April 26th is Stop Food Waste Day.
Did you know that, according to Feeding America, each year 119 billion pounds of food is wasted in the United States? That equates to 130 billion meals and more than $408 billion in food thrown away each year.
Shockingly, nearly 40% of all food in America is wasted. (Feeding America)
That’s why, according to the group that launched Stop Food Waste Day back in 2017, we all need to get involved.
Reducing food waste is part of Blue Apron’s DNA — it’s part of why the company was founded, to reduce household level food waste by sending portioned ingredients to customers’ homes. But, given the environmental and social cost of food, we know that’s not enough, and are committed to reducing food waste in our operations. Blue Apron maintains a cross-functional team dedicated to reducing food waste, focused on preventing food waste first, and then diverting edible surplus food to people via food bank donations and our employee food donation program.
But, if you are like Tamar Adler, James Beard and IACP award-winning author, acclaimed food writer, and Vogue contributing editor (and sister to Blue Apron’s Senior Vice President of Physical Product John Adler) you sometimes have leftovers, but those can be moments of excitement, and opportunity. Her new book, The Everlasting Meal Cookbook: Leftovers A-Z (available on the Blue Apron Marketplace) is organized by leftover ingredient (from asparagus bottoms to boiled eggs, carrot tops to donuts, hard marshmallows to last bits of yogurt) and is a comprehensive and practical resource for reimagining any leftover in your kitchen.
In honor of Stop Food Waste Day, Paige Snider, Blue Apron’s social media manager, turned to the The Everlasting Meal Cookbook to turn her Blue Apron leftovers, caramelized onion and mushroom fettuccine into a frittata (cook this leftover makeover with Paige on our instagram channel).
According to Tamar, “There may be no leftovers dish so affirming as a pasta frittata. First, you get to use pasta in its second-most delicious form—a frittata. Second, you get to turn eggs, which are costly (both for the human who buys them and the chicken who makes them) into lunch or dinner. Third, leftover pasta frittata makes one of the world’s best sandwiches!”
And Paige agreed, “This recipe is a great way to breathe new life into your leftovers while cutting down on food waste.”
If you need inspiration to reimagine your leftovers – pick up Tamar’s book and let us know what you make. Leave comments on our Instagram post here.
