I know what I’m supposed to do: save my onion ends, mushroom stems, tomato skins, etc. and make a veggie stock. I am probably NEVER going to do that. I don’t even know where I would store a giant thing of homemade stock.
Not that I never use the extra bits. Tops and stems of a lot of veggies are beloved by our rabbit friends (carrot peelings and the cast-off parts of lemongrass stalks, too). And when I cook something, I try to use as much of it as possible. I (usually) mince kale stems and chard stalks and saute them with garlic and onions in however I’m cooking the leaves. Sometimes I’ll use shiitake mushroom stems in a quick broth with a piece of kelp to make the base of a nice noodle soup (with sauteed or roasted sliced shiitake caps, natch). And reviving leftover meals ain’t no thing–yesterday, I made a leftovers burrito to send with my mom as she headed south for the winter filled with ropa vieja seitan, black beans and rice, and the tiny bit of mojo-braised collard greens.
But I don’t HAVE any of things things handy to SHOW you how I use ‘em. So you can see my compostables bag. Which, at the moment, I don’t even compost: my yard is too overrun with weeds to bother with garden compost; my city does not offer food waste pickup separate from regular garbage service. I just fill a sealed-up, well-used plastic bag with the bits I can’t otherwise use and toss it. I don’t like to give the bugs any more of a free buffet than I have to.
