There was a largely new set of faces this month, and it was good to get to meet even more people interested in supporting each other on our low-waste journey. The conversation was so engaging I didn't take copious notes, so these minutes recreated from memory.
We talked about reducing food waste mainly in these four categories:
1. Composting food scraps and other organic materials.
Sending food to the landfill is apparently a major source of methane generation, whereas food in compost piles produces hardly any methane and lots of good soil additives. Sometimes, it also produces rodents and we chatted a bit about that side of it, too.
Lancaster doesn't have curbside compost collection, and we lamented this lack. I'm thankful to Eve for forwarding me this NYTimes article on the subject: One thing your city can do: reduce food waste.
2. Wasting less food in the first place.
It just so happens that Consumer Reports emailed me about 15 minutes before the ZWL meeting with these helpful hints:
To this list, our group waxed poetic about soup, and also about turmeric for flavoring soup and for flavoring just about anything else. The things we save for use in soup is long, including scavenged vegetables and water that had been used for steaming veggies.
3. Using less energy to cook our meals.
Some of us cook several thing in the oven at once (some of the others of us want the recipes for baked beans and rice pudding -- not mixed together, but baked simultaneously). There's a rule of thumb that smaller appliances use less energy than large appliances, so that boiling water in an electric kettle is more efficient than boiling it in the pot. On a related note, many of us use crock pots and/or instant pots, and those of us who use instant pots tried to gush without proselytizing, a tightrope walk if there ever was one.
4. Buying food without single-use packaging.
My husband made a guest appearance to talk about his experiences at a local butcher, getting meat that he carries home in pyrex container. Mainstream groceries can sometime be convinced to let you use your own containers. Central Market and Lemon Street Market and super happy for people to bring their own containers for many bulk items (herbs, olive oil, dried beans, etc).
Sometimes it's hard to remember to bring containers, but I described how my containers ARE my shopping list: when I'm running low on (say) pepper, I toss the pepper jar into my market bag. Ditto for olive oil, eggs, milk, and Easter Candy.
And . . . that's what I remember.
p.s. Mark your calendars also for the first Zero Waste Lancaster meeting of 2020:
Lancaster City Public Works Climate Action Plan
January 21, 2020, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Doug Smith, Senior Planner for the City of Lancaster, will talk with us about the city's bold Climate Action plan.
We talked about reducing food waste mainly in these four categories:
1. Composting food scraps and other organic materials.
Sending food to the landfill is apparently a major source of methane generation, whereas food in compost piles produces hardly any methane and lots of good soil additives. Sometimes, it also produces rodents and we chatted a bit about that side of it, too.
Lancaster doesn't have curbside compost collection, and we lamented this lack. I'm thankful to Eve for forwarding me this NYTimes article on the subject: One thing your city can do: reduce food waste.
2. Wasting less food in the first place.
It just so happens that Consumer Reports emailed me about 15 minutes before the ZWL meeting with these helpful hints:
- Kitchen cabinets should be between 50° F and 70° F,
- Next, don’t take those “best by” dates on packages as gospel—even for fresh foods such as yogurt, milk, or eggs.
- And when you’re storing dry goods, the key word to remember is airtight,
- be sure to label containers and bags with the date you wrapped and refrigerated or froze the foods.
To this list, our group waxed poetic about soup, and also about turmeric for flavoring soup and for flavoring just about anything else. The things we save for use in soup is long, including scavenged vegetables and water that had been used for steaming veggies.
3. Using less energy to cook our meals.
Some of us cook several thing in the oven at once (some of the others of us want the recipes for baked beans and rice pudding -- not mixed together, but baked simultaneously). There's a rule of thumb that smaller appliances use less energy than large appliances, so that boiling water in an electric kettle is more efficient than boiling it in the pot. On a related note, many of us use crock pots and/or instant pots, and those of us who use instant pots tried to gush without proselytizing, a tightrope walk if there ever was one.
4. Buying food without single-use packaging.
My husband made a guest appearance to talk about his experiences at a local butcher, getting meat that he carries home in pyrex container. Mainstream groceries can sometime be convinced to let you use your own containers. Central Market and Lemon Street Market and super happy for people to bring their own containers for many bulk items (herbs, olive oil, dried beans, etc).
Sometimes it's hard to remember to bring containers, but I described how my containers ARE my shopping list: when I'm running low on (say) pepper, I toss the pepper jar into my market bag. Ditto for olive oil, eggs, milk, and Easter Candy.
And . . . that's what I remember.
p.s. Mark your calendars also for the first Zero Waste Lancaster meeting of 2020:
Lancaster City Public Works Climate Action Plan
January 21, 2020, 7:00-8:30 p.m.
Doug Smith, Senior Planner for the City of Lancaster, will talk with us about the city's bold Climate Action plan.
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