Care of Creation

Lenten Series:

Focus on Food Loss and Waste

Week 3 - March 11

Blessed are the mindful shoppers, for their baskets carry only what will be cherished and used.

This week, watch Rutgers’ educational video “Food Waste in the Food System” and read the meditation below. Afterward, take a moment to think about the questions below and pick a practice to try this week.

More Program Information from the 24-25 Bishop’s Challenge:

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Watch the video

Beatitude 3: Blessed are the mindful shoppers, for their baskets carry only what will be cherished and used.

They plan with intention, resisting the lure of excess, knowing that every item purchased is a promise to nourish, not to waste. Ever since we were young, we were taught by wise teachers, “Plan your work and work your plan”. Many of us would not think, for instance, of going to work without our “to-do” list. But this mindful approach to life often goes out the window as soon as we enter a grocery store. Our approach to shopping often resembles, sometimes too literally, a kid in a candy store.

This is not completely our fault. It is by design. High-margin items are placed at eye level. Items like candy, gum, and small snacks are placed at the checkout counter to encourage us to abandon our plan and to make last-second impulse purchases. Sugary cereals, colorful snacks, and toys are placed at kid’s eye level so that the stores can recruit our children as allies as we make our buying decisions. If we understand these tactics we can be more mindful as we shop, making informed decisions when we purchase our weekly groceries.

But the best strategy for both the earth, our wallet, and for our waistline is to go in with a well thought out list and to stick to it. If we have to go out to buy it we are less likely to eat it. Not putting junk calories in our pantry to begin with is half the battle. Perhaps we should pray before each shopping trip as we do before each meal, making each trip to the grocery store keeping of our promise to God to make each purchase a commitment to nourish and not to waste.

— Pastor Jeff Elliott for the Care of Creation Justice Group

Questions to think about this week:

This week, when grocery shopping, pick an item or type of item and think about when you last used it or ate it - did you use all of it? Did it go bad before you could eat it? Did you throw part of it away - and why? As an exercise, is there a less wasteful version of this item?  (think less packaging, more useful parts, etc.)

Practices to try:

Put leftovers in the fridge or freezer for later - then ‘shop your fridge’ before going to the grocery store this week. Rescue those leftover mashed potatoes or rice - or slightly aged fruits and veggies - and use them for smoothies, soups, casseroles, or cobblers.

This week’s recipe and prayer:

Pasta & Peas

Serves: 8

Ingredients:

1/2 pound elbow macaroni

1 (8oz) can tomato sauce

1 cup chopped onion

1 tbsp. chopped garlic

1 tbsp. olive oil

1/2 tsp. oregano

1/2 tsp. basil

3 red potatoes, cubed in 1/2 inch pieces

10 oz. frozen petite peas

1/2 cup grated vegetarian Parmesan cheese

8 cups water

Salt and pepper to taste

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Instructions:

1. Saute onion & garlic in olive oil until tender.

2. Add tomato sauce and water. Bring to a boil. Add

seasonings and potatoes. Cook for 10 minutes.

3. Add elbow macaroni and peas and cook together

another 10 minutes until tender.

4. Add parmesan cheese and ladle into soup bowls.

Enjoy!

We pray that you will give the hungry their daily bread and end their hunger. Give them the sustenance they need to live and thrive. Bless families of minimal resources to find the means to feed their families so that their children may flourish. Amen.

Prayer and Recipe from Margarete Denicola