My Journey to a Low Waste life

Food Waste

There are many articles online that discuss not wasting food parts we normally throw away, but here is a concentrated selection of practical ideas that take little effort to adapt into the life of an otaku.

Last year I developed a strong Adderall-fueled interest in ways to use leftover parts of meats, fruits, & vegetables instead of throwing them away like I did for years. 

Sardine waste

Buying cans of Sardines in bulk is already a very frugal way to live & eat, but I'd like to share with you some extra zero-waste habits I've used for Sardines.

When I need a quick meal I'll open a can or 2 of sardines. I buy them in bulk at Kroger under the 10 for $10 deal & I prefer the sardines in olive oil. I've got a huge reserve of grocery bags in my room so I'll open one up as a mat then put the 1 or 2 cans inside it then open them up & feast. I like to use pepper packets to spice them up a little. Sardines are a good nighttime food too. But after I finish eating, I'll pour the leftover oil & bits into my next bowl of ramen noodles, cup of bone broth, bowl of soup, etc. Sometimes I'll pour the oil & bits into a dixie cup, put it in the freezer, & use to add to a future bowl of soup.

But even more unique is that I use the metal lids from sardine cans too! Now this part is riskier for you but for me, I will clean off the lid then take them to the bathtub. When I'm cleaning off in the bath, I will bend the metal lid inward then use the edges of it to scrape off dead skin! It's very effective too! It's far more effective than any of the fancy sponges I've used. The success can be measured by how much gray grime it can collect. After I use the lid for 1 or 2 baths, I fold it & throw in the recycle. The only form of exfoliation I've done that even compares to this success is using a literal powerwasher on my body. I sometimes get very light cuts on the bony parts like my shins but I often don't notice cuts till later because the overall process is so satisfying. This is especially effective for thinning down cellulite & for people who've lost weight but haven't lost the skin.

Peanut & Pistachio shells

I used to eat more raw peanuts & salted pistachios back then & now whenever I or my grandma eat shelled nuts, we save the shells in bags. My dad sometimes uses a broken propane grill as a charcoal grill to cook us hotdogs & hamburgers. What do we do with the shells? I now save shells for my dad to use while grilling! That's right, I'll put a bag of nut shells under the grill cover for my dad to throw on the fire when he's ready to cook our food. I found out some grillers use nut shells to help enrich the charcoal smoke. It's hard to tell a difference in the flavor but it's nice to use shells to grill instead of throwing them away like that. Fancier grillers will put shells in a smoker box but my dad decided to just throw them on the fire so they can cook into the meat. When the ashes build up too much, I use them as lawn filler. With the charcoal ashes now including nut shell ashes, it'll be healthier for the grass. 

Zero-Waste hardliners oppose this due to the extra CO2 emissions as well as eating meat but if you live in the bible belt or car country, you realize that trying to reduce carbon output over this is like trying to fix the Titanic with Band-Aids. 

Currently there's a paper bag full of walnut, peanut, pistachio, almond shells under the grill ready for his next cookout. I also add other organic food burnables in there like garlic bases, grape stems, etc.

Orange, Lemon, & Avocado peels

I now use the peels from oranges & avocados as bath additives! I found out both can be useful additions to bath water. Orange peels have acids that help the bathwater clean the oils & dead skin & avocado peels have oils that help the moisture & elasticity of skin, also giving it a deaging effect. Whenever I eat an orange or use an avocado for a dish, I now put the peels in the freezer until I'm ready for a bath. Then when I start a bath I put a handful of peels in there to enrich the water with their acids, oils, & scents. When I get in the bath, I'll sometimes squeeze the orange peels to get the rest of their juices out & rub them on the underarms to further clean myself.

I will also add lemon peels to the bath when we get them. I don't notice anything too different but I figure it's better than letting the peels go to waste.

You might get bits of avocado in the water which may not look great but if you clean them out enough that won't be a problem. The orange peels might dye the water a slight tint. The oily avocado peels can even be used as a shaving cream, glazing the skin before shaving. Then after the bath is drained, I put the boiled peels in a grocery bag to throw away, getting at least one use from them. The orange peels turn darker & shrink while the avocado peels get more brown & crispy. 

Orange peels can also be made into candy but the oranges we get likely have alot of pesticides in the peels. 

Chicken bone broth

This year I started saving the bones from the fried chicken, pork ribs, & other cuts of meat I eat & use them for bone broth! It's now a shame to see how many bones get thrown away at Church's, KFC, & other restaurants. After I drank my first batch of broth made from fried chicken bones, I felt like King Piccolo after wishing for youth, or Dio after drinking Joseph's blood. I believe exfoliating with sardine can lids created such a high demand for collagen in my body that I felt malnourished. But that changed when I started making bone broth. The rush I got from my early batches of bone broth made me wanna order Church's chicken just to have the bones after a nice meal. I later upgraded to making broth from the bones of pork ribs & it's large cartilage pieces. After the broth is made, you can even eat the joints on the bones! The ball joints on the chicken bones or the larger end of pork rib bones become completely edible after being boiled in broth & nothing is more nourishing for your own bones than that. Now preparing the broth takes work & requires ingredients like garlic, onion, celery, carrots, bay leaves, apple cider vinegar, salt n pepper, etc. But the feeling you get after drinking bone broth will make it feel all worth it. If you don't feel ready to make broth anytime soon, you can always bag up the bones & freeze them. 

Egg shells can also be saved to add to broth, I've added them when making eggs & broth in the same day.