Green Cooking Tips

In light of today’s Foodies’ Night In (topic Green Entertaining), I’ve been doing some thinking about ways in which I try to be green in the kitchen. Of course everyone uses the term in their own way, but for me I am choosing to look at green in terms of buying local, and being thoughtful when it comes to waste.

In light of today’s Foodies’ Night In (topic Green Entertaining), I’ve been doing some thinking about ways in which I try to be “green” in the kitchen. Of course everyone uses the term in their own way, but for me I am choosing to look at green in terms of buying local, and being thoughtful when it comes to waste. I’m lucky that, as the culinary head of my family, I really work hard to save as much money as possible and leave nothing to waste. Here are a few of my favorite money-saving tips when it comes to the kitchen.

#1 Buy the whole bird. Instead of paying more money for the pre-cleaned, pre-portioned chicken (or turkey or…), buy the whole bird and use every part of it. If you aren’t confident in your butchering skills ask the man behind the counter to break the bird down for you.  Be sure to ask for the bones (to use to make a great broth)!  This is true for all of the ingredients I buy actually – buy shrimp with shells on, beef with bone in. All the scraps left behind can be placed in a pot covered with water and left simmering to create a delicious broth.

#2 Anything can be made into a soup. Often times, when I have leftover ingredients, I throw them into a pot to make some sort of a soup (see above on creating the broth).  Not only is it cost efficient and can feed a lot of people but it’s a great way to use up any groceries that are close to going bad. Here’s a video for my Chicken Stock.

#3 Never throw away leftovers! Because I am not a fan of leftovers, I create a completely different dish with the remaining ingredients. Pastas, pizzas, baked potatoes, and eggs are great ways of re purposing your leftovers. Here are a few ideas:

• Dice up the proteins and spoon over any sauce you have remaining over your favorite carbohydrates.
• If you have leftover soup add it to fresh pasta and treat it like a sauce.
• Tear up your remaining ingredients and make an amazing egg scramble
• Place your ingredients on a pizza dough and sprinkle with cheese.

#4 Support local farmers markets. I was lucky to grow up buying fresh produce from farmers markets and I am so glad that farmers markets are now the “in” place to be. I love that fact my boys get to meet the people responsible for the carrots and also get to see the vegetables in their true forms (dirty with the tops still attached versus all cleaned and covered in stickers).