101 Tips for a Zero-Waste Kitchen

by Kathryn Kellogg

Forty percent of all food produced in the US is wasted―the author of 101 Ways to Go Zero Waste is here with solutions! Kathryn Kellogg is taking her accessible tips for a zero-waste lifestyle and focusing on the heart of the house. Our kitchens can produce a shocking amount of waste and, even though food scraps may seem harmless, they can’t properly decompose in a landfill. What’s wasting food can strain your wallet. The average American family of four will lose $1,500 annually on food waste. It’s time to turn things around!   101 Tips for a Zero Waste Kitchen is your guide to reducing waste in your kitchen. Kathryn will teach you how to buy in bulk, avoid unnecessary packaging, upcycle jars, and more. Plus, she’ll give you recipes that make use of your preserve your lemon peels for extra flavor, create simple syrup from strawberry tops, and revive shriveled mushrooms. With a little work and Kathryn in your corner, you’ll have the tools you need to reach the ultimate no produce left behind! 20 illustrations

Genres: Nonfiction, Cookbooks, Reference, Food, Sustainability

256 pages, Paperback

Published August 6, 2024

Reviews

[Katrina · Rating 4 out of 5]

Super helpful! I’ve already tried several of the recipes and they’re delicious.

[Natalie Puckett · Rating 5 out of 5]

5⭐️ I want to buy this book! Stumbled upon it in the library and found so many helpful tips, tricks, and ideas for reducing waste and making the most of the food I buy. It meets you where you’re at, and gives so many different ways to improve your food buying and improvising (including recipes).

[Claire · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some helpful tips for learning scrappy cooking if you weren’t raised with it. Definitely for the person who is starting to cook for themselves with more produce. I’d say it was helpful learning some new tips but some things were irrelevant to me.

[Zivile · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you’re totally new into sustainable lifestyle - this might be a good starter.

[aryah · Rating 3 out of 5]

Really great book if you are a person who never learned meal planning or basic kitchen etiquette 💀 I felt like this book was specifically for white americans because as a desi person my family already taught me more than half of these tips

[Monica · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great for newbies. otherwise, nothing new.

[Amie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Practical advice but nothing earth shattering

[Linds · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was practical and in some places seemed quite obvious. However, I still found it helpful and I lol’d several times. There were some parts where the author made a suggestion, but then readily admitted that she struggled with some of them herself, which I found both amusing and relatable. The second half of the book was more about 50 ways that you can use odd food scraps or older food, which as someone who has no desire to do that and would rather just compost it and call it a day, I didn’t find it incredibly useful. I still skimmed that bit and learned a few things and it was overall an enjoyable experience!

[Jennifer Ritchie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am aware that the “Zero-Waste” movement is mostly focused on the environment; I am not utterly indifferent to the environment, but my focus on zero waste has more to do with frugality. Fortunately, there’s a lot of overlap. I like that this book focused specifically on food. There was a lot of good information on storing produce, ideas for what to do with produce that’s past its prime (including recipes), and even some tips for reviving stale snacks and bread. I checked the book out from the library, but it would be a good one to own and use for reference.

One thing that made it less useful to me was the fact that the author is vegan. Now, she wasn’t a pushy and preachy vegan, so that wasn’t my issue. I just found that most of recipes weren’t the sort of thing that I would actually make; plus, figuring out how to make the most of meat products seems like a pretty important topic, and it wasn’t covered.

Overall, though, I thought the book was enjoyable, and I liked the way that the author suggested different meal-planning strategies for different personalities rather than insisting on one “right” way. I thought her tone was friendly and down-to-earth, like when she freely admitted that she’s had no success at growing her own herbs (me neither!).

On a side note, I have never understood books/blogs/people saying that composting is “simple and easy,” then proceeding to inform me that I must have 70 percent carbon-rich material and 30 percent nitrogen-rich material, and it has to be tumbled or stirred with a pitchfork every so many days, and it can’t get too wet or too dry, and it can’t get too warm or too cold, and you can’t put this, that, and the other in there but you can put X and Y, and you can even compost Z if you use a certain Japanese method… I’m not saying it isn’t worth doing, but can we just admit that composting isn’t that simple??

[Charlotte · Rating 1 out of 5]

My first impression of this book was that it was sloppily edited. For example, the illustration in the tomato section was of an avocado. She also states that placing hot items in your refrigerator will lower the temperature. Did anyone look at this copy before it's sent to the publisher?

My second impression is that a lot of the advice was dumb (or, perhaps, the advice was intended for dumb people? not sure). She helpfully advises readers to - you might want to sit down for this one - use the freezer to store frozen foods such as ice cream! Really, that's in the book.

The constant virtue-hectoring gets tiresome as well. Use compostable parchment paper! Only use glass storage containers! (Honestly, what on earth is wrong with plastic storage containers? They are light, durable, cheap, and they no longer contain those chemicals everyone was freaking out about 15 years ago. You can pry my plastic food storage containers from my cold, dead hands.) Place your frosting in a reusable piping bag! (Can you just say "use a piping bag" and let your readers figure it out from there?)

I guess I'm on a roll with my grievances about this book, so I shall continue. There are too many exclamation points! Saying "banana peel BBQ!" doesn't make the idea sound any more palatable. The ideas and recipes were also way too vegan for this omnivore. Nutritional yeast? Flaxseed eggs? Ain't nobody got time for that.

The author seems friendly and well-meaning enough, but this should have been a BuzzFeed listicle instead of a 230-page book. There were a handful of interesting recipes and stretch-your-food-to-the-max sorts of ideas, but overall kind of a waste of time.

[Faith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quick aside: despite the title, Kellogg does't actually advocate for a "zero-waste kitchen", calling it an unrealistic goal for the average person, but instead she aims for a low-waste kitchen. Making the most of your food and avoiding plastic when you can, but not beating yourself up when you can't.

I'm honestly not entirely sure why I read this book, as I don't have my own kitchen, do my own grocery shopping, or cook most of my meals.. yet. but I did read it and I like a lot of the tips! I found the section on how to properly store fruits and vegetables and maintain fridge and freezer efficiency to be the most helpful to me.
Least helpful for my current stage of life but still very nice were the many recipes to make the most of your food, via utilizing veggie and fruit scraps, food containers, and foods that are on the verge of going bad. I might revisit this book in the future for some of those!
I follow Kellogg on Insta and love her content so it's no surprise to me I enjoyed her book, but I still recommend it to anyone who wants to make the most of their food, and lower their waste!

[McKenzie Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

For more bookish opinions, visit my blog: Craft-Cycle

A nice start for learning about food waste and ways to reduce other waste in your home.

A helpful little guide. Nicely written. There are a lot of basic tips in here (reusable bags, shop seasonally) which work well for beginners as well as tips for using things like watermelon rinds and strawberry tops.

There are some great tips for avoiding food waste from the start as well as what to do with food that's getting a little old. Includes information on meal planning and proper food storage, how to revitalize food, working with food scraps, and ways to use up different types of food. Loved the focus on using up what you have and getting the most out of your food.

The bulk of the book is broken up into different foods and how to utilize them. The index at the back makes for easy reference.

A helpful resource. Works great for beginners but is also worth a look through for those who have already started their waste reduction journey to see what other tips they can implement (borrow a copy from your local library for added sustainability!).

[Cathryn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent! Lots of great tips that I plan on incorporating into my life. Definitely worth a read. And like the author states, one does not have to do all of these things, but even a few will help. Reading this book led me to an excellent television documentary titled "Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story" which will absolutely blow your mind about the food waste in the developed world. It's available on the internet: https://www.bing.com/videos/riverview...
The couple in this documentary live in Canada and I live in the U.S. but I was still shocked at the vast amount of waste. That chocolate! A container full of hummus!! We can all do better.

[Dori · Rating 5 out of 5]

Love this author (Kathryn Kellogg) and all the work she does spreading the word about zero waste living! This topic is truly such an important one. Lots of creative ideas and inspiration to be found in this her latest book, 101 Tips for a Zero-Waste Kitchen. In addition to all of Kellogg's great ideas, I thought the simple and colorful cover of the book, as well as the quality of the physical book itself, made it a pleasure for me to read. I definitely recommend this one for those who are concerned about lowering their kitchen waste and helping the planet!

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I love how the author delineates the motives between her aspirational and realistic self, because it's so true.

While the majority of this book was a bit much in terms of effort required (I did not know you could make your own vinegar but also who is going to wait three weeks for it to ferment in a dark pantry?) the factoids were still pretty cool to know about. I've marked some recipes that seem interesting-- always on the hunt for pancakes that don't require eggs these days!-- but other than that I'd say this get a solid three stars.

[Alejandra · Rating 3 out of 5]

I was expecting something different. This book has so many great ideas on how to get the most out of what you buy, and try to shop in less wasteful ways, but you will still throw a ton into the composter. I think I was expecting more of a book on ways to change the way you do life to not create as much waste, not to use your waste twice. Not a bad thing- It just caught me off guard.

[Ania · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book will be great for someone who is new to the zero-waste lifestyle. I picked up a few new ideas and took some notes. I would recommend Kathryn's first book as an alternative as this is more specific to food.

[Nick Salenga · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book that offers tools you need to help simplify your shopping routines, keep food fresher for longer & save time, money, & planet.

[Renee · Rating 1 out of 5]

Nothing new here if you've ever visited "Grist" or "Treehugger" blogs or even MN Pollution Control Agency website.

[Jen S · Rating 4 out of 5]

A handy resource with practical ideas.

[John Harris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some good suggestions but most were just not practical. Lots of work to eat less desirable items instead of just composting . Just my opinion

[Amanda · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got a few good ideas that are feasible to try. This would have been better as a blog or long form article series.

[Nikki · Rating 3 out of 5]

A few good tips, many good recipes for semi-bad food. Just not what I was expecting.