Kitchen

Food is one of the best opportunities for you to make zero waste choices!  Most people in the western world buy TONS of trash when shopping for food and this can be largely avoided using the REDUCE principle -- just do not buy trash so you can save money and our environment at the same time.

So check out the articles below on how to avoid buying all the trash you see in the picture above!

Grocery Shopping

Staples

Recipes

Restaurant Takeout

Zero Waste Restaurants in/near Sunnyvale, CA

Halloween

Notes: 

1. We like meat and dairy products but have greatly reduced our consumption of it in favor of plant based foods. When we eat meat it is usually sustainably raised organic chicken or turkey and occasionally grass fed/grass finished beef. We also eat organic eggs and cheeses. If you are vegetarian, great move! Thanks!

2. Sequential Cooking -- When I cook and bake I often think about making several things in sequence to minimize cleanup and waste. For instance when making granola I often will make brown sugar first, then make the granola, then reuse the same utensils and pans for making cookies as I can use my stand mixer to make brown sugar first and then cookie dough second without washing in between. In a similar fashion, I can use the baking sheets from granola to make cookies without needing to clean them in between. Sometimes I will also make beef jerkey after the cookies too for a 3rd reuse because I put the beef jerky on grates above the cooking sheet. And rather than just let the beef jerky juices and seasonings drip off and harden in the bottom of the pan, I'll pour them off to include in a soup or gravy.

3. Cast iron frying pans are a great example of extended sequential cooking. If I am just cooking bacon and eggs or similar foods, I can just leave the grease from the prior day in the pan for the next day of cooking. No real need to clean the pan unless there is something burned on or crusty or gooey. Left over grease is fine. The grease left over from one use can be reheated and used the next day or two or three. The iron pan self sterilizes due to the heat involved. Even after making fried rice, I sometimes do not need to clean my pan although after a stir fry I usually do as it usually involves more sauces and liquids. When I clean my iron pan I just use some water, a metal spatula, and a scrubby pad -- no soap -- and re-oil it afterwards. Seasoned iron frying pans are wonderful, magical even, and you can learn a lot more about properly taking care of them elsewhere.