Pledging to reduce food waste in 2015....

We just came back from a wonderful trip to Canada where we spent a week with my husband's uncle and cousins. We love going there for the company but also because we fully disconnect from our daily activities in the US (it's really the only time when William does not check his emails more than once a day, c'est pour dire!)

William's uncle owns what-used-to-be a Christmas Tree farm in the Western end of the Quebec Province - 3 hours from Montreal but only less than an hour from Ottawa where William's uncle and his cousins live.

We spend our days snow shoes hiking, toboggoning, skidooing, admiring beaver dams, or what nature has to offer (like this heart spotted by our son) but also just relaxing by the fire or in front of a good movie if the temperatures drop too low for us to go out (- 25C (or -13F ) being our it's-too-cold threshold; anything warmer is a "get-out!")

The farm is on a remote road, about 10km from the main road... so we bring a week full of food (or we have to rely on hunting to survive!)... William's cousins have it all figure out - planning meals ahead of time - but always bringing more food than necessary just in case a big snow storm makes it impossible to get back on the road. At the end of the week, it's up to creativity to assemble meals from the leftovers and what has yet to be cooked before it goes bad. On top of our list was une soupe de légumes that used mushrooms, celery, tomatoes, onions, garlic with leftovers sauteed root vegetables. Served with crème fraiche, cheese and garlic bread it made a perfect Winter meal!

Talking about food waste, we all pledged to make it our 2015 collective goal to reduce the amount of food that we waste in our households and talked about ways to go about this....
A report summary from the Economic Research Service issued by the USDA in February 2014 reported that in the United States, 31 percent—or 133 billion pounds—of the 430 billion pounds of the avail-able food supply at the retail and consumer levels in 2010 went uneaten. The top three food groups in terms of share of total value of food loss were meat, poultry, and fish, vegetables,  and dairy products.

Planning and creativity will be the top two skills to work on to reduce our food waste in the coming weeks and months. It will also save you money! So why not commit?!
Making a "soupe aux legumes" at the end of the week is one way to get started! Another one is to plan meals for the week ahead and shopping with a list! Facile, non?

Excellente Année à tous!