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The Waste-Free Kitchen

Imagine walking out of the grocery store with four bags full of fresh food, dropping one entire bag, and not bothering to pick it up. It seems crazy, but if you count up the lettuce that went bad, the forgotten leftovers, and the science experiment in the back of the fridge, the average American tosses out 15 to 25 percent of purchased food. This has serious resource impacts.  In fact, about ¼ of the water in the U.S. is used to grow food that’s never eaten.

Nobody wants to waste food, but despite good intentions, it happens to the best of us.  And over the holidays, it’s even worse!  The good news is making a difference has never been easier or more delicious. Dana Gunders’ Waste Free Kitchen Handbook: A Guide to Eating Well and Saving Money by Wasting Less Food shows us how we can turn this trend around. Packed with engaging checklists, simple recipes, and practical strategies, Dana’s book dispels the illusion that addressing food-waste requires tons of time and money. She uncovers the myths around expiration dates and shows how to shop smarter, portion more accurately, and simply use a refrigerator properly.  Also included are delicious “use-it-up” recipes like Buried Chocolate Avocado Mousse.  And to top it off, there is a reference section on how to store, freeze, and get creative with over 85 different foods.

Come hear Dana talk about why so much food goes to waste across the country and what we can do about it in our own homes.  The talk will include a taste of  Dana’s Buried Chocolate Avocado Mousse.

Dana Gunders is a Staff Scientist at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) and one of the first to bring to light just how much food is wasted across the country through her 2012 report Wasted: How America is Losing Up to 40% of Its Food from Farm to Fork to Landfill.  Dana’s work to reduce food waste has been covered on CNN, NBC, The New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Fox Business, NPR, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and many other outlets.  She now works with policymakers, food companies, foundations, and local governments and leads NRDC’s food waste team.  Along the way, she realized a key reason people waste food is that they don’t have the right knowledge at their fingertips. Thus was born the Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook.