Building a Low Waste Pantry

My tips for what to stock, and how to use it, to streamline your cooking practice

The theme of the newsletter this month, which emerged more through serendipity than intentionality, is food waste, both how we perceive what 'waste' is and how we tackle it.

Specifically, I want to reframe how we consider waste as well as what we consider waste.

We get a lot of messaging around reducing food waste, but often with little practical guidance that helps us build a low-waste kitchen practice from the ground up.

Later this month, I'll be talking about shifting our mindset around waste to move from a fear of waste to the joy of cultivating kitchen creativity, and I'll be sharing some ideas for how to use up specific food scraps.

But for this issue, I wanted to share the building blocks of a low-waste pantry. In other words, what perspectives on buying and storing undergird my practice of low waste cooking?

For me, I find it's as much the process as it is the products I buy (or make). Here is a glimpse into what that process looks like, organized by the undergirding perspectives that inform my kitchen practice: