Climate

A Nutrition Student’s Journey To Make An Impact

May 17, 2023By 0 comment

As a full-time Dietetics and Food Administration, Nutrition and Nutritional Science Option, BS student at California State University, Long Beach, and intern at Food Finders, nutrition and reducing hunger and food waste are an important part of my life.  I learned in my junior year of school at California State, Long Beach how many people in the United States go to bed hungry every night, so many of them children, and my heart broke. I knew then that my passion for nutrition and eating for wellness was not all I was passionate about.

 I quickly became vested in learning how I could not only educate people on the benefits of healthy eating but also reducing food waste, repurposing food, and getting food to those in need. 

I realized that my knack for meal planning and shopping on a limited budget was something that I understand and was a big part of helping people to reduce food waste. The question for me was how could I combine these two skills and make a bigger impact. 

Food Waste is a Problem

Food waste is a huge problem in the United States with the vast majority of waste occurring in the home. Poor planning and expiration dates on the food we purchase are large contributors.  Many would rather toss food they aren’t sure about, which affects the environment’s equity, than risk getting a foodborne illness.  

Repurposing, Resources, and Education is the answer!

We work hard to plan and implement food repurposing through the Partner Agency Coordinators. 

Additionally, we are working hard to provide education and resources that explain not only how to properly store food but how to interpret the various expiration dates we see on food such as “use by”, ‘sell by”, etc. 

The FoodKeepers application supported by the USDA is a great resource to help people sort through the confusing world of labels and dates.  It can help you not only interpret the varying expiration date labels, but also can explain the best storage methods for various foods to reduce waste. 

Meal Planning

Meal planning is one of the biggest ways that all of us can stop food waste. Who hasn’t gone to the grocery store hungry and bought more than they needed?

When you plan your meals or even just your shopping, it reduces food waste.  And don’t forget that planning ahead is also easy on your wallet—a big plus! By planning your meals for the week and then creating your shopping list based on your meals can cut waste by 15% or more.  

Here’s a recipe that will guide you to the deliciousness of potato peel chips.  Not only are they delicious but you are reducing food waste by repurposing your peels into a crunchy snack or appetizer that has a ton more potassium and magnesium than the flesh of the potato as well as 12 times the antioxidants, so eat up.

https://www.thekitchn.com/heres-why-you-should-never-throw-out-potato-peelings-tips-from-the-kitchn-212565

Tip For Cutting Food Waste

  • Shop the grocery store’s weekly ads. With the cost of food up by 25% or more, finding proteins that are on sale that week is where I start my meal planning.
  • I do NOT go to the store hungry. Going grocery shopping hungry guarantees I will buy some overpriced and over-processed snack that I promptly eat on the way home.  This not only takes me out of budget but is unhealthy.  
  • I stick to my list.
  • I prepare my fruits and veggies for the week.  If I have salads planned I pre-cut and wash my lettuce, carrots, red cabbage, and cucumbers. I also wash and cut up any melons or fruit for the week as well.  Doing this makes busy weeks easier and allows for a nutritious snack of fruit that is easy to grab.

Nutrition Talks Program

This is all information I use when in our Nutrition Talks Program with our partner agencies.  I do a basic overview of nutrition and its importance with interactive tools that keep people engaged in what they are learning. One example is my Nutrition Facts Label workshop which starts with a scavenger hunt looking for a pantry item with a nutrition facts label and ties up with a Q & A on what was learned.  This month I will be visiting Long Beach City College for an interactive demonstration on how to repurpose fruits and vegetables. 

Working with the City of Long Beach to get nutrition education to Long Beach City College is just one way we do our part to reduce waste by repurposing food.  It isn’t enough that we are getting food into the hands of those in need but also to educate them on the many nutrient-dense meals that can be created while reducing waste.   

#StopFoodWasteWednesday #nutritiontalks #tipsforzerowaste #foodfindersinc #LBrecovers #healthyactivelongbeach

Kelly Alarcon, Student at California State University, Long Beach with a concentration in Nutrition and Nutritional Science has a passion for showing others the path to wellness through nutrition while reducing hunger and food waste.  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelly-alarcon-194313220/

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Climate

Best Stuffing Recipe

November 21, 2022By 0 comment

#MeatlessMondays

Happy Thanksgiving! This classic stuffing recipe is the BEST Thanksgiving side dish! Leeks, celery, and fresh herbs fill it with rich, savory flavor.

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

  • 1 small loaf (1 pound) day-old crusty sourdough bread, (not sandwich bread)
  • ½ cup salted butter or vegan butter
  • 2 leeks, halved, thinly sliced, and rinsed well (2 cups)
  • 4 celery stalks, diced (1¾ cups)
  • 3 garlic cloves, chopped
  • ¾ teaspoon sea salt
  • ½ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
  • ¼ cup chopped sage
  • Heaping ¼ cup chopped parsley
  • 1 teaspoon chopped rosemary
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves
  • 1½ to 2 cups vegetable broth
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

Cooking Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F and grease an 8×11 or 9×13-inch baking dish.
  2. Tear the bread into 1-inch pieces and place in a very large bowl.
  3. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the leeks, celery, garlic, salt, and pepper, and sauté for 5 minutes, turning the heat to low halfway through. Pour the leek mixture over the bread and sprinkle with the sage, parsley, rosemary, and thyme. Use your hands to toss until coated. Pour 1½ cups of the broth evenly over the stuffing and toss to coat. Add the eggs and toss again. The bread should feel pretty wet. If it’s still a bit dry, mix in the remaining ½ cup of broth. The amount you use will depend on how dense and dry your bread was.
  4. Transfer the mixture to the baking dish. If making ahead, stop here, cover the dish with foil, and store in the refrigerator until ready to bake.
  5. When ready to bake, drizzle the olive oil on top and bake, covered, for 30 minutes. If the stuffing is still pretty wet, uncover the dish and bake for 5 to 10 more minutes to crisp the top a bit.

Why Meatless Monday?

  • Meatless Monday is of utmost importance, especially in the United States, as we consume much more animal products than the rest of the world.
  • The meat industry uses vast amounts of our finite fossil fuels and water and lots of grain to feed livestock, which is extremely inefficient. Why not use those resources to feed people more directly?
  • About 1,850 gallons of water is needed to produce a singular pound of beef, comparable to only 39 gallons of water per pound of vegetables. A vegetarian diet alone could dramatically reduce water consumption by 58% per person!
  • Meat production also is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which has proven to correlate to the climate change crisis. 
  • Some benefits of eating plant-based once a week include:
    • Save 133 gallons of water with each meatless meal!
    • Reduce your carbon footprint by 8 pounds each Meatless Monday you participate in
    • If you commit to participating in Meatless Monday every Monday, that is equivalent to skipping one serving of beef for a year, would save the same amount of emissions as driving 348 miles in a car.

If you have a recipe you would like to share with us for #meatlessmondays, please email christian.bearden100@gmail.com. If you would like to make an impact on reducing food waste and hunger help us grow our food rescue operations: Donate

#meatlessmonday #foodfindersinc  #FoodRescue #reducehunger #improvenutrition #helpfoodinsecurecommunities #HelpEndHunger #Volunteer #Charity #fightinghunger #rescuingfood #Donate #makeanimpact

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Halloween Peppers

October 31, 2022By 0 comment

Happy Halloween!

#MeatlessMondays

Celebrate Halloween with these spooktacular healthy stuffed peppers. They’re perfect for a Halloween buffet or a family dinner ahead of trick-or-treating.

Prep:25 mins

Cook:35 mins

Ingredients

  • 4 small peppers (a mix of orange, red and yellow looks nice)
  • 25g pine nuts
  • 1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
  • 1 red onion , chopped
  • 2 fat garlic cloves , crushed
  • 1 small aubergine , chopped into small pieces
  • 200g pouch mixed grains (we used bulghur wheat and quinoa)
  • 2 tbsp sundried tomato paste
  • zest of 1 lemon
  • bunch basil , chopped

Cooking Instructions

  1. Cut the tops off the peppers (keeping the tops to one side) and remove the seeds and any white flesh from inside. Use a small sharp knife to carve spooky Halloween faces into the sides. Chop any offcuts into small pieces and set aside.
  2. Toast the pine nuts in a dry pan for a few mins until golden, and set aside. Heat the oil in the pan, and heat the oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6. Cook the onion in the oil for 8-10 mins until softened. Stir in the garlic, pepper offcuts and aubergine and cook for another 10 mins, until the veggies are soft. Add a splash of water if the pan looks dry. Season.
  3. Squeeze the pouch of grains to break them up, then tip into the pan with the tomato paste. Stir for a minute or two to warm through, then remove from the heat and add the lemon zest, basil and pine nuts.
  4. Fill each pepper with the grain mixture. Replace the lids, using cocktail sticks to secure them in place, and put the peppers in a deep roasting tin with the carved faces facing upwards. Cover with foil and bake for 35 mins, uncovered for the final 10. The peppers should be soft and the filling piping hot.

    Why Meatless Monday?

    • Meatless Monday is of utmost importance, especially in the United States, as we consume much more animal products than the rest of the world.
    • The meat industry uses vast amounts of our finite fossil fuels and water and lots of grain to feed livestock, which is extremely inefficient. Why not use those resources to feed people more directly?
    • About 1,850 gallons of water is needed to produce a singular pound of beef, comparable to only 39 gallons of water per pound of vegetables. A vegetarian diet alone could dramatically reduce water consumption by 58% per person!
    • Meat production also is a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions, which has proven to correlate to the climate change crisis. 
    • Some benefits of eating plant-based once a week include:
      • Save 133 gallons of water with each meatless meal!
      • Reduce your carbon footprint by 8 pounds each Meatless Monday you participate in
      • If you commit to participating in Meatless Monday every Monday, that is equivalent to skipping one serving of beef for a year, would save the same amount of emissions as driving 348 miles in a car.

    ***

    If you have a recipe you would like to share with us for #meatlessmondays, please email christian.bearden100@gmail.com.

    If you would like to make an impact on reducing food waste and hunger help us grow our food rescue operations: Donate

    #meatlessmonday #foodfindersinc  #FoodRescue #reducehunger #improvenutrition #helpfoodinsecurecommunities #HelpEndHunger #Volunteer #Charity #fightinghunger #rescuingfood #Donate #makeanimpact

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    Food 4 Kids Program

    Making Nutritious Meals: Food 4 Kids Program

    March 18, 2022By 0 comment

    Several studies show that nutrition can directly affect the mental capacity of school-aged children. For example, iron deficiency, even in early stages, can negatively impact cognition. Good Nutrition helps students show up at school prepared to learn–and learning is the foundation of how children can grow into healthy and productive adults. Because improvements in nutrition help to make students healthier, they are more likely to have fewer absences and attend class more frequently. When children are not given nutritious meals, studies show that malnutrition leads to behavior problems in the classroom.

    Hunger is not just something we must look at as a social issue. It is an economic one. If we know that children can do better in school when fed nutritious food, perhaps we can see the benefit of these same children growing up to lift themselves up and out of poverty to financial independence. Food is more than just hunger, it is a vehicle to elevate entire communities.

    Turning A Bag of Food Into A Meal

    Contents of one Food 4 Kids Bag

    Kelly Alarcon, a Cal State Long Beach Nutrition student who interns at Food Finders loves to talk about the importance of having nutritious meals. She helps the Partner Agency Coordinators to receive food from our Food donors and also helps with pack and sorts for the Food 4 Kids program. The above photo was taken from one bag that was being packed up so that it could be delivered to one of the 15 Title 1 Schools in Long Beach.

    Kelly asked if she could take a picture and use her nutrition skills to craft some recipes that could help families extend the meals while also providing a nutritious option. Her studies paid off!

    Here is the first bag of recipes we would like to share:

    Contents and Nutrition

    Tuna 5.4 oz. = 2 packs 140 calories, 17g protein, 0.5g fat, 0 carbs
    Instant oatmeal = 2 packs 320 calories; 8 g protein, 4g fat, 66g carbs
    Kool Aid Juice Jammer = 1 90 calories, 0 protein, 0 fat, 24 carbs
    Canned corn, whole kernel = 2 120 calories; 2g protein, 2g fat, 26g carbs
    Black beans = 2 cans 350 calories; 24.5 g protein, 0 fat, 63 carbs
    Granola bar = 1 140 Calories; 3g protein, 4 g fat, 25 carbs
    Vegetable soup = 1 can 130 calories; 4g protein, 2.5 g fat, 22g carbs
    Diced tomatoes = 1 can 88 calories; 3.5 g protein, 0g fat, 17.5 g of carbs
    Canned fruit = 2 cans 230 calories; 0g protein, 0g fat, 59g
    Boxed mac n cheese = 1 box 875 Calories; 32.5g Fat, 25g protein, 118g carbs

    Weekend Meals Recipes

    Meal #1: Cheesy Tuna Casserole

    Serves 2-3 people

    Ingredients To Use:
    1- Box mac n cheese
    1 – Pack of tuna drained
    1 – Can of corn drained

    Directions:

    1. Prepare boxed mac n cheese as directed, setting aside ¼ of the noodles for another recipe, and feel free to use any milk, nut milk or water.
    2. Mix all ingredients and serve.

    Meal #2: Black Bean, Tomato and Corn Salad

    Serves 2-3

    Ingredients To Use:
    1 – Cans of black beans drained
    1 – Can of diced tomatoes drained
    1 – Can of corn drained

    Directions:

    1. Take all rinsed ingredients and toss in a bowl.
    2. Season as desired
    3. Serve hot or cold

    Meal #3: Tuna and Noodle Soup with a Side of Fruit

    Serves 1-3

    Ingredients to Use:
    1 – Cans of vegetable soup
    ½ Cup of water
    1 – Pack of Tuna Drained
    1-Can of fruit
    Remainder of noodles from boxed Mac n Cheese

    Directions:

    1. Place all ingredients in a pot on the stove mixing and heating
    2. Enjoy with side of fruit from the can

    Meal # 4: Oatmeal with Fruit

    Serves 2-3

    Ingredients to Use:

    2- Packs of Instant Oatmeal

    1-can of fruit drained

    Directions:

    1. Prepare instant oatmeal according to package directions
    2. Cut fruit into bite size pieces and top oatmeal with it or eat as a side.

    Snack

    Juice

    Granola Bar

    ***************************

    We look forward to more recipes from Kelly. If you do make any of these, please share your photos of the preparation and completed meal! Email us at mbereket@foodfinders.org

    Helping Food 4 Kids

    Prior to COVID, the Food 4 Kids Program was delivering 385 bags of food every week to 15 Title 1 Long Beach Elementary Schools. In many cases, these bags of food provided families with their only weekend food option. Support from donors helped us to serve over 10,780 meals per week to families.

    Long Beach Unified School District reached out to Food Finders in January with a request to restart the program and add 12 High School Student Wellness Centers to the original Title 1 Schools. Supporting this program would mean that together we can serve 21,560 meals per week by delivering over 770 bags of food to families in Long Beach. It is a good start to elevating so many families!

    To Help Support the Food 4 Kids Program click here

    If you would like to make an impact on reducing food waste and hunger help us grow our food rescue operations: Donate

    #foodfindersinc  #FoodRescue #reducehunger #foodrecovery #Volunteer #Charity #helpfoodinsecurecommunities #HelpEndHunger #EndHunger #fightinghunger #rescuingfood #Donate #makeanimpact

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