Last week we asked the composting giants to share their stories. This week, we go to the other end of the scale (literally). What’s the secret to virtually having no food waste at all? Turns out there’s not one answer, but having fewer people in our household certainly helps. So does renovating your kitchen and eating out. Or feeding animals. Or brewing up your own veggie broth, the true secret sauce.
Thank you, near-zero wasters for sharing your stories . . . what’s yours?
17.9 lbs. (LC37)
We are just two people, so that may be why we're at the low end. We mostly eat vegetarian, though, so you'd think we might have more scraps. But I guess potato peels and mandarin rinds and egg shells don't weigh so much? We're pretty good at eating up our leftovers. And I have been pretty strict about not putting in things that have any traces of meat or dairy, like the booklet said. Maybe too careful? I don't know.
We really do like that we're not throwing that stuff in the trash though. I need to learn a little more about what the proper mix in the composter should be. Right now it just looks like moldy stuff with some paper towels and tea bags thrown in on top. I guess I need dirt? or leaves? [answer: dry leaves/grass is the way to go -- the decomposers will make the soil!]
17.4 lbs. (LC18)
There are only 2 people in my household - my husband and I. We usually eat every dinner at home - though now and then we splurge and eat out. We eat veggies - but typically eat all of them, so no waste to toss. I put all potato and veggie peels in the pail so that helps to add weight. We only eat about 4-5 bananas a week (max!) and those peels sometimes end up in the trash before I remember to get them!
As far as food waste, we don't throw out much food. If we do throw out food, I don't add it to the compost if it has any dairy in it. We eat eggs daily but dry our eggshells and feed them back to the chickens to keep their calcium count in check. This is a fun project and I'm so happy we get to be a part of it! 🙂
We are big recyclers, so we're doing our best (most weeks!) to keep things out of the landfill and to recycle or gift any items we don't use or need anymore. The Facebook Buy Nothing group has been great in helping to recycle or upcycle clothes, big items, etc.
Oh - and just a quick addition -- some veggie scraps I keep and freeze in a gallon bag to use for when I make my own veggie broth! 🙂 I only boil the veggie scraps in some distilled water and add salt to taste. I'm sure there are some better recipes out there than that - LOL! 🙂
13.1 lbs. (BV03)
So for one week or two, we were actually doing some renovations and were using our kitchen as storage so we were not cooking and were instead eating out. I am hoping this is not the case in the coming weeks as we still have a bedroom and two baths to finish renovating. Other than that, what is typically going into our pail is egg shells and spoiled food (typically lettuce and other salad items that we don’t finish in time) that can be composted. We buy a lot of frozen veggies in the heating bags and there is usually very little waste that we don’t repurpose for our dogs’ diet. We really didn’t realize until doing this that we produce very little waste.
5.8 lbs. (LC06)
I have wondered if the scale is accurate, but it seems to be... We certainly have less composting due to the small size of the household: 2 people 5 days/week and one person 2 days/week. One eats 4 lunches at school. 99% of food is vegetarian. Some waste might be reduced because most vegetable scraps are gathered to be boiled into broth once a month. The broth goes in the freezer and the scraps then go to the compost--but maybe they weigh less than completely fresh ones? We certainly don't waste food; all leftovers are consumed!
