Waste Not Want Not

I didn't grow up in a particularly religious home, but I do remember hearing this adage from an early age, "Es pecado botar comida." (It's a sin to throw food away).  My parents came to the US from Colombia with little more than determination to make something of themselves following the American Dream.  They had known many times of scarcity in their childhood and young adulthood, and worked hard to provide for us.  They never once told me, "Eat your lunch!  There are children starving in Africa," as so many N. American kids grow up hearing.  They didn't need to make reference to this distant continent, because they'd seen it in their own.

In a controversial move on my part in our day and age, I have maintained my mother's tradition by making my 4 year-old clean her plate (but I serve her small portions so she can ask for seconds).  And, naturally, I don't have to make reference to some faraway land, because we are already surrounded by such grinding poverty.  She sees malnourished street boys in rags every time we get in the car.  I also seldom throw food away when I'm cooking or putting away leftovers.  I try to repurpose items.  Let me give you a few examples, in the hopes of sparking your own creativity:

1. I made ginger snap cookies yesterday, and with the leftover cinnamon sugar (which I'd used to roll them right before baking), I plan to make cinnamon toast.  
2. A friend who cooks for me from time to time made me a couple deep dish pizzas (yeah, baby!) and had some leftover dough (but no more sauce).  She was going to chuck it, when I told her to make me a mini pizza bianca (white pizza) with some caramelized onions I had in the fridge, and it came out fantastic.  
3. My final example is an all too common scenario in Senegal: What to do with leftover, dry baguette.  Naturally, I make breadcrumbs with it.  But how much bread crumbs can one family use?  After all, all you do is bread stuff with it, or sprinkle it on top of casseroles, right?  Wrong!  I have altered recipes so that I substitute part of the oats or flour with my ubiquitous bread crumbs, and they turn out moist and delicious!  (I'll post the recipe in the comments section for those interested).  I've been experimenting with quick breads to see how much of the flour I can substitute with bread crumbs, and have had good results so far.

In addition, I try to reduce my carbon footprint by trying to produce as little waste as possible.  I can (mostly tomatoes and tomato bases sauces).  I reuse yogurt and margarine containers to store food and toys, and when I end up with more containers than I need, I pass them on to my friend Khady, a widow who comes over on a weekly basis to pick up bottles and jars to sell.  I do have a few advantages today that I didn't have as a single, apartment dweller in Chicago or LA.  For one, I have a "recycling" program like that, which helps a friend in need.  Also, I have a big yard where I can compost.  Lastly, I have a housekeeper who is happy to take leftovers home when a recipe doesn't turn out quite the way I intended.

The principal applies wherever you live, though.  I read recently in an article in Forbes that "the food thrown away in the U.S. is enough to fill the Rose Bowl with food every day."   The more we throw away, the more we spend, the less we have to give toward the cause of Christ.  So, whether you live in a developing country where you have a sobering reminder of who could be nourished by your waste, or whether you live in the West where you're more isolated from world hunger, please try to use your imagination with those leftovers and consider how you can reduce your waste.  "Live simply that others may simply live."