Republished article from Reduce Reuse Renew Blog

Involve kids with preserving

Going along the lines of gardening, if you’re lucky enough to have extra produce at the end of the season that you don’t want to or can’t give away, you can have kids help you preserve it! Personally, I am a big fan of freezing the produce, but there are a handful of exceptions. 

This year, my son helped me make refrigerator cucumbers which ended up being a really fun activity to do together. While he didn’t enjoy eating them, he has enjoyed talking about our activity every time someone does eat them, and we’ve been able to give a couple of jars away to family and friends. 

He also helped me make pesto, which we used on pasta that evening (and he ate and enjoyed!) and then froze the rest. 

Preserving doesn’t have to include full on water bath canning if you don’t want it to! There are easy and fun ways to preserve to prevent food waste. Plus, it’s a great way to open up the conversation about WHY we preserve our food- one reason to prevent waste!

Involve kids with community giving

Leftover produce? Food you aren’t able to use up? Extra vegetable/herb seeds for a garden? Getting involved in your community is a great way to teach kids about why it’s important to reduce food waste.

 

Age-dependent, there are different ways to do this. For example, this year we had a TON of basil. Like, 7-8 plants. I had already saved some to dry for the winter, made and froze a bunch of pesto, and still had a lot. So, with the help of my son, I set up a little ‘stand’ on the curb, made a ‘free fresh basil’ sign, and put our excess basil out. It was a great way to talk about sharing our excess with our community. 

We are also doing the same thing with excess dill and cilantro seeds we’ve been harvesting this fall. 

We also have been offering up excess produce to our friends and family. Again- a great way to talk about sharing. 

Maybe volunteering at a shelter is a great option for you and your family. Maybe it’s using the Olio app (a food sharing app) and going to get or give away food. Or maybe it’s donating food to a local food shelter. 

Whatever it is, getting involved within your local community surrounding food can open up the conversation about why it’s important not to waste food, and how some don’t have access to as much food as you may. 

Have your kids do a waste audit

If you’re new to a waste audit, it is a quick and easy way to get an idea of the things you and your family are throwing away. From there, you can work towards reducing those items commonly found in your trash. 

When my family and I first did our waste audit, my son wasn’t even two years old, so we didn’t involve him. However, probably about 70% of our waste was food (this was pre-composting). But now that he’s almost four, he can easily help us take a peek into the trash (seriously, that’s all I recommend, you don’t need to go diving) and list what he sees in it. 

This is a great way to get a visual of how much food is being thrown away, which can help start the conversation about food waste, and more.

And yes, you can even do it if you compost! Before bringing your compost out to the bin, take a quick look of how much of the food waste is food that could have been eaten, and how much are scraps. 

Interested in learning more about doing your own waste audit? You can find my waste audit tips and instructions here. 

Make food fun

This tip is geared towards younger kids, but can be super beneficial nonetheless. You know you’re not supposed to play with your food? Well, this is opposite advice. Play with your food!

Make funny scenes, shapes, or objects with the food. Research shows that playing with food can help picky eaters become less picky. And less food left on the plate means less waste! You don’t need anything fancy, just the creativity of you as the parent/guardian and the imagination of your kid! 

Utilize outside resources 

I’m a big fan of utilizing outside resources to facilitate conversations in our house over tough topics. I tend to over analyze and develop anxiety over saying the wrong thing or approaching topics in a non-age appropriate way. 

Probably not surprising, there aren’t a lot of resources that talk exclusively about food waste in a kid friendly way. However, there are lots of resources talking about climate change and greenhouse gases, gardening, and some of the other tips I mentioned in this post. 

For any books mentioned, I always recommend borrowing from your local library, asking around in your community if anyone has a copy, looking at a secondhand bookstore, or if all else fails, buying on Amazon. Note: you CAN buy secondhand books on Amazon! Just look for the ‘buy used’ option. 

• Kids go Green: Reducing Food Waste Video from PBS 
• 12 Resources to Teach About Food Waste 
• Too Good Too Waste Challenge 
• Book: The Perfectly Wonky Carrot 
• Book: Compost Stew
• Book: Food and Farming 
• Book: In the Garden 
• Book: Food Waste
• Book: Don’t Waste Your Food
• 10 Childrens Books on Climate Change 
• Magic School Bus (new and old episodes on Netflix) has some good episodes about gardening and understanding our environment 

Change your mindset around ugly produce

40% of all food ends up in the landfill. A lot of that waste happens before your food even hits the store shelves. This is because our society has come to value ‘pretty’ produce and shun ‘ugly’ produce. The same goes for meat and other food items as well. 

Therefore one way we can reduce food waste is to change our mindset around ‘ugly’ foods. One way my family does this is through gardening. I can’t even begin to tell you how ‘ugly’ the food we grow is. But you know what? It still tastes great! 

Another way we work on this is buying single bananas at the grocery store. Single bananas are more likely to be thrown out because no one buys them. Doing so opens up conversations- which as you can probably guess- is something I’m always on the hunt for. 

Here’s the kicker. Kids don’t start off knowing what ‘ideal’ should look like. That is a learned trait. If we can start as young as possible showing them that produce and food doesn’t have to look a certain way (obviously if it is bad that’s a different story) for us to eat it, it will be beneficial in the long run. 

Reduce snacking before meals

This tip might be obvious, but to be honest, it is something we struggle with in our family. Be mindful about how much your kid(s) is eating and drinking soon before a meal. If they’re hungry enough at mealtime, they’re likely to eat more food versus letting it go to waste. I know, I know. Sometimes it’s easier to hand off that graham cracker to prevent the meltdown as you’re trying to cook dinner. I don’t know if we’ll ever personally get away from this, but we’re working on it. I’m usually more lenient if the snack is a fruit or vegetable. One thing that can help is to offer a snack from the ‘eat me now’ section (see above)- especially if it is produce. 

Talk about the benefits of certain foods

As my son has approached four years old, he is increasingly interested in being a superhero, and with that, being super strong. He’s also interested in ‘fun facts’. I’ve tried using this interest to my advantage:

Me: “you know what can help your eyesight? Eating carrots! Yum!”

Cue me frantically google ‘food facts’. 

It has actually seemed to help though. I suppose this can go with the ‘making food fun’ tip, but for a little older kids. Try it out. It may help!

Tour a waste facility

This tip may be more ‘bigger’ kid focused, but it can be super useful nonetheless. Some landfill operations and/or recycling facilities offer tours to the public. A simple Google/Ecosia search in your area can give you more information. 

Not only can this be a great visual on the amount of waste produced in your community, it can also be beneficial for kids to hear the importance of reducing waste from someone other than you. Additionally, it can once again open up the conversation at home on how to reduce food and other waste. 

Bonus: grab a community group to do it together, then brainstorm ways to reduce waste in your local area afterwards. 

Eating out

Eating out can bring out its own set of waste reducing challenges, but I wanted to mention this tip anyway. We’ve found when eating out at a sit-down restaurant that the kids meals usually contain huge portions (like most restaurant meals) and a beverage of our choice in a disposable plastic cup.

Some tips:

• Bring your own beverages: because we are always bringing our water bottles everywhere, we usually have one with us when eating out. We’ve never had an issue with having our own water bottle at a table. 
• Ask for a reusable cup: if you don’t want to bring your own water bottle, ask for the beverage in a reusable cup versus the single-use plastic one
• Share a meal: instead of getting a kids meal, split meals between the adult(s)
• Bring leftovers home in your own containers: if you get a kids meal and need to bring some of the food home, bring your own container. Then follow the same tips you normally would for reducing the food waste

Inevitably, you’ll probably find yourself in need of a quick meal at some point. I know we do. Quick usually equals waste. If this happens, don’t sweat it. Just do your best, recycle what you can, and move on. 

Compost

When all else fails and you end up with some food waste, know that it happens. The next best thing is to compost that food, whether it is through a commercial facility or in your own backyard. Psst: don’t have a compost option? There is an app called ‘Share Waste’ that connects you with people looking for compost materials. Additionally, you can post in a local neighborhood group online to see if anyone is looking for compost materials. 

Want to learn more about composting? Check out my guide on how to compost in any sized space here. 

And you’ll probably guess that I’m going to say this, but involve your kids! My son helps drop off compost at our local drop off site, he helps put things in our backyard compost bin, and he also helps me stir the bin. It’s…you guessed it… a great conversation starter! 

What tips do you have for reducing food waste with kids?