Waste Less Food – Plus Cheesy Pasta Recipe

Food waste is a huge issue, especially here in the US.  Meal planning is a huge help in our house to prevent wasting food.  We typically have our meals planned and buy only what we need for the week.  When we entertain, I usually pick up more random things, like cheeses, breads, or specialty items.  During the holidays, this seems to happen a lot more.  I’ve started to realize A) I always overbuy and B) I usually end up throwing away moldy cheeses, breads, and crackers left over and that needs to stop.  Here are a few ways I’ve started to use up food that we buy for appetizers that we don’t typically use in our day to day meals.

• Cheese!  I love a good cheese board, but because I can’t have much dairy, I try to limit my intake to special occasions.  After a party, we usually end up with random mini blocks left over . I’ve been immediately shredding blocks that can be shredded and freezing what I won’t use in the upcoming week.  We can later use this for soup and chili toppings, quesadilla fillings, or added into morning eggs.  This last time, I kept a cup and mixed it into some chickpea pasta with other veggies.
• Crackers and chips.  No appetizer is complete without these.  But do you end up with extras that are bound to go stale?  I break them up and store them in an airtight container for salad toppings (love a little crunch) or added on top of soups, stews, and chili.
• Bread.  We rarely ever finish an entire loaf of bread or baguette.  I immediately slice it up and freeze it.  This way, we always have bread for avocado toast!  I take a few pieces of frozen baguette or sourdough, then toast it and serve it with soups, salads, and other dishes during the week.
• Herbs.  If you don’t usually cook wit fresh herbs, it’s easy to forget about them until they’re rotten and need to be tossed.  Keep fresh herbs in a visible place as a reminder to use them.  I stick the ends of cilantro and parsley in a cup of fresh water to keep them fresh.  Use fresh herbs on almost everything!  Top avocado toast, mix into dishes, or blend with nuts, a little oil, salt, pepper and garlic to create a pesto

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Hope these ideas help with fighting food waste.  Let me know if you have any additional tips!