What forced us to drastically reduce our food waste
Plus, how I solved my breakfast dilemma!
Hiiiiyeee!
I made it out of my head and into this newsletter. Huzzah! I hope you’ve been excellent.
I meant to get this post out before my European work + sister hang. Didn’t happen. But I kept at it on the plane and at the rink. Ratatatat…
Let me catch you up!
September was a stressful, frustrating, thumbs down emoji. We did not gracefully re-enter routine. I make choices every day to help things go more smoothly at home, and it bothered me deeply that sh*t fell off in September.
After the tantrums (mine included), we fixed messy September with brave conversations and said things that we’ve never expressed. Feeling supported and seen. Better!
In October, Step and I celebrated 20 years married and 28 years as a couple. Time’s a trip, y’all. Staying committed to my person has been the easiest and most challenging thing I’ve ever done.
Do I have more to say about how we hang on? Not really. Love, friendship and laughter make my heart soar, but to us, partnership is our North Star.
Then Europe! I went to the massive content market called MIPCOM in Cannes, France, and followed that whirlwind with a romp through Rome and Berlin with my sis.
We shopped, gabbed and ate the most deeelicious things. It’s been a ride folks. Good to be back.
Read this post in your browser for the best experience. I’ve got food on the brain folks.
Let’s do DIS!
What forced us to drastically reduce our food waste
How I solved my breakfast dilemma
My Fall YES-ESSENTIALS
What forced us to drastically reduce our food waste
Someone stole our green bin. For my stateside readers, that’s our food compost up here in Ontario. That was the inciting incident that changed our pattern with food.
The night before pickup, I went through our chest freezer to purge. We had ready-made pizzas from two years ago, some ancient, seasoned meats, a mummified loaf of pumpernickel bread. The green bin was brimming. We had to put a bag on top.
It took us a while to figure it out, but we pieced together that sometime between Step putting out the bin at 6:00am and before 7:30am someone took the bag from the top before the city came to pick it up.
We shrugged our shoulders and realized it was a real sign of how tough it is these days. Someone saw frozen pizzas and rolled the dice.
The next week Step put out the green bin at 6:00am-ish, but it was never emptied by the city.
Someone took it away - for the day and placed it back in our backyard (still full) before I got home.
This time, they had wheeled it away to get a good rifle through.
Well, that freaked us out.
According to the green bin bandit, we were throwing away perfectly good food. The full bin return showed we weren’t, but it looked like we were throwing out good stuff.
Could it be true? Were we being wasteful?
The bin bandit spurred us. We’ve always wanted to focus on drastically reducing our food waste. I read recently that to change a pattern you need to make a different choice.
Now we’re making a series of different choices that I’m super proud of and want to share!
1. We text when we purchase.
This is the biggest adjustment. Now every time (mostly every time) Step or I buy any groceries, we text each other. “Just grabbed OJ!” or “Walking home, do we need anything?”
Nothing is purchased without the other person knowing what is coming into the house. This way, we avoid any duplication.
2. We don’t force food.
I just found out twelve years too late, that both Step and my son don’t like ribs. What? Beef ribs are still a hit, pork ribs are a ‘nah.’
Ribs have been in the biweekly rotation forever. I get them on sale, marinade immediately, freeze, thaw the night before and Step slow bakes in the oven. But I was the only one interested in the leftovers.
Ribs are out. If it’s not a hit, we’re not going to have it, or some will go to waste.
3. We improved our big box store strategy.
You know how it goes; you walk in with a short, pointed list and walk out with a full cart. Oops.
New rule - we don’t buy family-size anything anymore. No dry goods, no wet goods. That giant bag of ketchup chips is not coming home with us, dear child. We never get through it.
4. We’re better at estimating.
Our son is eating second breakfasts, second dinners. It’s incredible to see him growing so much. It’s a challenge to estimate how much he’s going to eat at a meal. My instinct is to “Mama Bear” overcompensate and do it UP.
I’ve banished asking “What if he’s still hungry?” because he’s ALWAYS hungry. And if he is, he’ll have a snack or a third dinner or other leftovers. No need to overcook.
5. We care less about variety.
We’re tops at reimagining last night’s dinner for the next day’s lunch. But we often don’t feel like having last night’s leftovers the next day for dinner.
Remix - we’ve double down committed to hitting leftovers at multiple meals. Variety is the spice of life, right? No. Wrong.
Using what you have and saving money is the spice of life. Not as catchy, but we’re going with it!
6. We re-organized our food storage.
We have a pantry upstairs and we keep overflow cans on shelves in the basement. Step used one of his vacation days to completely re-org the cans downstairs. Now we can SEE what we’ve got.
And what we’ve got is six giant cans of enchilada sauce. Seriously?
7. I stopped herb hoarding.
I’m the culprit who will buy fresh coriander, dill, basil, chives, thyme, oregano in one go. I love me some herbs, but I never use them all.
Bye bye bougee chef and hello dried herbs. I’m capped at two herbs a week and it’s working.
We’re still on a journey to be hyper-mindful of our food management and purchases.
In the meantime, we’ve made our green bin waaaayy less attractive!
How I solved my breakfast dilemma – rice pudding!
I’ve skipped breakfast for the last four years.
I intuitively fell into intuitive eating. The hype is legit. I loved it. My jeans loved it. But intermittent fasting does not love me back. I have vitamin and mineral deficiencies and have been strongly encouraged by my health professionals to go back to eating three meals a day.
I was stuck. I don’t love eggs. I don’t dig fruit bowls or yogurt. I hit bread if it’s freshly baked. I’ve reduced gluten. Cereal, nope. It was my acupuncturist who suggested rice congee or rice pudding as part of my morning.
After I gagged at the thought (mushy rice, bleccch), I opted to be open-minded. I gave it a try.
I experimented with rice congee. Excellent recipe here. But then I remembered my acupuncturist mentioned coconut rice. I’m West Indian. I know my way around a coconut x rice pairing - rice an’ peas, cook-up rice. After weeks of trials, I nailed it. Nailed it!
I’m so in love with this recipe, and it’s perfect for this time of year when the temp shifts down.
I top it with whatever fruit I’m feeling, sliced mangoes, sliced peaches or coconut flakes.
I have the rice pudding as a starter and then eat some protein (usually leftover chicken, smoked salmon) as I’m to front load my mornings with protein, too.
Here’s how I make it.
AG’s Coconut Rice Pudding
Ingredients
· 1 cup jasmine rice (washed)
· 4 cups of water
· 2 cups of coconut water (Vita Coco has flavour)
· 1 can of coconut milk (Grace brand is my go-to)
· 1 vanilla pod (cut and vanilla paste scraped out like this)
· ¼ cup maple syrup (or more to taste)
· 1 tsp cinnamon
· ½ tsp nutmeg
· ¼ tsp clove
· ¼ tsp allspice
STEP 1:
Rinse and drain rice. In a large saucepan, combine water, rice, coconut water, coconut milk and bring to boil while covered.
Simmer covered over low heat for 45 minutes.
STEP 2:
Cut and scrape the insides of the vanilla pod and add the whole dang pod and the vanilla paste to the saucepan.
Continue to simmer for 15 minutes more.
STEP 3:
Add maple syrup and spices.
Measurements are suggestions, this is where you add what tastes good to you.
STEP 4:
Transfer your desired serving to a bowl and cool slightly.
Top with toasted coconut flakes, fresh fruit, jam if it’s your jam. Enjoy.
I like my rice pudding more wet than thick. Feel free to adjust with less water or less coconut water.
This makes a ton, so I hit it and never quit it for five days because I keep the leftovers in the fridge. Works as a cozy beddie bye snack or a dessert as well.
I’m curious to hear what new and exciting breakfast you’ve tried. Send me a comment!
My Fall YES-ESSENTIALS
A few more links to what I’m digging right now -
DRINK -The ol’ joints are getting more creaky as the years wear on. I dig a turmeric tea before nighty night.
SMELL -This brand’s deods are such a treat and so is the body mist.
PACK - My pal, Marni, sent me this travel tip video and I can’t get enough.
WEAR – Why am I so late to compression socks? Girdles for my calves is a thing. Good round up here.
EAT - I just discovered Chilean corn pie, Pastel de Choclo, will try this recipe (maybe no eggs for me, though…)
WRITE - We’re old school and still write everything on a giant calendar. This month is when I get my next Stendig Calendar
COVER – I’m only as young as my concealer. This stick be turning back de clock.
WATCH – How to Die Alone (Hulu) is Natasha Rothwell’s baby (Insecure). Great interview in ELLE. Halfway through and lovin’ it.
KEEP CALM – The recent change of guard south of us drew me back to this tincture.
Someone very smart recently asked me if I feel cherished. Talk about a deep question!
I was honest. I answered “yes.” The recent changes at home and how I’m treating myself lately turned that into a fresh “yes”.
I’m wishing you the same answer. Let’s ride out this year on top.
Thanks for reading!
Comments