Welcome to the Climate Kitchen newsletter, a new content universe for climate-curious parents.

Curated by Sophie Egan

Every month, we share 3 things we love as parents/caregivers raising little humans. It can be something we’ve just discovered, something we use all the time and want to share, or something recommended to us. It can be food-related, but it doesn’t have to be. Whatever it is, it should add to/simplify/enhance your life.

1. Nicole Kelner. Through her organization, “Arts and Climate Change,” this talented illustrator exudes optimism and possibility. She offers classes, commissions, and her hit coloring book, “Electrify Everything.” But it’s her merch that I’m wild about. Sometimes we all just need a heat pump t-shirt.

2. NPR Life Kit. Years ago I remember learning about the concept of the “life wheel,” which helps you visualize all the major dimensions of, well, life: from family to friends, health to finance, career to hobbies. This NPR podcast manages to hit on literally every dimension. To give you the flavor, sample episodes include: “To save more money, avoid these 5 common financial mistakes,” “The tricky etiquette of parenting in public,” “A guide to breast cancer screening,” “Not PB&J again! Here are 6 easy ways to jazz up your kid’s lunch,” “5 tips to help you reset after the daylight saving time change,” “So, your kid wants to quit soccer (or piano, or swim class). Should you let them?”, “Your questions about electric vehicles,” and “The secret to lasting love might just be knowing how to fight.” All to say: It’s a bounty of nuggets of useful info.

3. Mercari. A simple, sustainable parenting hack is to buy used clothes. Hand-me-downs are even better (read: free!), and it’s particularly important not to buy new for specialized gear like Halloween costumes, life jackets, soccer cleats, basketball shoes, etc. that get worn for just a season or so with fast-growing kiddos. I love Mercari because you can find high-quality brands at a bargain. (Incidentally, I often find items still with the tag on or even in the box—at a fraction of the regular price!) You can also filter by the level of use you’re comfortable with.

Gamify Your Family’s Food Waste Reduction

By Sophie Egan

“A third of parents eat their kids’ lunchbox rejects for dinner, according to a recent poll.” 

As a writer, my inbox gets a lot of press releases in a given week, and I ignore 99% of them, but this one-liner got my attention. I have no idea if it’s been fact-checked—the survey was commissioned by NatureSweet and conducted by Talker Research, whose entire job is to get my attention, and darn it, it worked!–-but for the moment, that’s besides the point. The real point is that the image of a beleaguered parent, hunched over the kitchen counter at the end of a long Wednesday, picking and poking at a half-eaten PB&J, limp carrot sticks, and browned apple slices….yeah, this hit home in a way few things have since I began my parenting journey. I’m here to tell you: This does not have to be the sad tale it appears to be! Yes, big bummer for all the wasted time that goes into curating, shopping, preparing, and cleaning up after a kid’s lunch that doesn’t get eaten. But big win for turning that into dinner. Why? Because in the United States, the average household wastes over 6 cups of food per week, for a total of $1,500 down the drain per family per year. 

So this year, I invite you to gamify reducing your household food waste—all while saving money, saving time by stretching every grocery trip to the fullest, and making yourself feel great for taking one of the top household actions for addressing climate change. Up to 40 percent of food in the U.S. gets wasted, and not only does that waste all the energy, natural resources, human resources, time, effort, water, and fuel that goes into growing, harvesting, processing, and distributing that food, but what happens to the uneaten food is equally concerning: Most household food waste doesn’t get composted. Instead, food scraps sit in landfills, where they generate 58% of a garbage dump’s methane emissions. That’s a huge problem given the potent global warming effects of methane. So, the best thing we can do is prevent food from being wasted in the first place. 

Here are three fun ways to get started: 

1. Designate a night each week to eat leftovers for dinner—and have a contest to name that night. Eat cold pizza, reheat noodles from the back of the fridge, or pull together random bits and pieces to make an easy stir fry, soup, scramble, or other smorgasbord. (If you don’t have enough for a full meal, supplement with pantry staples like pasta, beans, tortillas, crackers, or bread.) Rather than call it “Leftovers Night,” really market the upsides and make it feel special. You could take turns going through the alphabet to have kids play with alliteration, with names like “Wacky Wednesday” or “Munchie Monday.” You could emphasize the goofiness of the night and encourage made-up words, like “oogle moogle” and “goo gots” from my favorite New Yorker article on the art of “fending.” Or, lean into the individualized, liberating nature of “fridge-foraging” to brainstorm names like “Free Choice Night.” You could also spark creativity around the ease and cost-saving angle, like “Freebie Friday” or “Restaurant’s Closed” or “Chef’s Night Off.” You get the idea. Go wild! Your bank account and the planet will thank you.

2. Turn your grocery list into art. It’s been repeatedly shown that one of the most obvious, simplest tools in the food waste reduction toolbox is one of the most effective: Make a list before your shop. (And stick to it.) To spice things up with said list, have your kids doodle, draw, sticker, stamp, or otherwise embellish. Some of these could turn out to be frame-worthy.

3. Invite kids to invent snack recipes from only opened ingredients they can find in your fridge or pantry. Consider the two random blobs left in the yogurt container, for instance, or the browning banana in the fruit bowl. The handful of remaining chocolate chips, raisins, or cashews at the bottom of the bag. All are treasure for a colorful smoothie, muffin, or “kitchen sink” type of cookie. The same goes for concocting a clever dip or sauce from half a carrot or avocado, a forgotten tub of cottage cheese or sour cream, or a half-used can of tomato paste or pureed pumpkin. Let the games begin!

Hungry for more food-saving ideas? My favorite deep dive on the matter is the “Waste-Free Kitchen Handbook” by food-saving heroine Dana Gunders. Spoiler alert: It turns out you can freeze just about anything.

Your Questions — Answered!

As part of the feedback we received since our launch, we got many questions from readers about climate-smart diets, so we created this monthly reader question section. Send us all your questions here.

“Dear Climate Kitchen, what are some climate-smart ways to make my kid’s meals more nutritious?”

Feeding small kids can get pretty repetitive, and it can be challenging to introduce variety. I could remind you to include green veggies on their plate and enough protein and fiber for optimal health. But since we care as much about joy and flavor and loving food here at CK as we do about nutrition, I’m going to let you in on our go-to foods/ingredients (all tried and tested by mini humans) that add some extra zhuzh to their meals both on the taste front AND the nutrient front:

Seaweed / sea veggies—great for omega-3s and healthy thyroid function: whether it’s wakame in miso soup, veggie sushi, kimbap or toasted seaweed sheets for a snack, we work in see veggies whenever we can.

Fermented foods—great for gut health: decent quality olives count here (I put them in salads and pastas), and Japanese daikon pickles in sushi and miso paste in soup and salad dressings (also really good in pasta sauces for extra umami) are all kid-approved ways to add ferments. Sauerkraut on plant-based sausage ‘dogs’ and a few sips of kombucha for older kids (5 years +)* are additional options.

Mushrooms—great for Vit D and B vitamins: we make a weekly pasta the kids love with sliced olives, shiitake mushrooms, and diced eggplant (we use sourdough or wholewheat pasta). We also put chopped mushrooms in bolognese sauce and omelettes (cook them with onions and garlic for a delicious base to endless dishes). Finally, mushroom powder (make sure to get one with no added ingredients) is a secret weapon in a home cook’s taste arsenal. Throw a spoonful in soups, sauces, and dressings for a yum boost.

All of these are pantry-friendly, so they keep for ages on the shelf or in the fridge, meaning less food waste and an easy grab for busy weeks when a tasty, nutritious dinner needs to be ready fast.

-Sonalie Figueiras

*Kombucha is a fizzy, fermented tea drink. It contains caffeine, some sugar, and a minute amount of alcohol (from the fermentation). It is safe in small quantities (half a cup) for little ones and there are no hard and fast age rules (some folks do give it to kids younger than 5) but it’s up to you whether you feel comfortable. I think it’s a great replacement for soda or fruit juices and a great way to introduce fermented foods to your little ones.