A flimsy plastic kitchen gadget that should not exist inspired this post: the Evriholder Avo Saver Avocado Holder. Shaped like one half of an avocado, with a round indentation for the seed and an adjustable rubber strap, this gadget buckles in the half avocado you didn’t eat so you can store it in the refrigerator and […]
frugal
A Use-It-Up Challenge (or What We Ate Last Week)
Forgetting to bring your money before you head out shopping can provide a great opportunity to re-examine your shopping list—and in the case of grocery shopping, prevent food waste. The Sunday before last, I arrived at the farmers’ market late. Once there, before even opening my purse, I realized I had neither money nor my […]
Why Cook Two Things at Once When You Can Cook Six?
I strive to run my kitchen as efficiently as possible—I use up absolutely every bit of food, do my best to dirty only one bowl instead of two or three or four and on an ideal day, cram as much as possible into my oven and cook a pile of food all at once. After working […]
Waste Nothing Beet Pickles
How can I possibly be so excited about something as lowly as beet pickles, besides the fact that they taste delicious? My daughter MK has loved these since she was little. I ate most of the pickles I made for this post though…I had to do quality control…sorry MK… Nothing goes to waste To make […]
Please Do not Turn Zero Waste into Another Consumer Lifestyle
Every week, at least a few companies contact me about a “fantastic opportunity to collaborate” and peddle their wares for them on here, wares that apparently no zero waster can live without. I can’t possibly respond to all the messages I get, so I generally ignore these pitches—even for products and services I might like. […]
Ditch the Produce Wash and Use Baking Soda and Water Instead
Someday we shall look back on this dark era of agriculture and shake our heads. How could we have ever believed that it was a good idea to grow our food with poisons?” — Dr. Jane Goodall I buy organic produce at the farmers’ market from small local producers who: grow a variety of crops […]
Freestyle Cooking: The Recipe for Eliminating Food Waste
According to a recent USDA study, Americans waste 1 pound per person per day at the household level. Now I basically live and breathe waste. I would like to insert the word figuratively into that statement but with plastic pollution in our water, our air, our soil and our food I cannot. Even with my crossed-the-borderline […]
My Home Is Filled With Discarded Stuff No One Wanted
Before I buy something new, I like to consider: How to dispose of the item at the end of its (usually short) life The type of material the item is made of—I avoid buying any new plastic The (usually excessive) packaging that accompanies the item The resources that went into manufacturing the item—water, energy, labor […]
9 Items I Banned from My Kitchen and How I Replaced Them
In 2011, my daughter MK and I decided we would try to live without plastic. Because I’ve been at this for a while, I take for granted many of the early changes we made back then to wean ourselves off of the stuff. But with all the welcome press lately on the plastic pollution crisis […]
The Lemon Sorbet of Compromise
My daughter Charlotte started feeling sick Friday. As I left for the grocery store to fill up on supplies for my sourdough bread boot camp workshop, she asked me to bring her back sorbet, or sherbet or some other frozen dessert other than ice cream to soothe her throat. I said I would look. In […]
Lemon Extract
I feel as though have a part-time job at the moment finding uses for the lemons that our tree rains down upon us. If I had more than one lemon tree as prolific as this one, I would lose my mind. Or I would list the location of my trees on Falling Fruit, a site […]