for lemons, they retain their punch if stored in the fridge in a sealed bag or container.

Milk

Cold, fresh milk beats spoiled milk any day. Here’s how we can make the most of our milk, keeping it freshest longest:

• Milk stays best in the coldest part of the fridge — If you can, store it towards the back of the fridge, and on the lowest shelf (that’s normally the coolest part of your fridge). And check your fridge temperature if you can — the best temperature for milk to prevent it from going bad is just above freezing between 33 to 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Milk can be frozen to keep even longer — If you have more than you need, you can freeze milk to preserve it for up to six months. Pro tip: Milk expands when frozen so remove 1 cup of milk from the container before freezing. Once ready to drink, defrost in the refrigerator.

Asparagus

Asparagus is one of the first vegetables of spring. Farmers cut young stalks when they peak six to ten inches above the soil line and rush the tender green shoots to our tables. The season is short and plentiful, and we can buy in bulk when it’s cheapest and save for later. Asparagus will keep 10 days to 2 weeks in the fridge and can be frozen too. A few tips for keeping it crisp and happy in the fridge:

• It likes to be cold, but not too cold — Keep it in a crisper drawer or towards the front of the fridge.

• Asparagus is thirsty — If possible stand it up in a couple of inches of water to keep it from drying out. Trim the ends ¼ inch before putting it in a jar with water as you would fresh flowers. Change the water if you see it getting cloudy.

• If you don’t have room to stand it up, wrap it and let it lie down — Trim and wrap the bottom of the bunch in a damp paper towel and store in a crisper drawer or on a shelf toward the front of the fridge.

•To freeze, a little prep time will go a long way: Trim and Blanche – Cut or snap off woody bottom of the stems (bonus: store separately for asparagus soup). Drop-in boiling water for 2 minutes to blanche then drop in ice water to stop the cooking. Dry it well, if possible freeze it first on a cookie/sheet pan and then transfer to a storage container. It’ll last for up to one year.

•Cook it straight from the freezer — No need to defrost. When ready to use, cook straight out of the freeze

Greens

As the weather turns warmer, fresh crisp salads and lighter foods, in general, maybe on the menu more often at home. But what if we’re getting our greens only every week or so?. Here are a few tricks to keep our greens from turning limp and mushy:

• Keep them dry — Washed or unwashed, wrap them loosely in dry paper or cloth towel to absorb the moisture that rots them quickly.

• Keep them cold but not too cold — Keep them in the crisper drawer or on a shelf towards the front of the fridge.

• Give them air and space — Place wrapped greens directly in the fridge or place in a covered but unsealed container that lets airflow. Keep them away from other fruits that produce ethylene gas and will accelerate the rotting of your greens, such as apples, peaches and pears.

Strawberries

More than half of all kids say that strawberries are their favorite fruit, and it’s easy to understand why. This bright, sweet, colorful early summer treat can be eaten alone or as the star of a recipe. Some tips to keep them from going soft on us too quickly:

• Keep them cold and dry — Store them in the original container in the fridge and hold off on washing until you’re ready to eat them. This is a good tip for all berries!

• Don’t let a bad strawberry spoil the rest — Sort through your berries before you refrigerate and pick out any that are moldy or spoiled.

• Freeze for later — To enjoy the bright sweet taste of summer throughout the year, you can freeze fresh whole or sliced berries. To freeze, rinse, remove the green stems and caps, dry well, and freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet. Once frozen solid, place in sealed containers and return to the freezer.

Cherries

Cherries love the cold. Store them in the fridge and they will keep fresh longer. An hour of room temp storage is equal to a week in the fridge when it comes to preserving taste and texture.

•Don’t wash until you are ready to enjoy your cherries.

•Freeze cherries whole, first in a single layer on a baking sheet until frozen solid and then transfer to a sealed storage container and return to the freezer.

Peaches

Peaches should be stored at room temperature and eaten when you feel a ‘little give’ with a gentle squeeze.

•Once peaches are ripe, you can move them from the counter to the fridge to keep ripe for about a week.

•Peaches prefer to hang out alone – keeping them separated from other fruits will keep them fresh and tasty longer

•Freezing peaches when fresh and in season is a great idea — you can rinse and cut peaches into slices, soak in a water/ lemon juice bath (to prevent browning use about 2 tablespoons of lemon juice to 4 cups of water) and freeze first on a cookie sheet for 4 to 24 hours. Next transfer to an airtight storage container and return to the freezer, where they will last up to1 year

Tomatoes

Room temperature is best – Tomatoes retain their flavor and ripen best at room temperature rather than in the fridge. So best to store on the counter, out of direct sunlight in a single layer stem side down.

•Happiest alone – Tomatoes ripen best if kept apart from other summer fruits and vegetables.

•Extend their life in the fridge – Once ripe, if you’re not using them immediately you can store them in an airtight container in the fridge, where they will generally retain their form and flavor for up to a week.

•Freeze whole – If you have an excess of ripe tomatoes, you can freeze whole to use later for soups, stews or sauce. Just remove the stems and freeze (optional, remove core). If you have the space and time, flash freeze in a single layer on a baking sheet until frozen solid then move to sealed containers and return to freezer. Or simply place fresh tomatoes in storage containers and set in the freezer. Defrost, core and use as you would canned tomatoes.

Broccoli

Broccoli is delicious. Here are a couple of tips to keep this favorite fresh:

• Broccoli prefers to be cold and slightly damp and likes air circulation. The best two options for storing it in the fridge for up to a week:

• Wrap in a slightly damp towel before putting your broccoli in the fridge.

• Stand a full head of broccoli in the fridge in a glass so air can circulate around its head as if it were flowers in a vase.

• If you want to keep it fresh for longer, you can prep and freeze:

• Cut the florets (the bushy part) from the stem, drop in boiling water for just a minute or two to blanche, let it dry well, and then store in a sealed bag or container in the freezer. This will keep in the freshness –blanched, frozen broccoli can last up to 1 year in the freezer.

If you’re looking for more active ways to get involved throughout the year, check out our volunteer opportunities! You can also make a lasting impact by making a donation. However you choose to get involved, your support helps us recover more food and feed more Coloradans.

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