It sounds like we grew up in a similar era. My grandmother made some of the best bread pudding. I do something similar now with the leftover rice -> rice pudding.

It might have something to do with losing those home economics classes, and something to do with the boon and busyness of the 80′s too. More and more families became 2 income households, less time was spent in the kitchen, maybe because no time was spent at the grocery store unless to pick up a heat-and-serve item.

It’s time to turn the clock back in some respects. Get back in touch with your food and where it comes from. Learn how to use everything up…casseroles can be tasty too! And if it’s gone-past-saving, then at least compost it. No garden? Maybe a farmer with chickens or pigs could use it, as Jenny Brown says in a comment above. You can get creative about it, if you put your mind to it.

Any other ideas?

Maybe some waste can’t be avoided, but what we have going on here in this country (and many other industrialized countries) is just too much food waste, plain and simple.

I am a baby boomer who grew up during a time when little was wasted and I grew up in the city, but I can remember my mom taking leftover meatloaf, chopping it up with cooked rice, caramelized onions, herbs and spices to make stuffed peppers, and creating the best bread pudding known to mankind with stale bread.

I have been a cooking instructor for over twenty years and I insist that we need to get back to the basics. As far as waste in our individual homes; we can first start to understand serving size and how much our family actually needs to be served. That sort of thing use to be taught in Home Economics/Cooking class, oh yeah budget cuts took away a number of those programs…perhaps even that one. I can’t wait for this book to come out!!

It’s really powerful to learn ways people are working together to lessen waste. If anyone else has any ideas to share, I’m all ears!

If you don’t have livestock to feed your waste to, composting it will be great. If you can’t do either, find someone who can use your leftover waste.

Yes, it is a challenge, But one worth doing. Thanks for sharing, Tricia.

Any other good ideas?

Seriously though, if there is, yes, we take our compostable can liners with us to events to try and collect any extra food or compostable waste.

The bulk of our waste comes from the food prep stage – luckily we share a kitchen with a local soup vendor, and we give all of our leftover vegetable waste to her for making stock.

The bottom line is that we do everything we can to make sure we use as much food as possible and then compost or donate what we don’t. It will always be a challenge, yet we keep coming up with more creative ways to use ingredients in dishes where we may not have thought to before. I like to think of it as a game!

Thanks for sharing Fork it Over ( http://bit.ly/Q2kd ). What a great resource for people looking to *not* waste their food.

Do you have a chance to compost any of the food left on plates?

Thanks for posting this. I will start reading Jonathan’s blog to understand this issue better and streamline how we use the food we do order. In the meantime, Fork it Over is a great resource for donations!