Cutting Out Food Waste

Here are some of the things I do to combat food waste. I would love to hear everyone else's ideas - please comment!

• I keep three containers in my freezer. Into the first I add all of the liquids from cooking vegetables - voila! instant vegetable stock. The second one is for all of the fruit juices left from canned fruits - use it in place of the liquid in muffin and quick bread recipes. Or, make Jello with the liquid or a smoothie. The third is for all leftover cooked vegetables, no matter how few. When the container is full, make a soup with the veggies or shepherd's pie or a stew. You could also purée them and add them to spaghetti sauce or another saucy dish.

• In our house, the ends of the bread are rarely eaten. I save them, dry them in a very slow oven, and grate them in the blender. Then I store them in a jar until I need bread crumbs.

• Another good use for stale bread is to make old-fashioned bread pudding. My grandma also saved stale cake (frosting and all) to make cake pudding! Delicious!!

• I freeze any leftover pancakes we have and when I have enough for a breakfast, I put them on a baking sheet, sprinkle them with a teaspoon or so of water, cover the sheet with foil, and bake at 300° F until warmed.

• If I have too much zucchini from my summer garden (rarely a problem as the squash bugs usually kill it first - anyone know an organic squash bug remedy?) I grate it and freeze it in one cup portions. It is great for zucchini bread.