Zero-waste cooking: What does the term really mean?

While zero-waste cooking isn’t an uncommon term, it definitely is one term which needs more awareness and practice to ensure sustainable approaches in the kitchen. Many have heard the term but are not very sure of what it comprises. Here’s a checklist of everything that is included under the umbrella of Zero-waste cooking.

How can you ensure complete zero-waste cooking with these quick conscious parameters?

Keep these in mind and you will ensure that you have included zero-waste cooking practices in your everyday cooking habits.

Plan your meal

Make your meal plan on the basis of what you have so that you don’t have to engage in buying newer resources. And if you do buy new items, then make sure you can use them up before their spoilage date.

Use head-to-toe of an ingredient

Do you often peel a potato, throw away the peels and use the vegetable instead? The quick way to turn this into a zero-waste cooking is to collect all the potato peels, sprinkle some mixed spices and fry them. This would give you your next binge-watch snack, ready in no time. Similarly, for every item use every part of it. Collect vegetable scraps for broths, citrus peels can be used for adding fragrances and scents, bones can be kept for a bone broth and more.

Proper cooking methods

Try to purchase items which can be eaten raw. Else, opt for cooking methods like slow-cooking and boiling so that the nutrition in the ingredient remains intact. Moreover, cook only what you would consume. Don’t overcook food which ultimate gets spoilt and you have to discard them.

Ugly produce

Ugly produce is nothing irregularities or deformities in the external look of the produce. Just because a produce looks bad, it doesn’t mean that the produce cannot be consumed. In such cases try to use them as flavouring agents or put them in smoothies or mashes.

Proper storage

Just like mindful cooking methods are important, similarly, mindful storage is equally significant. You can freeze leftovers for later use, store them in air-tight containers etc. Other options include dehydration, pickling, fermenting, and turning them into flavourful chutneys and jams to extend their shelf lives.

Re-use leftovers

There are several ways and tasty dishes that can be made with leftover food. Never throw them away if they are a day or two old, but instead try to think of how you can turn them into something interesting. For instance, leftover rice is a good base for rice pudding or leftover or hardened breads can be used to make croutons.

 Compost, where you can

Even in zero-waste cooking there are certain parts of an item like egg shells, coffee, soiled organic food that cannot be used at all. Pile them up together and compost them. This helps in making the soil fertile and helping the growth of trees.

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