Clever Tricks To Save Money, Cut Food Waste, And Make Better Meals

Bob Blumer hates food waste. The Food Network host and cookbook author likes to imagine there’s a surveillance camera in his kitchen, to keep him true to his values. The goal: to use up every last peel, stalk or jar scraping.

“Every time I’m going to throw something, out even a tiny bit of an onion or the yogurt at the bottom of the container, I think, ’What would people think if they saw you throw that out?” Blumer told HuffPost Canada.

His new cookbook, Flavorbomb: A rogue guide to making everything taste better, is peppered with ideas on how to cut food waste and save money on your household grocery bill.

One of the surprise benefits of cutting food waste is that you can can actually intensify the flavours of the dishes you make, just by adding punchy extras that would otherwise be tossed, from the oil in your sundried tomatoes jar or the rind from your Parmesan cheese.

“Once a week, you should go through your fridge and just take inventory,” said Blumer. “You don’t want to wait until things are already rotting or spoiled, because then it’s too late.”

Even if you are lucky enough not to have to worry about the cost of food, we all still have a social responsibility to cut food waste, Blumer explained.

“At times during the pandemic, the grocery stores were lined up outside, and inside some of the shelves were bare,” he said. “If you were using up everything at home, you were buying less and leaving more for the next person in line.”

And then there’s the environmental factor: “Food that’s thrown out contributes to greenhouse gases, all through the food chain ― we owe it to each other to waste less,” said Blumer.

At home, in Los Angeles, Blumer puts next to nothing in the municipal green bin. As well as trying to use up everything possible in his fridge and pantry, he composts, to make fertilizer for his garden, and keeps chickens that are grateful for tasty scraps. “They give us eggs in return,” he says.

Below is Blumer’s ingredient-by-ingredient guide to cutting food waste in your home and getting the most bang for your buck from every item on your grocery list.

“Just store drippings in a jar in the fridge. Use it to fry eggs or fry or roast potatoes or vegetables.”

“If I buy a whole fish and grill it, I often take the bones afterwards and throw them in water with some fennel tops, then I simmer it to make a really light and flavourful broth. You can do that with lobster and shrimp shells too. I reduce the broth, to save space, then freeze it in a regular jar, leaving a little space so when the liquid freezes and expands, it doesn’t pop the lid.”

“I fry them up and give them to our dog.”

“The neck and bones you can use for stock; the liver you can use for pâté. You might not want to make stock or paté every time you have a chicken, but if you put them in a plastic bag in the freezer you can wait till you have enough of them.”

“If it’s almost spoiled you can use it for cakes or dulce de leche. If it’s not really spoiled, but you know you can’t get through all the milk you have in time, make hot chocolate.”

“Pesto!”

See how Blumer makes pesto in the video below, which he created as an ambassador for “Love Food Hate Waste Canada,” a Metro Vancouver initiative.