Reduce Food Waste Course

Within the MOTHER EARTH NEWS community we have had countless of conversations with folks far and wide who cringe at the notion of wasting food. Just what could it be like if we could eliminate food waste from our lives?!

We were thrilled when author and longtime FAIR contributor Sherri Brooks Vinton approached us about teaching this course on the topic. Sherri takes a multipronged approach to tackling food waste once and for all with her unique and insightful techniques in this series of workshop videos.

Save time, money, and the planet!

Can you imagine coming home from the grocery store and pitching one of your bags of food directly into the trash? Or offering to pay more at the checkout? It seems like a silly concept, but that’s what we do when we waste food. Nearly 40 percent of food produced in the U.S. goes uneaten, and a large percentage of that happens in the home. But there’s a lot we can do about it! 

Join Sherri Brooks Vinton and learn about all the easy, quick, and delicious ways you can reduce food waste in your own kitchen. Save time, energy, and money by adopting simple tips and tricks that will help you enjoy every last bite of the food you buy! Conserve natural resources and slow climate change in the process. Let’s eat it up!

Composting Even inedible foods don’t have to become waste. Composting turns kitchen scraps into a nutrient-rich soil amendment. This brief overview introduces the various approaches one can take to capturing this otherwise wasted nutrition.

Gleaning Gleaning is a time-tested practice that ensures fields and other food sources are picked clean, leaving nothing tasty behind. Learn about organizations that are sponsoring gleaning groups and how you can get involved.

Nose to Tail Produce Savvy cooks — from seasoned grannies to professional chefs — never let a stalk, husk, or stem go to waste. Learn how every part of the plant can be used in your cooking. This is a two-part workshop.

Organizing Your Storage If you don’t know what you have, you can't eat it up. Learn about sustainable ways you can store food, the best ways to organize your fridge, and some thoughts on food safety. This is a three-part workshop.

The Arc of Freshness Many foods go through stages of deliciousness as they age; we’ll look at how you can enjoy them over their whole life span. A loaf of bread shows us the way through this concept. This is a three-part workshop.

The Arc of Ripeness We often use “the peak of ripeness” as the gold standard for flavor, but many foods can be eaten at different stages on their path from sprout to “throw it out.” This lesson talks about food across this spectrum of ripeness and gives some creative ways to enjoy under- and overripe foods. This is a three-part workshop.

Trash Fish There are more fish in the sea. Your momma told you that, and I will too. We’ll talk about all the less popular fish available, and the tasty possibilities of trying new things. This is a two-part workshop.

Ugly Food Let’s talk about ugly food; what it is and why it’s so important not to judge a book by its cover. Plus, learn a few tricks for helping ugly food put its best foot forward. This is a three-part workshop.

Using Up Leftovers Leftovers don’t have to taste like a reheated memory of last night’s meal. We’ll cover three strategies that will put cooked ingredients to work. Whether you have a little or a lot, there are easy ways to use it up! This is a four-part workshop.

Whole-beast Cooking Meat and poultry eaters can get the most out of every cut by using up every bit of the beast they buy, and I’ll show you how to do it. Here’s an easy method for cutting up a whole chicken and getting at least three meals out of it. This is a two-part workshop.