Kids across the country were challenged to reduce food waste and saved more than 19,000 plates of food – 18 times the weight of a grand piano – from landfill
By Chef Sam Lazuric, Corporate Chef, Maple Leaf Foods
What if I told you that you could help save the planet just by upcooking yesterday’s dinner into a new meal? Last fall, we partnered with kids’ conservation organization Earth Rangers on an app-based ‘All Taste, No Waste’ challenge to reduce food waste in Canada. Nearly 10,000 Earth Rangers from across the country learned and logged their waste-reducing ‘habits’, and demonstrated how small changes can have a big impact on the environment when we step up for environmental sustainability.
Collectively over six months, participants logged over 119,000 sustainable food habits like ‘Being a Clean Plate Champion’ where kids only dished up as much as they could eat. This small habit alone saved 19,192 plates of food from landfill – that’s enough to provide a person’s lunch for 53 years! Another habit, ‘Upcooking Leftovers’, prompted Canada’s youngest generation to get creative with yesterday’s dinner and collectively, kids logged 14,834 meals made from leftovers – the weight of almost 1,000 bowling balls!
Research revealed 69% of Canadians report they’d like examples of recipes that help reduce food waste. As a reward for being climate champions, Maple Leaf Foods unlocked a free ‘All Taste, No Waste’ cookbook featuring leftover-focused recipes and tips from my kitchen to yours.
If you love food but hate waste, you can download the cookbook1 by clicking here. You can also check out my past blog post for fun and easy tips to build a litterless lunch for kids to bring to school.
Interested in becoming an Earth Ranger?
Take part in Challenges on the free Earth Rangers App. You can download the app on your mobile device by clicking here.
Earth Rangers Challenges are a part of ‘Project 2050: Climate-friendly Habits to Change the World.’ This campaign invites children to team up with other kids across Canada to learn how they can tackle greenhouse gases and help slow down climate change. It’s being funded in part by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
1 For an accessible copy of the ‘All Taste, No Waste’ cookbook, please click here.
