No Scrap Left Behind
by Teralyn PilgrimGenres: Food, Nonfiction
Published on September 17, 2024
Pages: 320
Format: eARC Source: Netgalley
The story of a mother’s quest to end her family’s food waste—and all the blunders that came with it.
Teralyn Pilgrim had no idea the environmental and economic impact of food waste, or that she could save $100 a month by being waste free. But when a story of hungry children fills her with unbearable guilt, she decided to make a change to the way her family approached mealtime. Despite finicky kids and a skeptical husband, Pilgrim turned her feelings of guilt into action and created a zero-food waste kitchen.
Pilgrim began her journey by defining food waste with Rule #1: the Hungry Kid Test—would you throw something edible away with a hungry child watching? If the answer is yes, it can go in the compost. If the answer is no, then it’s time to get creative.
Narrating her trials and errors—emphasis on errors—Pilgrim invites readers to her table where leftover food is a personal challenge to reduce waste, save money, and guard against squandering natural resources. Things get tricky when she discovers a five-year-old fish in her freezer, accidentally buys the grossest fat-free cookies in the world, and finds her dog is as picky as the kids. Addressing myths about how being waste-free is too hard (it’s not) and whether expiration dates mean anything (they don’t), Pilgrim teaches readers clever ways to be resourceful while also offering a broader look at why food waste matters and the global effects of this massive problem.
Both a resource for families and a call for worldwide change, No Scrap Left Behind offers nine-step program and hundreds of food-related tips to help readers find their own way to sustainable living, trim the grocery bill, and effect change...starting in their own kitchens.
Humans throw away a huge amount of food. It has always bothered me. I hate finding moldy stuff in the fridge that is there purely because I forgot I had it. I’m just getting upset about vegetables. I can’t image how much worse it is to be wasting lives when people are throwing away meat.
This bothered Teralyn Pilgrim too. She decided to try to cut down her food waste. She decided to only throw things out if they were truly unsafe. There wouldn’t be any getting rid of food just because they didn’t want it. Leftovers would be eaten, repurposed, or better yet, not made in the first place. This led to better meal planning which also saved money.
So many of us complain about the high cost of groceries and our exorbitant grocery bill. We clip coupons and join Ibotta. Meanwhile, we’re writhing in agony under the weight of our debts.
And then we throw our food away.
Doesn’t make much sense, does it?
She recognized that she couldn’t change the world by herself but she could change how she and her family lived.
No one can change all these problems that are so deeply rooted in our culture. I can’t afford locally made clothes, even though I’d like to buy them. Perhaps instead, each of us can pick one issue we feel strongly about and attack it with everything we’ve got. The world can be changed by passionate individuals who tackle atrocities one at a time. I started out by eliminating my food waste. It was a good place to start. And even if I can’t change how much food we waste, it feels good to look at this problem and say -honestly- that I had nothing to do with it.
She gives several tips for how to go about cutting down on wasting food beyond planning better. She ran swaps with friends where they brought in date items from the back of the pantry that they were never going to eat. Anything that didn’t get claimed by another family was donated. That led to her discussing the ethics of donating food. Later in the book she also gets into dealing with food assistance and poverty based on her experience working with people in her Mormon ward. She had to face her biases to see areas where she thought she was helpful but wasn’t where people actually needed help. It was a bit of a tangent for the book but was interesting.
She discusses composting and if it is really the best way to get rid of food scraps. Are backyard chickens the answer? What about a very hungry dog?
There is a lot of food for thought in this book. You’ll end up planning a bit more before tossing any food.
UGH! I missed it! And I have a foodie book going….grrrrrrrrr
I hate wasting food too and try to plan leftovers into my weekly menus. I often fail and find stuff stuck in the back of the refrigerator that I forgot about.