I love finding easy ways to lead a more eco-friendly life. I am always looking for simple ways that our family can positively impact our planet. This is why I've pulled together this collection of family-friendly sustainable recipes. These recipes celebrate the delicious ways to reduce food waste, reuse our food scraps, eat seasonally, and much more. Be sure to check out our family-friendly vegetarian recipes too!
When you think of the environmental impact we make on our planet, you might not immediately think of the food we eat. Most people think about finding ways to reduce, reuse, and recycle paper, plastics, and those sorts of things. However, if you think about it all of these same topics can be applied to the food we eat. Food waste is not only a waste of money (how much food/money do you throw out every week?), but it's also a waste of valuable resources. From the production of the food through to the disposal of the food - the entire system is costly to the environment and the system we have created is not sustainable.
So, I wanted to find recipes that promote a more sustainable lifestyle - so many amazing people are finding creative and delicious ways to reduce food waste and eat more consciously - and this is a collection of some of my favorite sustainable recipes.
Family Friendly Sustainable Recipes
Hearty Oatmeal Banana Bread Quick and Healthy Family Breakfast- My favorite recipe for using up "rotten" food is this twist on classic banana bread. Yep, the bananas are brown, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't be eaten.
Vegetable Stock - Put all those vegetable scraps to good use and make a richly flavored vegetable stock. The Spiffy Cookie shares tips for how to store your scraps, turn them into vegetable stock, and what to do with the stock once you have made it.
Easy Turkey Broth - Do you know how easy it is to make turkey stock...or chicken stock? After you have cut all the meat off the holiday turkey, keep the carcass and turn it into the most delicious turkey stock that you can use in soups, stews or however you like.
Farmers' market Soup recipe - It isn't always possible to grow your own food in your backyard, but there are plenty of farmers' markets popping up in communities. A farmers' market is a wonderful way to eat food that is in season. Our farmers' market soup recipe is all about heading to the market, finding inspiration in the ingredients you find, tossing them in a pot, and making something amazing!
Carrot Top Pesto - Instead of throwing away your carrot tops, Nourished Kitchen shares how to use those tops to make carrot top pesto. It’s an easy recipe that comes together in only a few minutes. And it’s a great way to minimize food waste and use every scrap in your kitchen
Sauteed Beet Greens - Spend with Pennies shares how to transform what we would typically toss, the beet greens, into a delicious side dish. The next time you make beets, keep the greens and the stalks and learn how to properly saute them into this amazing dish.
Frozen Smoothie Packs - Don't Waste the Crumbs shares how easy it is to make frozen smoothie packs for busy families. The post is filled with all kinds of amazing tips and tricks for making smoothies. From what to pack, what to add to the smoothies and how to make great smoothies.
Lemon Zucchini Bread - If you have ever grown zucchini in your garden then you know it is very easy to grow and you end up with an endless supply of zucchini. If you aren't sure what to do with them all, Neighbor Food Blog shares an amazing lemon zucchini bread recipe.
Easy Oven Roasted Vegetables - Two Peas and their Pod shares how to use up all those vegetables that have been sitting in your crisper. It is so simple to oven-roast a wide variety of vegetables. Once you learn how to properly roast veggies it will be your go-to side dish to serve.
Quick Pickled Vegetables - People have been picking food for centuries. It is an inexpensive way to preserve vegetables and fruit. Home Made Interest shares how easy it is to make quick pickled vegetables that you can enjoy all year round.
Blueberry Bread Pudding - In our house, sometimes loaves of bread are forgotten. Before we can eat the entire loaf, they get lost in the bread box and turn stale. But, this is the perfect time to transform bread into a beautiful bread pudding. This recipe includes the bonus of sweet and tart blueberries too.
Dark Chocolate Covered Candied Orange Slices - Candying fruit is another tried and true way to preserve food. Craving Something Healthy shares this recipe for delicious dark chocolate covered candied orange slices. I mean, is there a more delicious way to use up those oranges I love the idea of using leftover Easter chocolate or Halloween chocolate for the coating.
Panzanella salad - Here's another wonderful way to keep the stale bread out of the garbage. Joy Food Sunshine shares a power-packed Panzanella salad recipe. This recipe is also a great way to use all the veggies that you can grow quite easily in a home garden - tomatoes, peppers, herbs, and more.
How to Dry Herbs at Home - You've grown a lush herb garden. You have harvested those herbs and aren't quite sure what to do now. Well, I've got tips and tricks for how to dry your herbs at home. Once you've dried your herbs you will be able to bottle them and share them with friends and keep them on hand to cook with at home.
Spring Veg Fritatta - A frittata or quiche is always a delicious way to use up vegetables that are a little past their prime. Toss the veg in with a heap of eggs, bake, and enjoy! A simple way to skip the compost bin.
This collection is really only scratching the surface of ways we can reduce food waste and eat more sustainably. A good place to start is to eat food that is in season. Just because you can get strawberries all year round (and you live in Canada) doesn't mean that you should. Consider the trip those strawberries had to take to get into your grocery store. Bonus if you can support a local grower! The closer something is grown to your home the better!
I'm hoping to add more and more recipes to this list, but I think this is a great place to start. What do you think?
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