Do you know that a big portion of completely good meals will get wasted earlier than it ever will get the possibility to be consumed? An estimated 30%-40% of the American meals provide is pitched into landfills. This alarming statistic triggered vegan cookbook writer and founder and CEO of PlantYou Carleigh Bodrug to behave, doing what she does finest. She created a easy kitchen hack video exhibiting individuals make one thing edible from one thing usually tossed within the rubbish—a fruit peel.
“I [posted] an orange peel sweet recipe at some point, referred to as it ‘Scrappy Cooking’ and simply couldn’t consider the response,” Bodrug says. “Folks had been so enthusiastic about this prospect of decreasing meals waste of their house and utilizing generally wasted meals to make recipes, and I knew instantly that it could be a superb idea for a cookbook.” She was proper. Her e-book Scrappy Cooking: 140+ Plant-Based Zero-Waste Recipes That Are Good For You, Your Wallet, and the Planet, which teaches readers be savvy with elements which can be already stocked of their kitchen, scale back meals waste, eat nicely and get monetary savings, shortly hit No. 1 on the New York Instances bestseller listing. “If I could make it, I promise that you could, too, as a result of nothing’s fancy or difficult,” Bodrug says.
Transformation begins within the kitchen
Whereas many individuals would possibly assume grocery shops and eating places are the perpetrators creating the majority of the meals waste, Bodrug cautions that’s not the case. In line with the 2024 Food Waste Index Report, most of it stems from households.
“If we’re pitching nearly 30% [of food] on common, $1,700 per household of 4 in the USA, it’s nonsensical,” Bodrug says. “I feel it’s as a result of we’re so busy, proper? We’re in a society the place we’re go, go, go. We’re all working actually hectic jobs. We’re heading to the grocery retailer with no plan, shopping for meals. It spoils shortly. Sadly, we waste a whole lot of meals. However we are able to’t afford to, from each an environmental and a monetary perspective.”
A recipe for giant influence
Stopping meals waste isn’t nearly saving money; it’s additionally about serving to our planet. This kind of waste accounts for roughly 8% of worldwide greenhouse gasoline emissions, based on United Nations knowledge. When meals decomposes anaerobically in landfills, it produces methane, a potent greenhouse gasoline. Reducing meals waste at house can considerably lower these emissions. Whereas airline emissions usually make headlines, Bodrug emphasizes that actual change can start at house. Moreover, losing much less meals conserves sources—similar to water, vitality and land—utilized in meals manufacturing.
“After I was writing Scrappy Cooking, I didn’t need it to be this encyclopedia of simply extraordinarily scrappy issues like banana peel bacon or use your espresso grounds and granola,” Bodrug says. “We have now all of that within the e-book, however the foundational recipes are staples that I hope individuals can interchange—the produce and protein objects within the recipes—as a result of that is how I personally prepare dinner and scale back waste in my house.” With over 7 million followers throughout her social platforms, Bodrug’s affect holds the potential to create lasting change. Her Scrappy Cooking sequence has landed her options on the Rachael Ray Present, Good Morning America and extra. By highlighting this vital difficulty and providing sensible suggestions, Bodrug may help individuals scale back meals waste at house, get monetary savings and increase their psychological and bodily well-being.
The intention, she says, is for readers to make the recipes utilizing the meals that’s already accessible slightly than having to run to the grocery retailer each time they’re making a brand new recipe. “I wish to actually empower individuals to prepare dinner as a result of I really feel prefer it’s a misplaced artwork to learn to prepare dinner and be assured sufficient to make these swaps of their house,” she says. Bodrug notes that bread is essentially the most generally wasted meals on this planet. When it toughens, she recommends mixing it into breadcrumbs seasoned for added taste, rehydrating it with coconut milk for French toast casserole or making croutons for a panzanella salad.
Inserting a tall order
Whereas combating meals waste would possibly really feel like a glass-half-empty endeavor, Bodrug isn’t one to shy away from adversity. She’s used to carving her personal path and describes herself as a “self-taught prepare dinner,” having realized about diet and well being by her personal well-being pilgrimage.
In 2015, when the World Well being Group categorised crimson meat as group 1 and group 2 carcinogens, Canadian-born Bodrug was struck by how this utterly contradicted the dietary suggestions of her nation’s authorities and that of the USA. On the similar time, her father was a stage 2 colon most cancers survivor. Backed with a bachelor’s diploma in media concept and journalism, Bodrug dove into researching the science behind wholesome meals selections and located indeniable proof that the perfect path to well being and longevity promoted consuming a whole-food, plant-based way of life.
Compelled to embrace veganism wholeheartedly, she confronted two main obstacles. Bodrug had by no means eaten a plant-based meal in her life and didn’t know prepare dinner. Undeterred, she began an Instagram page and weblog to doc her journey. Her easy, scrumptious recipes and nonjudgmental strategy shortly attracted tens of millions of followers, which led to her first cookbook, a New York Instances bestseller, PlantYou: 140+ Ridiculously Easy, Amazingly Delicious, Plant-Based, Oil-Free Recipes.
Eight years into consuming primarily plant-predominant meals, Bodrug says she feels nice. “I feel fueling our vessel with wholesome meals is simply going to profit you to do no matter you need in life after which moreover provide help to get monetary savings, scale back waste and be a more healthy human being,” she says.
To cut back meals waste in your kitchen and get monetary savings, Bodrug suggests following these sensible suggestions:
1. Be extra intentional by planning your meals forward.
Spend an hour on the weekend to determine what you’ll eat for the week and think about using dinner leftovers for lunch. “The bottom hanging fruit to scale back your meals waste is rarely bringing the meals into your own home within the first place,” Bodrug says.
2. Store your fridge and pantry earlier than you fill your cart.
Take inventory of what you might have so that you solely purchase what you want. This will cease you from overbuying and letting perishable objects go dangerous.
3. Make the most of your freezer.
Is your spinach wilting or are your bananas browning? Use your freezer. Bodrug advises to not restrict your self to contemporary produce; frozen vegatables and fruits are simply as wholesome, if not higher, as they’re frozen at peak ripeness. Shopping for frozen also can get monetary savings.
4. Perceive packaging dates.
“Finest-before” dates in North America usually result in pointless meals waste. In line with Bodrug, these dates point out peak high quality, not expiration. As a substitute of discarding meals proper after this date, depend on your senses. If it seems to be, smells, feels off or reveals indicators of mildew, compost it.
5. Suppose twice earlier than you toss.
“Twenty-five of the recipes within the e-book are earmarked as kitchen raid recipes,” Bodrug says, the place you may run a fast scavenger hunt for about-to-spoil objects to toss in. The e-book additionally features a useful “Obtained This, Make That” index.
This text initially appeared within the March 2025 issue of SUCCESS+ digital journal. Photograph courtesy of Carleigh Bodrug.
