Focus on Food Loss and Waste

Blessed are the creative cooks, for they turn leftovers into feasts.

They see possibility where others see scraps, transforming yesterday’s bread into tomorrow’s comfort, and proving that nothing good need be discarded.

Have you learned the joy of batch cooking? Do you know the peaceful joy of rising early in the morning to produce a large pot of split pea, lentil, or black bean soup for your friends at church while you prepare for yourself a similar pot of soup which will feed you for five days? Have you ever looked in your refrigerator at the roasted vegetables left over from Sunday’s dinner and seen there a treasure trove that can add vital nourishment to your family’s menu the next day? Then perhaps you are a food artist. Perhaps God has given you the gift of seeing deliciousness where others only see leftovers, possibilities where others see scraps.

Perhaps, whether you are male or female, you have manifested something of the spirit of Lady Wisdom, who we meet at the beginning of the Book of Proverbs in chapters one and eight, and in street clothing in chapter thirty-one in the final 22 verses of the book. Many scholars believe this is more than just a picture of a virtuous woman. Many believe this is an image of God the Holy Spirit or even of Jesus before the incarnation. Please consider reading Proverbs 31 and consider whether or not your use of leftovers can be Spirit-led, even God inspired. And then turn your creativity loose! Do throw that food away. A masterpiece awaits your family among the chilled steamed broccoli and boiled potatoes. Just ask God to guide you.

Blessed are the patient preservers, for they freeze, pickle, and store with care.

They honor the harvest by extending its life, ensuring that the bounty of one day sustains the hunger of another.

How lucky we are to have freezers.  Did you know that frozen fruits and vegetables, picked and frozen at their peak of ripeness, are even healthier than so-called fresh fruit and vegetables, which can take an average of two weeks to reach us.  Of course, food grown on local farms can reach us in a few hours, and vegetables grown 100 miles away can reach our grocery stores in three weeks, but much of our produce makes a long journey on refrigerated trucks and ships before it reaches us.  Yes, of course this is wasteful, but that means it is even more wasteful to let even a single berry go to waste after such a huge investment.

And that is where pickling and canning can come in.  What? You say you wouldn’t know where to begin?  Purchase a couple of seed sprouting mason jars with 2 inch wide mouths and stainless-steel sprouting lid covers with a drip tray (whole rig is less than $20.00 on Amazon) and grow yourself some broccoli sprouts, the single most nutritious thing that you can put into your mouth.  Eat what you want for that day but freeze the rest for the future.  Or pickle and can the way Grandmom and Grandpa used to in the old days.  Both preserve seasonal produce, preventing it from going to waste and reducing the amount of food in the landfills.  When we use reusable containers for pickling, freezing, or canning we reduce our reliance on single use packaging containers.  As a bonus, fermented foods are also great for our gut biome.  And please remember, you can pickle without sodium chloride.  Potassium chloride is also a salt that can be used to create a pickling solution, garlic and horseradish can be added to vinegar to inhibit the growth of microorganisms, and mustard seed and black pepper can be used to flavor vegetables pickled in vinegar.

— Pastor Jeff Elliott for the Care of Creation Justice Group