How to Save Food That's "Gone Bad"

By Sabs Katz

At the Co-Op, we do our best to reduce food waste. While there is always plenty of beautiful and non-imperfect produce, sometimes you’ll see “at-cost” produce, which might include softening carrots or slightly bruised apples. What is one to do with these? Fear not - there are so many ways to prevent food from getting tossed! Here are some of our favorites.

Apples: Make applesauce, apple chips or apple chia jam. Recipes here.

Carrots, radishes, cauliflower, onions or cucumbers: Pickle them! Recipes here and here.

Bananas: Peel, chop and place them in a container in the freezer for smoothies! Or make vegan banana bread, recipe here.

Greens: Either cook and then freeze them into squares using an ice cube tray (perfect for adding to smoothies!) or make a pesto with oil or avocado, nutritional yeast, lemon juice and nut/seed of choice.

Tomatoes: Make some homemade tomato sauce, recipe here.

Avocado: For those rare beings who let avocados go bad… they can be frozen and added to smoothies for extra creaminess!

Zucchini: Freeze and add to smoothies for extra nutrition! Or make zucchini chips, recipe here.

Mushrooms: If your mushrooms have dried up in the fridge, leave them until dehydrated, then add to a food processor to create a mushroom powder. Add this as a flavoring to make a yummy broth/ramen base!

Bell peppers: Roast them and eat as is or add to a processor with chickpeas, tahini, lemon juice, garlic and salt for some delicious homemade hummus.

Herbs: Freeze them in an ice cube tray with some olive oil and throw it into a pan as a cooking base.

Honestly, freezing is always a great option, so if you really don’t know what to do throw your produce in the freezer! Did we miss anything? Let us know in the comments!