Food Waste Friday: Making a Meal Plan

by Jamie Simpher, KC Can Compost Volunteer

There are so many benefits to meal planning. It makes your life easier, it reduces your grocery bill, and of course it cuts down on wasted food. Here are a few tips for starting your meal plan!

Consider your leftovers

When deciding what you’ll make in the coming week, think about what you’ve already got in the fridge. Make a plan for eating leftovers from previous meals, and come up with recipes that incorporate the ingredients you already have. Do you have two bell peppers that are starting to get a little wrinkly? Fill them with goat cheese and toss them on the grill! Did you buy more carrots than you needed? Turn the rest into a spicy soup!

Play the substitution game

If you’re meal planning for the first time, it might be tempting to put lots of ambitious new recipes on your meal plan. That’s great! Far be it from us to stifle your creativity or your kitchen ambition. But if your recipe calls for a spice you don’t normally use, or an ingredient you’ve never cooked with before—consider whether you might have a good substitute available already. This will help you avoid ending up with a lot of odds and ends you rarely cook with.

Try the farmer’s market

Kansas City has several awesome farmer’s markets to choose from! Whether you’re going to the City Market, Brookside, or Overland Park, farmer’s markets are a great way to fresh, local produce. You usually have more control over the quantities you’re purchasing, too, which lets you stick more closely to your meal plan by avoiding too-large proportions of your ingredients.

Pay attention to your waste

KC Can Compost offers a free waste analysis to our commercial composting clients, but you can do your own food waste audit in your home kitchen! Take note of what food usually goes bad before you use it—and adjust your shopping accordingly.