Right now Kansas City is under a stay-at-home order, which means most of us are home and cooking more than usual. With grocery stores having trouble keeping up with demand, it might mean that your pantry is a little slim on some perishables, or that you are having to eat the same thing over and over again. We are here to help!

We, of course, have an ulterior motive. We are passionate about reducing food waste and composting! Now that some of us have more time at home, this might be a good time to get into some new habits and change how we cook. 

A great way to form new habits is to get the whole household involved. Make it a bonding activity, something that can be a creative outlet, as opposed to just another thing you “have to do”. When you have more time and need some entertainment, try doing some experimental cooking. Pull out those old cookbooks and see what you can find, they just might give you some inspiration for a new and exciting dish. Here’s an article about Chinese cooks getting creative during their quarantine to give you some inspiration. 

How to stretch your pantry to the limits and reduce food waste: 

• Make vegetable stock with vegetable scraps from other meals
• Here are some ideas for using up your over-ripe fruit
• Throw in a clear-out-the-fridge frittata or use the Pioneer Woman’s recipe (she uses leftover baked potatoes as well as some jarred veggies and olives from her fridge)
• Have only one or two eggs and lots of veggies you need to use up? Stir Fry makes great use of those ingredients!

How to make eating the same thing more interesting: 

• A quick pickle on your veggies makes for an interesting topping to rice bowls as well as for snacking on.
• Experiment with different sauces to liven up your leftovers.
• Change the form of your leftovers by turning them into a soup or casserole.

Resources for inspiration:

• There is a brand new podcast called Home Cooking where Samin Nosrat & Hrishikesh Hirway answer questions on what to cook with what you’ve got in the house during this quarantine. 
• Tamar Adler’s book, An Everlasting Meal, is a meditative and meandering read that will help you see the almost romantic aspect of your near-dead food as well as how to economize a pot of water to cook everything you need for a week. This is not a read for the whole household, but if you love to read soothing books about food written by someone who loves food, has a passion for helping people realize cooking is not an obstacle but rather a journey, and says things like, “A gently but sincerely cooked egg tells us all we need to know about divinity”, then this one is for you.
• Check out old episodes of Chopped, especially the leftovers specials. (Spoiler: so much can go into a blender and come out as a new sauce, it’s truly amazing)