Waste Not Want Not Wednesday - BTC Final Week

It's the final week of the Be the Change Eco-Challenge.  Kelsey and I want to again thank everyone who has been participating in the challenge and reading our daily blogs.  If you have learned one thing that has changed the way you live towards a more sustainable life, then Kelsey and I have achieved our goal.  Change begins with you.  

What do you think of when you think of waste?

When I think of waste, my mind goes straight to trash and it's usually to food, then paper, then plastic.

So for Waste Not Want Not Wednesday  we wanted to run with the more than 1/3 of the food that ends up in our trash receptacle. We all think to ourselves, we'll eat that for lunch, we'll snack on that later but do we? 

Our lovely friends over at Organic Authority have come up with a few ways for you to liven up your left over, here are just a few of their suggestions:

Scramble It: Anything can find new life in the next morning's egg - add some veggies, some cheese and you are good to go for a healthy start to the day. 

Stew It: Jill calls this everything but the kitchen sink but it's true! Toss it all into a slow cooker before you leave for work and you come home to a house filled with the yummiest of smells. 

Wrap It: Now a days wraps are all the craz but if you can fold into a a wrap, you can eat it - give it a try! 

Route It: Can you salvage a big hunk of avocado for a sandwich and send the rest to an omelet or atop a salad?

Break It Down: The very best way to maximize your leftovers is to not have any… and here's how to do that: Cook in stages. If you're making fried rice, cook your brown rice separate and dole out enough for your servings. Then, you have plain brown rice to use in paella, risotto, etc. Same with veggies—you can precook most of 'em and add a few to each dish. Rather than committing a whole head of broccoli to a stir-fry, save some for a broccoli potato soup the next day.

Keep in touch with Jill on Twitter @jillettinger

Now this is where we really pull on your heart strings. You ever see Extreme Couponers, and the Church Minister donates his entire $2,000 haul to the food bank? Well, that's because over 14% of American families and seniors go without food daily. It's not just at Christmas time families go hungry, it's 365 days a year. We encourage you to check out the EPA's website and Feeding America's 

Then there is this group: Rock and Wrap it Up. The Rock and Wrap It Up! Program boxes up all prepared but untouched meals following rock concerts, sporting events and schools then delivers them to local food banks and charitable agencies. Rock and Wrap It Up! also collects and distributes toiletries and cleaning products from hotels, schools and other participating donors. Since its inception in 1991, Rock and Wrap It Up has: Donated to over 43,000 shelters and places of need Collaborated with 60 sports franchises, 150 bands, and 200 schools Collected more than 250 million pounds of food and fed more than 500 million people. They wrote and helped pass the Federal Food Donation Act which encourages all federal buildings to feed the poor and not put food into land fill. We reduce the planet’s poverty footprint by reducing society’s carbon footprint. Rock and Wrap It Up! is a 501 C 3 charity.

And I bet you've never even heard of them?  This is Waste Not, Want Not.   This is thinking about avoiding our landfills and saving our planet.  This is making a difference. 

~Kristin & Kelsey