Biggest Kitchen Table Audit - Food

The next topic of discussion at The Biggest Kitchen Table was food.


What have I done so far to improve the quality of food in my diet, to make my food socially responsible (ethical, environmentally sustainable etc), to lower the costs and to remove unnecessary preservatives and chemicals from my meals?

• Make meals from scratch.
• Buy basic ingredients (no packet mixes).
• No longer buy packaged baked goods but rather make them.
• Eat home made bread and make homemade pizza bases.
• Drink water, tea and home made cordials - no more softdrinks or nesquick.
• Buy food in bulk where possible (makes it cheaper and less packaging to dispose of).
• Buy all vegetables at a local fruit and veg market.
• Shop for dried groceries with Australian owned and made as preferences.
• Almost never buy take-out.
• Take lunch to work (leftovers from dinners and baked treats for morning and afternoon tea).
• Buy meat only once a month or less (meat is an essential part of our diets but not to the extent that most people eat it and there is a huge amount of grain used in farming meat).
• Consider the best way to use an ingredient to get the most out of it - for example, if I have a steak of beef I will not cook it as a steak with vegetables and gravy - because that will feed me for one meal. Instead I will dice it up and use it in a stir fry which will last me 4 - 5 meals.
• Use up leftovers rather than letting them go to waste and freeze meals to save them.
• Have a worm farm to help dispose of food scraps in a way that is beneficial to my (future) garden and keeps food from rotting and creating methane in landfills.
• Harvested and used macadamias from our tree and basil from the pot in my cooking and baking.

I'm only human so occasionally I stumble and buy a KFC snack box or buy more vegetables than I can use before they go off... but I'm getting better all the time.

What I'd like to change or put in place:

1) Get chickens, big, fat, plump egg makers (who will also help with disposal of kitchen scraps and produce excellent nitrogen boosting poop for my compost and garden).
2) Build a 3 box compost system.
3) Begin a small vegetable garden (using heritage seeds and organic gardening methods, with a smattering of permaculture concepts thrown in)
4) Plant some fruit trees - especially some awesome, unusual and exotic ones like chocolate pudding fruit.
5) Learn how to make yoghurt, cottage cheese and then hard cheeses.
6) Learn the best way to store food items so they last the longest.
7) Get a pasta roller and make my own fresh pasta and gnocchi.

That all feels a bit overwhelming so I'm going to stop there before it feels unachievable.