From The Wall Street Journal:
Want to turn leftovers into crowd pleasing
meals? Sarah Nassauer gets a few tips from Tamar Adler, author of 'An
Everlasting Meal,' on how to make the most out of every ingredient.
In Ondria Witt's kitchen, last night's roast chicken is tonight's enchiladas. Stale bread becomes bread pudding.
Just don't tell her husband. "I fear if I do he'll be like, 'No. I'll
go get a pizza,' " says Ms. Witt, 29, a stay-at-home mother in
Salisbury, N.C.
![[LEFTOVERS]](http://si.wsj.net/public/resources/images/PJ-BG058_LEFTOV_DV_20120320172757.jpg)
Photo illustration by Stephen Webster
An average U.S. family of four spends $500 to $2,000 each year on food that ends up in the garbage.
"I'd rather eat a spoonful of peanut
butter than eat leftovers," says Sacha Witt, a 26-year-old classical
bass trombone player who also does home repair work. Even so, Mr. Witt
hates to think about all the leftovers that end up in the trash. "You're
like, 'Oh man, how much money have I wasted?' "
The food we throw away is getting more
attention, as prices continue to rise. Still, it's a challenge for home
cooks to resist the temptation to eat out or order in. It's hard work
using up all the food we have languishing in our refrigerators, freezers
and pantries. And it takes creativity to prepare leftovers that will
appeal to picky eaters.
But there is a reward for those who learn how. The average U.S.
family of four spends from $500 to $2,000 a year on food they never eat,
according to researchers' estimates.
Food is the second-largest component in the U.S. solid waste stream,
after paper and paperboard. Once paper and paperboard are removed for
recycling, food ends up as the largest component in U.S. landfills and
incinerators, weighing in at 33 million tons in 2010, according to the
Environmental Protection Agency.
"People have started equating throwing food away with throwing away
cash," says Steve Pawl, vice president of marketing for Rubbermaid,
which along with Ziploc and Pyrex are introducing food-storage products
aimed at concerns about food waste and leftovers.
Rubbermaid's Produce Saver container has a "fresh vent," which allows
air to circulate, and a "crisp tray," which lifts produce away from
moisture—features the company says extend the refrigerator life of
produce.
Chefs and container makers are trying to get
Americans to throw out less food by touting innovative ways to dress up
leftovers, Sarah Nassauer reports on Lunch Break. Photo: Jeff Bush.
Life With Leftovers
Some experts' tips for dealing with leftovers are simple, while others are more challenging.
EASY
Store smarter. Immediately storing
washed herbs and greens in an airtight container with damp paper towels
in the refrigerator makes them last much longer.
Separate foods. Bananas, apples and pears give off ethylene, which ripens other fruits and vegetables stored near them.
Dress them up. Put leftovers in
attractive glass jars to make them look more appetizing and visible,
says Tamar Adler, author of "An Everlasting Meal."
MEDIUM
Make soup. Meat bones or vegetables
can make a stock and other leftovers (vegetables, meat, grains, pasta,
etc.) can be added, with seasoning, to make soup.
Add eggs. Soft boil them as a topper for leftover sautéed greens, rice, soup or pasta, says Ms. Adler.
Cook more at once. Cook enough
beans to have as a side dish one night, and then sauté with broccoli and
parsnips for a stir fry the next night, says Michael Anthony, executive
chef at Gramercy Tavern.
HARD/TIME CONSUMING
Go pesto. Sauté
broccoli and cauliflower stalks, then blend in a food processor with a
hard cheese like Parmesan, along with garlic and olive oil and perhaps
any about-to-go-bad herbs and nuts to make pesto for pasta, a toast
spread or a soup garnish, says Ms. Adler.
Why We Buy Too Much
It's counterintuitive: People tend to overestimate
what they need at the store when they are well-stocked at home, research
shows.
How Much We Throw Out
Vegetables are the most commonly wasted food in the
average American home. Each home throws out $92 of fruits and vegetables
a year.
Vegetables are the most commonly wasted food
in U.S. homes, making up some 25% of avoidable waste, according to
CleanMetrics Corp., a software firm that analyzes the environmental
impact of products and businesses.
Without a well-researched shopping list, most grocery shoppers will
naturally create food waste by overbuying, says Brian Wansink, professor
of marketing at Cornell University's Charles H. Dyson School of Applied
Economics and Management, who studies eating and shopping behavior.
People tend to overestimate what they need at the store when they are
well-stocked at home, and to underestimate what they need when they
don't have enough, he says.
"You have it in your mind that you have barbecue sauce," says Dr.
Wansink. "But since you've been thinking about it, it must be because
you need it," when in fact you have several bottles. In addition to the
tendency to overbuy, people tend to stockpile. According to Dr. Wansink,
about 93% of people say they have something in their kitchen three
years or older, and when asked, they said they intend to hold on to the
item.
A popular recipe on the Betty Crocker website is "Bottom of the
Cereal Box Cookie," which uses the uneaten flakes and crumbs found in
the boxes gathering dust in our cupboards.
People respond to recipes that transform leftovers so they "suddenly
become something that people want," says Jennifer Kalinowski, assistant
manager of the food content strategy group at Betty Crocker, which is
owned by General Mills.
"Consumers have a tremendous guilt about wasting food," says
Kelly M. Semrau, chief sustainability officer at S.C. Johnson & Son,
which makes Ziploc products. In a Ziploc ad campaign, people buying
food at the grocery store specifically to throw it away.
Ziploc research indicates that more people are buying meat in bulk to
take advantage of discounts and club-store prices, yet the meat often
goes to waste, Ms. Semrau says. Earlier this year, Ziploc introduced
portion-size plastic bags to be inserted inside its freezer bags, to
make freezing and storing large quantities of raw meat easier and more
effective. Leftovers make up about 12% of the contents of
refrigerator-freezers, Ziploc says.
In the U.K., food waste is a public concern and a rallying point for
politicians and corporations, similar to the issue of childhood obesity
in the U.S. In recent years, U.K. grocery stores have tested ways to
discourage overbuying, including "buy one, get one later" promotions at
chains like Sainsbury's
and Tesco.
Photo illustration by Stephen Webster; Getty Images (4)
Just over half of avoidable food and
drink waste comes about because products weren't used in time, according
to a 2009 report from the Waste & Resources Action Programme in the
U.K. About 40% of this waste is made up of leftovers, categorized as
"cooked, prepared or served too much."
In the U.S., fears about food-borne illness and confusion about
product "sell-by" dates are to blame for some food waste. "I refuse to
eat anything if it's on or past the expiration date," says Alexis
Carscadden, a 27-year-old librarian at a Chicago culinary school. She
buys only what she and her husband, a leftover hater, plan to eat within
about 48 hours; she shops for groceries four or five times a week.
Busy Americans' love of eating out was sending the home-cooked meal
into decline for years. The number of meals consumed in the home was
declining in the U.S. until 2002 and then began to increase, according
to NPD Group, a market research firm. Spending on restaurant and takeout
meals, meanwhile, still makes up about half of food expenditures, the
firm's data indicate.
Eating at home doesn't always mean cooking, says Harry Balzer, vice
president at NPD. Some foods that are becoming more popular in home
meals don't require cooking, such as yogurt and cheese "as a base dish"
along with nuts, chips, and bars. "There is not a recession in the world
that is going to make you want to cook more," Mr. Balzer says.
Leftovers have been a contentious issue for a long time. "A judicious
use of leftover food is commendable provided the housewife knows how
far her economical impulses may carry her without a family protest,"
cautioned the 1951 edition of "The Joy of Cooking." Later editions
warned, "You have to watch leftovers for color. Sometimes they need
freshening up." They recommend adding color-contrasting sauce, greens or
pimento to dull green beans to make them look more appealing.
What does it take to be a great chef? Is it
as simple as the number of taste buds on your tongue? Gail Monaghan
weighs in on the mentality that makes good cooks into great chefs.
Chefs and authors are championing leftovers
and elevating scraps like cauliflower stems, chicken livers and ginger
peel to ingredient status. Last year, Ruth Reichl, editorial adviser to
Gilt Taste, Gilt Groupe's food writing and sales website, and former
editor in chief of Gourmet Magazine, helped develop a column called
"Eats Shoots and Leaves," about cooking with things like corn silk and
carrot greens.
The microwave oven, for all its convenience, may actually limit
leftovers' horizons. "Before the microwave it wasn't so easy to reheat
leftovers," says Ms. Reichl. "I think people used to think more
creatively."
Eggs are useful for transforming leftovers, says Tamar Adler, author
of "An Everlasting Meal, Cooking with Economy and Grace." A poached or
soft-boiled egg on top of rice, soup, or tomato sauce makes a meal.
What Food Dates Really Mean
Expiration
dates and "sell by" dates on food are often set by manufacturers and
intended to guide grocers and shoppers about peak freshness—not as a
safety gauge. The dates are generally not set by the federal government,
with the exception of infant formula.
"After the date passes, while not of
best quality, the product should still be safe if handled properly and
kept at 40 degrees Fahrenheit or below for the recommended storage
times," says the U.S. Department of Agriculture website. Dating foods
like eggs is required by some states.
The issue is getting more attention in
the U.K., where reducing food waste has become a political flash point.
The government there advised grocery stores last year to stop using
"sell by" and "display until" dates to reduce avoidable food waste,
saying the dates aren't an indicator of food safety.
"Give it a smell, look at it, maybe
even taste it," before tossing food, suggests Jonathan Bloom, author of
American Wasteland, a book about food waste. "We have fairly
well-developed instincts as a species for knowing if something is good
or not."
