Fight Food Waste With A Little Kitchen Creativity

Earth Day April 22, 2025 marks over fifty-five years of us humans working hard to protect our planet for future generations. Taking a moment to ponder how we could help to protect the Earth’s precious resources can seem daunting. What can I do in the grand scheme of things that will impact the planet? In reality it is all about the small things, so we at Backhome Foods would like to offer up the simple tip of being creative in the kitchen to reduce food waste.

Making compost from leftovers.

1/3 of all food produced in the world is discarded or wasted.

Food waste is a big problem globally. Almost one-third of all food produced in the world is discarded for a multitude of reasons. Throwing away edible food has a little known negative impact on our planet. The thrown out food is sent to landfills where it rots and produces methane gas. Methane gas is a greenhouse gas that impacts climate change. There are many things we can do to reduce food waste in our kitchens. On of our personal favorites is to great creative in the kitchen.

One of the great things about cooking your own food is that you can tweak recipes to your liking, adding new flavors and ingredients. Including parts of foods that aren’t usually used is an excellent way to repurpose scraps when you’re experimenting in the kitchen. Stems and stalks make tasty additions to sautés and baked dishes, while garlic and onion ends can bring flavor to stocks and sauces.

Jazzing up a simple rice accompaniment dish with aromatics that is one trick that we love. This recipe was shared by Leela Punyaratabandhu a Thai chef and blogger, and we love it as the perfect accompaniment to any Backhome Foods entree. This recipe calls for chives in addition to the coconut, but really any left over aromatics you have in your kitchen can be used in this recipe to create a delightful recipe that uses up garlic or onion ends.

Coconut Rice & Fresh Chives

Ingredients

(Makes 4-5 cups)

• 2 cups uncooked long grain rice, preferably Thai Jasmine or Basmati
• 2-3/4 cups water or unsalted chicken or vegetable broth
• 1 cup canned coconut milk
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp ground white or black pepper
• 2/4 cup snipped chives (or garlic ends, onion ends, cilantro roots, etc.)

Instructions

Put the rice in a heavy-bottomed pot or a rice cooker container and rinse it until the water is clear.

Add the water or broth into the pot, stir, and bring the rice mixture to a boil, uncovered, over medium-high heat. Turn down the heat to one notch above the lowest setting and cover the pot. In about 15 minutes, the rice should have already absorbed most or all of the liquid. Add the coconut milk, salt, and black pepper; stir very gently once and put the lid back on.

Let the rice cook for another 10 minutes or until it appears cooked and all the liquid has been absorbed.

Take the pot off the heat and let the rice rest for 10 minutes.

Add the fresh chives and give the rice a quick stir; put the lid back on but cover only partially to let some of the steam out.

When the rice has cooled down a little, fluff with a fork.

This method works well if you cook your rice in a rice cooker as well. You just have to remember to add the coconut milk about 5 minutes before the rice cooker goes ding. Finally enjoy with your favorite Backhome Foods Entree Ready Meals

Credit: https://shesimmers.com/2009/06/coconut-rice-with-chives-how-to-make-fluffy-coconut-rice.html