The Feed

As we celebrate Pride Month, it’s the perfect time to shine a light on an important issue that touches both the LGBTQ+ community and the broader quest for social justice: food equity. At We Don’t Waste, we believe that everyone deserves access to nutritious food, and we recognize that food insecurity disproportionately affects marginalized communities, including LGBTQ+ individuals. Let’s explore food equity as a larger concept and delve into the specifics of food insecurity within the LGBTQ+ community, especially here in Colorado.

What is Food Equity?

Food equity goes beyond simply having enough food to eat. It means ensuring that all people, regardless of their socioeconomic status, race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation, have access to affordable, healthy, and culturally appropriate food. Food equity is about fairness and justice in our food systems. It addresses the root causes of food insecurity, such as systemic discrimination, economic inequality, and lack of access to resources.

Food Insecurity and the LGBTQ+ Community

Food insecurity is a pressing issue in the LGBTQ+ community. Studies show that LGBTQ+ individuals are more likely to experience poverty and unemployment compared to their non-LGBTQ+ peers. These economic disparities contribute to higher rates of food insecurity. Discrimination, stigma, and a lack of family support can further exacerbate these challenges, making it harder for LGBTQ+ individuals to secure stable housing, employment, and access to nutritious food.

For example, a 2020 report from the Williams Institute found that 27% of LGBTQ+ adults in the U.S. experienced food insecurity in the past year, compared to 17% of non-LGBTQ+ adults. The rates are even higher among transgender individuals, with nearly half (48%) reporting food insecurity. These statistics underscore the urgent need for targeted interventions to support the LGBTQ+ community.

Food Insecurity in Colorado’s LGBTQ+ Community

Here in Colorado, the picture is similar. The Colorado Health Institute’s data reveals that LGBTQ+ individuals in our state face higher rates of food insecurity compared to their cisgender, heterosexual counterparts. LGBTQ+ youth, particularly those who are homeless or in unstable housing situations, often face more significant barriers to food access. Many food assistance programs are not designed with the unique needs of LGBTQ+ individuals in mind, which can create additional obstacles for access. 

Addressing Food Insecurity through Community and Advocacy

At We Don’t Waste, we are committed to addressing food insecurity in a way that promotes equity and inclusivity. Here are some ways we can work together to support the LGBTQ+ community:

1. Inclusive Food Programs: Developing food assistance programs that are inclusive and welcoming to LGBTQ+ individuals. This means training staff on LGBTQ+ issues, ensuring that services are accessible to all, and creating safe spaces for everyone.
2. Advocacy and Policy Change: Advocating for policies that address the root causes of food insecurity and economic inequality in the LGBTQ+ community. This includes supporting initiatives that promote fair wages, affordable housing, and anti-discrimination protections.
3. Community Partnerships: Partnering with LGBTQ+ organizations to better understand and meet the unique needs of the community. By working together, we can create a stronger support network and ensure that no one is left behind.
4. Education and Awareness: Raising awareness about the intersection of food insecurity and LGBTQ+ issues. By educating ourselves and others, we can build a more inclusive and equitable food system.

Celebrating Pride with Purpose

This Pride Month, let’s celebrate by taking meaningful action to support food equity and the LGBTQ+ community. Whether it’s volunteering your time, donating to organizations that serve LGBTQ+ individuals, or advocating for policy change, every effort counts. Together, we can create a world where everyone has the opportunity to thrive, regardless of who they are or whom they love.

At We Don’t Waste, we’re proud to stand with the LGBTQ+ community in the fight for food equity. Thank you for joining us on this journey, and let’s continue to work together to nourish lives and embrace diversity.

Happy Pride!

International Day for Biological Diversity is honored on May 22nd. This is a day that was first created in 1993 as a way to bring awareness to the rampant biodiversity loss being experienced across the globe due to climate change. For those who may not know, biodiversity is the number of varying plants, animals, fungi, and microorganisms that live in a given area, or the wildlife that makes up an environment. The issue most commonly known in the context of biodiversity loss is species endangerment and extinction. Bringing attention to this issue and helping to enact change are how we are conserving what remains, while also reintroducing or bolstering populations of different species. 

Furthermore, it is a way to begin tackling the triple planetary crisis, which is the vicious cycle of interaction or negative feedback loop between biodiversity loss, climate change, and pollution. We wanted to break down why this one portion of the crisis is an issue we care about and why you should as well.

There are 3 key reasons why this is an important issue from both a sustainability perspective and a food access perspective:

1. The majority of biodiversity loss is manmade! Over half of the planet’s habitable land is used to support our agricultural needs. When, as a country, we are wasting 40% of food, we are massively contributing to the further loss of habitats and species for no reason at all! 
2. A lack of biodiversity impacts available nutrients. To simplify a complex issue, when a reduction in flora and fauna impacts the ecosystem, it impacts water quality, pollination, and soil health, which impacts the ability to grow crops that meet the breadth of nutritional requirements in an area. 
3. The homogenization of our global diets leaves us at an increased risk for crop failure and famine. Globally, only 9 plants make up 66% of crop production and 8 species of animals make up 97% of meat production. Having such a narrow pool of genetic variation in our food systems means that a new pathogen could wipe out the majority of a crop and cause massive economic and nutritional devastation across the globe. We saw this with a recent worldwide fungal scare in bananas!

This is the ugly reality and consequences of global biodiversity loss. It is an issue that impacts everyone and everything that calls Earth home. 

This year’s theme, or challenge, associated with International Day for Biodiversity is “Be a Part of the Plan.”  Everyone can promote biodiversity, be it by planting locally relevant species, preventing local food waste, or helping pollinators. By visiting this site, you can create a custom logo for yourself to show your support for increasing biodiversity. Post it on social media, and let your friends and family know about this important issue!

May is Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month! AAPI Heritage Month began in the 70s as several resolutions each proposing a week or two to honor the Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders in America. In 1990, the separate weeks of celebration finally became a full month of recognition for the rich history and culture of Asian and Pacific Islander peoples.  This year’s theme for AAPI Heritage Month is “Advancing Leaders Through Innovation”.  

Despite being the fastest-growing minority group in the country, there is also the widest wealth gap. It’s often difficult to discuss solving this issue because research into the quality of life experienced by AAPI people is incredibly minimal. Between 1992-2018, only .17% of the National Institutes of Health’s budget was for studying Asian American and Pacific Islander people. This is an incredible disservice because of how vast and diverse AAPI communities are. 

Asia is the most populous continent, and combined with all of the countries in Oceania, AAPI as a category encompasses over half of the world’s population and over 2,750 spoken languages alone. There is a wide variety of cultures present, which impacts how these groups and individuals experience integration into American culture, politics, and economics. There is not a single brushstroke statement that can be made to encompass all of these unique experiences in the American melting pot. 

Overall, AAPI Americans have a low poverty rate at 13.8%; however, when looking at ethnic groups that make up the overall stat, there are alarming rates of poverty and food insecurity including 38% of Hmong people, 29% of Cambodian, and 25.1% of Malaysians. If that isn’t concerning enough, AAPI people are the least likely to apply for and utilize public benefits and safety nets. The “why” behind that stat is immensely frustrating–the registration forms are simply unavailable in many languages. 

So what can we do to help? First and foremost, we can advocate for inclusion, research, and policy that is more considerate of the AAPI experience. We can’t make up for lost time, but we can be vocal to make sure that EVERYONE is included when we look into systemic issues and creating solutions. 

Someone who is putting in a massive amount of work to bring power to the voices of young, intersectional activists is Kevin Patel. He is the founder of One Up Action and helped create the first Youth Climate Commission in LA County. He is an environmental activist based in LA who brings to light the ways changes in the environment negatively impact quality of life. An issue we know all too well, and will be deep diving in our next blog (keep an eye out for that). 

To do our part, We Don’t Waste is proud to prioritize recovering culturally relevant foods for our food recipient partners. We do this by partnering with companies like Lee Hing Park Hill Supermarket to provide familiar foods to people attending our Mobile Food Markets and partner agencies. Offering fresh produce is another way we practice cultural responsiveness. Many times, food distribution programs and governmental organizations will prioritize providing shelf-stable, boxed, or canned foods. Simply offering a variety of produce and spices allows our nonprofit partners and Mobile Food Market participants to select the fresh foods they would have purchased! 

You can support our efforts in providing food access for all! Make a donation on our website, or volunteer with our team to support local food distribution in Denver.

Well everyone, we wrapped up another successful Food Prevention Week! We hope you joined us as a #foodwastehero but, in case you missed it, we wanted to give y’all a recap of all the useful tips and tricks shared on our Facebook and Instagram. 

At the beginning of the week, we shared some super fridge tips, starting off with the use of an “Eat Now” section. This is a designated spot in your fridge where you put everything that needs to be eaten ASAP! This can be fresh foods that don’t have much life left, anything you’ve purchased a duplicate of (we’ve all been there, right?) or leftovers. The next day, we stayed in the fridge, but shifted the focus over to safe storage habits. Check out the chart below to let you know what produce is better off in your fridge, and what is better off being stored at room temperature. 

On Thursday, we promoted leftover night! Did you know the average American family wastes $1500 due to food waste? To avoid the double whammy of lost food AND lost money, commit your household to having a designated leftover night! Any food that is still good to your senses can be cleared out by eating leftovers as they are, or repurposing ingredients from past meals into new meals! Leftover nights can be as high or low energy as you want – whatever works for you and your family. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out some recipes here.  

Friday was answering the age-old question of: to eat, or not to eat? We’ve all looked at a food that’s sat a bit too long and wondered, is that too far gone, or will I be okay to eat this? Thankfully, with eatortoss.com, there’s an easy way to find the answer! Maybe you’ll even learn along the way that something you would have thrown out is perfectly edible the way it is. For example, did you know that a sprouted sweet potato is 100% edible? 

We closed out Food Waste Prevention Week with ways to keep the momentum going! One of the most impactful ways to keep food waste prevention at the forefront of our minds is to volunteer with organizations that fight against food waste (organizations such as We Don’t Waste)! If you’re interested in exploring opportunities to donate your time, check out our schedule of upcoming events. 

You’ll find a scorecard just below, where you can tally up points to see how your actions as a food waste hero add up. Be sure to share it on social media, and tag us at @WeDontWaste on Instagram, @WeDontWasteDenver on Facebook, or @WeDontWaste on TikTok!

We Don’t Waste is proud to celebrate Cesar Chavez for his national day of recognition, March 31st. But what is his story, and what are the accomplishments he helped farmers and laborers achieve that we can still learn from today? We thought we’d pull together some fast facts about Cesar Chavez so we can all take a moment to appreciate how he impacted the labor movement and the work culture in the United States. 

1. In 1962 along with Dolores Huerta and Larry Itliong, he cofounded National Farm Workers Association, which is now known as United Farm Workers of America. This union helped farm workers fight for just wages, medical protection, and adequate living conditions.

2. From 1965-70, the United Farm Workers of America led one of the most impactful combination efforts of striking, boycotting, and fasting against grape growers. Workers were making .40 per hour for their labor in the fields. These efforts were one of cross-racial unity and became a global effort. By their conclusion, workers gained the ability to collectively bargain and organize, in addition to better, livable wages. 

3. In 1986, Cesar began the “Wrath of the Grapes” boycott which brought attention to the use of harmful pesticides and the high levels of exposure for the workers. Laborers and their family were experiencing chronic illnesses, and the land, air, and water all were experiencing negative effects as well.

4. Cesar was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1994 for his life’s work dedicated to social justice ranging from labor rights, to supporting LGBTQ+ rights, immigration rights, and anti-war efforts. 

Chavez’s values of equity, health, and improving living conditions are values We Don’t Waste shares. We are happy to live within his legacy by partnering with local farmers and ranchers who equally see the importance of ensuring their staff, their animals, and the produce they grows are as healthy as possible for communities at large. We Don’t Waste will be closed in observance of Cesar Chavez day on Monday April 1, 2024. 

Arlan Preblud speaks with Ed Greene on stage at Fill a Plate for Hunger 2023.

We Don’t Waste celebrates its 15th year of operation in 2024, and it’s been an incredible, one-of-a-kind ride for our Founder and Executive Director, Arlan Preblud. The organization began first as a food recovery nonprofit out of the back of Arlan’s vehicle with only himself as an employee and has since grown to become a leading food recovery nonprofit in Colorado. Our staff and Board of Directors are incredibly grateful for Arlan’s leadership and his passion to make our shared vision for a Colorado without food insecurity or food waste a reality. 

While we can’t imagine anyone more deserving of time to rest in retirement (running a nonprofit is hard work), it is still bittersweet to share that Arlan will be passing the torch to the next Executive Director of We Don’t Waste in the summer of 2024. 

Arlan may be leaving his title of Executive Director behind, but he will always remain We Don’t Waste’s greatest champion, “I could not be more proud of this organization and the impact our staff, partners, and volunteers have in Denver today. If you had told me when I started recovering food back in 2009 what We Don’t Waste would have become I wouldn’t have believed you. I’m honored to have spent the last 15 years leading this organization and working alongside so many passionate, innovative people, but now I can look forward to continuing to support the organization outside of my current role.”

This now becomes a season of change for We Don’t Waste. We’ve spread our roots and partnered with other incredible nonprofits in the community, grown in size and resilience, and, under Arlan’s guidance, created a stable foundation on which we can confidently grow to feed more people and reduce food waste and its environmental impact. The new Food Recovery Hub is an example of this stability and is a testament both to the strength of the organization and our community’s optimism in the future of food recovery. 

Arlan will be supporting the search for a new Executive Director alongside the Board of Directors, and we are confident that with his guidance during the transition, We Don’t Waste will not skip a beat as we move to the new leader of We Don’t Waste. Arlan is one-of-a-kind and completely irreplaceable, and we’ll miss him dearly (though he’ll still be around supporting We Don’t Waste). Still, our team is excited to continue our work with a new perspective to help us direct our shared love for innovative solutions in supporting food access in Colorado.

Food has an incredible long-term effect on your mood and overall health, and we’ve discussed this before in the blog Food & Your Mood: How Eating Makes Us Happy. 

That blog focused a lot more on the bigger picture and how “good” foods and “unhealthy” food can still have positive outcomes for our health. Ultimately, just having access to food and enough food is the most important thing in anyone’s diet!

This time, we wanted to go a little bit deeper this time and dive into what’s happening in our stomachs that’s making us feel that post-meal high. Spoiler alert, the answer is your gut microbiome. Let’s talk about the power these trillions of organisms have on our health and how the food we fuel ourselves with impacts them. 

Throughout digestion, many of the microbiota are responsible for extracting vitamins and other nutrients like enzymes and amino acids our bodies need to function but otherwise would not be able to break down. Think about the microbiota like miners in a cave. They break down the rocks in the cave (the food in our stomach) and bring the diamonds and rare minerals to the surface. Without them, the extra vitamins and nutrients we get from our food would just remain sealed away and unused. What a waste when produce costs are so high!

Having a robust variety of bacteria, fungi, and viruses from a varied diet is quintessential so these processes of digestion can happen and give us the most benefit possible from the foods we are eating. 

When our gut microbiome is out of balance, called dysbiosis, this leads to both physical and mental health issues ranging in severity. For example, your sleep schedule could be negatively impacted because the gut releases muramyl peptides, which trigger the feeling of sleepiness that pulls you into bed at night. Or, one can experience an increase in anxiety and depression.

A mother selects produce at a Mobile Food Market.

This is because approximately 50% of the body’s dopamine and 95% of serotonin are created within the gut. Dopamine is a neurotransmitter that gives your brain the feelings of a reward and satisfaction, and plays a big part in motivation. It’s a lot easier to have the motivation to do something when your brain gets pleasure from doing whatever it is you need to do, like eating, sleeping, or exercising. Serotonin, another neurotransmitter, helps regulate your mood and keep your emotions on an even keel, while also contributing to sleep, memory, concentration, and more.

These two neurotransmitters, out of the many in our bodies, are some of the powerhouses in stabilizing our mood and keeping the brain fit and functioning well. They ebb and flow with food intake, hormones, stress levels, age, exercise and activity level, and more. But with so much of our dopamine and serotonin coming from our stomach, consistent access to healthy food becomes a great way to give ourselves a healthy baseline and stable mood.

Who would’ve thought that these drivers of our brain and our feelings would have come from our gut? It makes you think of the phrase “gut feeling”, doesn’t it?

There’s also preliminary research showing that an imbalance within the microbiome is linked to Alzheimer’s and dementia. This makes sense now, considering what we know about dopamine and serotonin and their ever-present influence on the brain.

You’re probably wondering how the activity of chemicals in our stomach is getting these messages across to our brain. The gut-brain axis is the answer! The biggest player in this connection is our vagus nerve, which runs directly from the brain to our stomach, colon, and intestines (with a few other stops along the way). It is the highway by which signals from within our gastrointestinal tract are interpreted and communicated to the brain, and vice versa. This is why when we experience nervousness, we can feel it in our stomach. It’s not actually butterflies flying around in there, but our brain’s interpretation of the emotional response.

So what can we do to ensure that our microbiome is healthy in order to promote our best overall health possible? It’s actually incredibly simple despite how complex these systems are. The answer is to eat a balance of prebiotic and probiotic rich foods.

Prebiotics are foods that nourish our microbiome. These foods are typically high in fiber, examples of which are oats, barley, garlic, leeks, artichokes, and bananas to name a few.

Probiotics are foods that are filled with the healthy microorganisms that we want in our gut. These are foods that are typically fermented, such as yogurt, sauerkraut, kimchi, miso, pickles, and tempeh. The two really work hand in hand so it’s important to consume a combination of the two.

Having too many prebiotics can lead us to experiencing a wide variety of GI distress because there aren’t enough microbiota to break down those nutrients. On the other hand, consuming too much probiotics also leads to GI distress, dehydration and brain fog. If keeping track of these types of food feels too complicated, there are many prebiotic and probiotic supplements that do the balancing act for you! 

Just like our last deep dive into the topic, we’ve found that achieving a healthy diet comes down to having a varied diet consisting of all of the food groups. And the consequences are pretty major! Food is hugely powerful in your overall health and happiness.

Unfortunately, consistent access to food, especially nutritious food, is something that millions of Americans don’t enjoy. As many as 1 in 3 Colorodans are facing food insecurity today. Their first concern is making sure they have another meal today to fill an empty stomach.

You can help us ensure that your neighbors have the right to a healthy and happy life by supporting We Don’t Waste! We believe food should go to people, not landfills. We do this by recovering surplus food from the food industry and distribute it to 100+ nonprofit partners serving families, seniors, the unhoused, and more, and directly to neighborhoods in food deserts through Mobile Food Markets. This diverts good food from the landfill, and creates food access for thousands of Coloradans every year.

We are proud to announce We Don’t Waste’s new volunteer-led food recovery app, We Rescue, serving the Denver metro area (including Boulder)! 

Join We Don’t Waste in our mission to end local food insecurity while preventing food waste. It’s as easy as downloading the app and going on your first food rescue run! 

Volunteers sign up and select the time they prefer to volunteer and the areas they’d like to serve, and food rescues with good, surplus food from food donors (like your favorite local restaurants, delis, and bakeries) are posted to the app. Volunteers claim a rescue, head to the food donor to pick up the food and drop it off with one of We Don’t Waste’s food recipient agencies.

Your impact as a We Rescue volunteer is huge. Smaller and more frequent food recoveries mean even more vital food access becomes available through nonprofits and community centers across Denver and Boulder. Local food businesses also have an easy, free way to donate food without interrupting their daily operations. 

It’s a win-win for the organizations creating food access and businesses with surplus food!

Volunteers can get started TODAY with We Rescue by downloading the app in the Google Play Store or in the App Store.

Why is it a big deal? Food insecurity is a major issue for communities in our own backyard. Data has shown that as many as 1 in 3 Coloradans are experiencing food insecurity, meaning they do not have consistent access to affordable, nutritious food. Shockingly, about 40% of all food produced in the US ends up in a landfill, and much of this food is edible, nutritious product. See the connection? We Rescue volunteers bridge the gap between the two, much like We Don’t Waste with our food recovery and distribution network.

“We really enjoy the flexibility of the program. The time commitment can be as much or as little as our schedule allows. We’ve done rescues on our way to the airport, on our way to other events, or just when we had some free time.”

—John & Betsy, We Rescue volunteers

F.A.Q. 

Is this the same app (Careit) We Don’t Waste has used for volunteer food recovery before?

The We Rescue app is a brand-new app, built from the ground up and powered by Food Rescue Hero to support We Don’t Waste’s distribution network in Denver and Boulder. 

How long does it take to get started? 

Downloading the app and creating an account takes just a few minutes. Make sure your notifications are turned on to be notified when runs are available in your area, and then you’re ready to rescue food!

Do I have to volunteer regularly? 

You can choose to claim a food rescue run just once, or claim a run each week as it becomes available. It’s up to you to decide how regularly you’d like to volunteer! 

Can I donate food through We Rescue? 

We accept food from local businesses like delis, bakeries, restaurants, and more, but we do not recover from households, clubs, etc. For more details on donating food, check out our food recovery page here. 

Christmas tree thrown to the trash bin on the street after celebration with recycling sign cardboard and Santa hat

It’s the time of year when everyone is showing off their best decoration skills. From creative menorahs and kinaras in windows to string lights, Christmas trees, and window decals. And it is a tradition for most to have some sort of feast, or holiday meal. The holiday celebrations may look different in every home, but one thing is consistent for Denver households: our waste levels skyrocket! Now that’s something truly frightful. To help make the season more delightful, and sustainable, we did a little digging and found some options to help folks adjust their holiday routines to take care of our planet. 

1. During the holiday season the average American wastes increases by 25%! A good portion of this is, sadly, uneaten food. Luckily, there’s a great tool to help folks get a better idea of how much food to make for any number of guests. Just plug in how many visitors you’re expecting, and how many meals’ worth of leftovers you’d like to have, and the tool tells you how many pounds of protein, sides, and desserts you’ll need. 

2. If you’ve already purchased your ingredients, it’s not too late! Transforming those leftovers into other meals, like soups, pot pies, and casseroles, is a great way to reduce the amount of wasted food at the holiday table. 

3. Lastly, remember to compost anything you can’t eat! It’s so much better for our environment than letting food waste become methane in our landfills.

4. Got broken string lights? It happens to us all. This year, if you have old lights that need to be disposed of–recycle them! Yes, you read that right. Denver has a network of light recycling drop-off locations available FOR FREE throughout December. Find a location near you. 

5. While we’re on the topic of recycling, did you know there are drop-off days for your tree? Once you’ve removed all decorations from the tree, you can bring it to one of twelve locations across the city throughout January. Your tree will then become mulch that you can pick up in May! 

6. Host an upcycled White Elephant. This tip is inspired by the yearly We Don’t Waste holiday party. Gather with friends and family, take an item from your home that still has lots of life left in it, that isn’t getting the attention it deserves, and have some fun! It’s a great way to extend the life cycle of household items and reduce the impact of gift exchanges. 

Friends giving gifts to each other while sitting at table. In background Christmas tree. Christmas holidays concept.

Please consider donating if you’d like to help us support increasing Denver’s food security this holiday season. What better way to bring holiday cheer than ensuring your neighbors can participate? 

Finally, from the We Don’t Waste team, we hope you have a happy and healthy holiday season!

Multicolor Happy Holidays framed by candy canes, pinecones, cranberries, and string lights.

Want to know something truly spooky? Each year, 1.3 billion pounds of pumpkins end up in landfills after Halloween. This is a huge missed opportunity considering how delicious and nutritious pumpkins are! We want to suggest some alternatives to make your visit to the pumpkin patch more sustainable, and give you some more fun activities to celebrate the fall harvest!

1. Invest in reusable pumpkin decorations to use each season. This can be an opportunity for crafts with the family by making papier-mâché jack-o-lanterns, or buying something pre-carved. This way, when Halloween is over, you aren’t left with a mushy, mostly dead pumpkin on the porch that will ultimately contribute to greenhouse gases. 

2. Save the pumpkin guts when you carve! After you’ve created your jack-o-lantern masterpiece, save the seeds and roast them with some salt for a tasty snack. The pulp can also be used in several ways: Purée it and then add to rice or risotto for added flavor. Try adding the purée mixture to your morning oatmeal, or freeze it and save it for a flavorful additive to a homemade chicken or vegetable broth. 
3. Make a bird feeder. By adding birdseed to an emptied-out pumpkin, local wildlife can get in on the pumpkin joy! 
4. Check out some classic pumpkin recipes. After you’ve selected the perfect pumpkins for your fall photo shoot, save them and turn them into some mouth-watering treats. Pumpkin pie is a classic go-to, but there are a lot more things you can create from the whole pumpkin, like calabaza en tacha. Or if you’re more of a savory fan, check out this We Don’t Waste recipe for pumpkin alfredo. 

5. Create pumpkin chips! If you have a dehydrator, this simple hack creates a nutrient-dense and richly flavorful snack from the rinds of the pumpkin. Peel off the pumpkin skin (make sure you peel large sections, as high water content means they’ll shrink right up as they dehydrate) and crisp them in a dehydrator with a sprinkling of paprika and sea salt. Bake them at 220°F for 20-30 minutes or until pumpkin chips begin to crisp. Turn off oven and let pumpkins sit in the oven while the oven cools. Remove the chips after about 20 minutes, they should be crunchy. Dust with cinnamon, and enjoy!
6. Add pumpkins to the compost when you’re done. Be sure to cut it into smaller pieces to allow the rind to decompose more quickly, and add carbon-heavy additives like leaves, newspaper, or wood ash to balance out your mixture. Want to learn more about composting? Check out our blog on composting here. 

Want to find more ways to reduce waste in your kitchen at home? Check out more tips on our education page!