The Blog

I hate wasting food. I was raised to be (or shall I say shamed into being) a member of the clean plate club. Those depressing UNICEF commercials with the starving children that would come on during my after school programming were seared into my subconscious. And, even though I can rationalize that regardless of whether the food goes into the trash can or my belly, it doesn’t help the starving children in Africa, I still can’t throw it away. 

But, if I’m full, I also don’t want to gorge myself and feel bad about it (or because of it) later. Plus, I need to save some space for my chocolate pocket. If you don’t experience the craving to have a little something sweet after each meal (e.g. one bite of chocolate or even a piece of fruit after breakfast), then I both envy and feel bad for you because you’re missing out. But you’re also probably less addicted to chocolate than I am and potentially in better shape.

And, now, as a parent, I have a whole new appreciation for the time and effort that goes into preparing food for your family to eat. It is super frustrating when you put a lot of energy into making food you think your family will enjoy, only to have picky eaters turn up their noses and push their plates away. What’s a parent to do?

My answer… save what you can for another time. One of my favorite ways to trick picky eaters into eating leftovers is to *represent* the food as something else. I even used to do this with my husband — he would eat anything if it was wrapped in a tortilla or disguised as tapas. Everyone probably knows about putting leftover meat and veggies in eggs, but how about leftover fruit, carrots and yogurt in smoothies? My kids suck those leftovers down when disguised as a fresh mango smoothie. Haha. Suckers.

I’m also a big fan of freezing food. Maybe you made a giant lasagna and your kids won’t touch it because of the ground beef. Guess what goes in your freezer for the next dinner party? You premade too many margaritas in that giant pitcher. No problem. Pour it into ice trays and you have margarita ice cubes ready for the next cocktail party. After all, alcohol is expensive. 

And, it’s super annoying to constantly be throwing away stale or expired food when you can easily extend the life of your bulk croissant purchase or loaf of bread by putting half of it in a freezer friendly zip bag. 

Plus, who wants to be running to the store all the time (you have way better things to do) when you could easily dig that extra bread out of the freezer. This is especially helpful when you’re going out of town, have lots of perishables, and coming back late at night. You might want coffee with milk the next morning, but your milk will be expired by the time you get back. Freeze it in a reusable water bottle and pull it out the night you get back. You’ll be so happy you did when the chaos of life smacks you in the face bright and early the next morning. You can handle it because at least you have your coffee with milk.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve frozen desserts. Mostly, I do it to save my kids (but really myself) from eating too much in one week. I slice up that cake or pack up those cookies in plastic containers and into the freezer they go. Just pull them out a few hours before eating them and… voila! You’ve got just what your chocolate pocket needs… and then some. You’re welcome.

While we’re talking food, please go make a donation to your local food bank (directly or via Feeding America) or to help fight global hunger, check out the World Food Program. Food banks don’t want your expired cans of beans, but they do want unexpired nonperishables and cash donations. In a world with enough food for everyone, we still have a surprising amount of food insecurity. It’s insane, but at least you can do something to help.