Want to prepare healthy meals, reduce food waste and save time and money? Just by making small changes in your cooking habits, you can do all these things and reduce your greenhouse gas emissions.

In this inspiring hands-on class, we’ll share the following tips and strategies to become more efficient in the kitchen and reduce food waste:

• Meal planning,
• How to store foods properly,
• Friending your freezer,
• Loving your leftovers,
• Understanding expiration dates, and
• No-recipe, batch, and scrap-based cooking.

Currently, about 40% of food grown in the US is wasted, never making it onto someone’s plate. The average American family of four wastes $1500 a year on food they buy but don’t eat. If wasted food were a country, it would be the third largest producer of greenhouse gases in the world, after China and the United States. Come learn food-saving techniques and help the US meet its goal to reduce food waste by 50% by 2030. You will be preparing and eating several small dishes during the class.

This is a pilot workshop designed to give Vermonters skills to reduce wasted food. It was developed by Shelburne Farms and Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation. You will be asked to complete a survey at the end to help determine how we can improve the workshop before bringing it to other parts of the State.

About the Instructors:

Jim McCarthy is the Executive Chef at the Inn at Shelburne Farms. He holds a culinary arts degree from the New England Culinary Institute, and a Master’s Degree in nutrition and food science from the University of Vermont. Recently, he worked with the nutritional services staff at South Burlington Schools to help them strengthen their mission to serve fresh, healthy meals.

Anne Bijur works for the Waste Management and Prevention Division of Vermont’s Department of Environmental Conservation. She helps implement Vermont’s recycling, composting, and waste reduction initiatives. She formerly was Communications and Outreach Coordinator for Vermont FEED (Food Education Every Day) and the Vermont Farm to School Network.