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Cooking With We Don’t Waste

Recipes, nutrition, and more!

Adopting zero waste cooking habits using leftover ends & stems can minimize household food waste and save you money! There are so many creative, easy ways to waste less food in your kitchen. Check out our tips, tricks, and recipes to use up those ends and stems!

GO TO COOKING TIPS

Check out our most recent recipes

Sauces & Dips

No Waste Pesto
Cilantro & Basil Vinaigrette
Mango Salsa
Hummus
Strawberry Jalepeño Salsa
Garlic & Herb Cottage Cheese Dip
Corn and Bean Salsa
Fruit Dip
Sunflower Butter Yogurt Dip

appetizers

Carrot Pudding
Butternut Squash Fries
Pumpkin Alfredo
Feta Stuffed Mushrooms
Asparagus + Pepper Tapenade
Banitas (Banana Peel Carnitas)
Mexican Coleslaw
Feta Stuffed Mushrooms
Cucumber Stuffed Cherry Tomatoes
Spicy Breaded Meatballs

Soups

Potato Peel Soup
Classic Chili

Creative Cooking

Prep With Less Waste

  • Scrub your vegetables clean rather than peeling to reduce waste.
  • Use every part of the food— vegetable scraps can be stored in the fridge and freezer until you’re ready to prepare a veggie broth out of them. 
  • Use aquafaba (the liquid from canned garbanzo beans) to make a salad dressing in place of the typical oil base. 
  • Use stems and ends, such as carrot tops or beet leaves, in soups, salads, pestos, and chimichurri. There are lots of recipes online that incorporate every part of the food.
  • Cauliflower and broccoli leaves and stems are totally edible! Peeling the toughest outside layer of a broccoli stem (it’s very tough to chew) and you’ve got even more broccoli for your buck!

Overripe But Still Edible

  • Use overripe bananas for banana bread or banana ice cream! Freeze them when they go brown and save them for up to a year before using them for a recipe.
  • Freeze any overripe fruits and veggies and use them in smoothies!
  • Use overripe avocados for a chocolate mousse recipe with some cacao, or as a base in smoothies! 
  • Repurpose stale ingredients into alternative foods, for example stale bread into croutons or breadcrumbs.

Try These Resources

  • Save The Food has lots of recipes for you to try using leftover ingredients, as well as the ends and stems of popular foods!
  • SuperCook allows you to input whatever ingredients you have in your fridge and lists countless recipes with those foods included.
Check out More Food Saving Tips!

did you know?

The average four person household in the u.s. spends around $1,800 a year on wasted food.
– USDA, 2021