Salsa: An EasyWay to Fight Food Waste

If you read my recent Instagram post about food waste, you know how important it is to reduce what ends up in the trash. Especially when it comes to produce. One of the easiest, most delicious ways to rescue tomatoes, wrinkled jalapeños, or half-used onions is… SALSA.

I don’t usually use cherry tomatoes when I make salsa but I have with sauce so it’s basically a variation of that, with a slightly different flavor profile. I usually make soup or some kind of hash when I have odds and ends in the fridge that are still perfectly good but need to be used soon. This salsa is bright, flavorful, and totally customizable based on what you have. Even the stems of herbs or the juice from a citrus wedge can find a home in this mix! Ready to rescue your produce and make something amazing? Keep scrolling for the full recipe! And if you try it, tag me I’d love to see your creative, zero waste salsa twist.

Salsa

Ingredients: 

• 5-6 cups of cherry tomoatoes

• 1 large onion

• 3 jalapeños

• 1 bunch of cilantro 

• Salt

• Pepper

• 2-3 limes

Directions:

1. Put the tomatoes in a large pot add 1/4 cup of water and heat on high for 2-3 minutes.

2. Chop the onions and chop and seed the jalapeños, I removed the seeds from 2 of them, I didn’t want it too spicy.

3. Add the onions, peppers, salt and pepper to the tomoatoes.

4. Simmer for 10-15 minutes, turn off the heat and add the chopped cilantro and cover the pot with a lid.

5. Let the salsa cool completely, add the lime juice.

6. Taste and adjust the salt and pepper.

7. Transfer to the blender and blend to your desired consistency, you can use an immersion blender if you have one. Pour into a large glass mason jar and store in the refrigerator. It will stay fresh for 3-4 weeks but you’ll probably eat it before then. Enjoy!

Overripe tomatoes? Perfect—they’re sweeter and juicier.

Last bits of onion, garlic, or peppers? Into the pot they go.

Cilantro stems? Chop them up! They’re full of flavor and reduce waste.

This is more than salsa, it’s a strategy. A way to turn what you already have into something fresh and intentional.

Serving Ideas:

Pair with tortilla chips for a quick snack.

Spoon over rice, roasted veggies, or your favorite plant-based protein.

Add to avocado toast or baked potatoes for a flavor boost.

Some holiday tips to reduce waste

If you’re trying to reduce your waste, holiday shopping can be a challenge. You don’t want to buy someone one more thing they absolutely don’t need but you still want to get them something. And then there’s the wrapping and cards Oy vey! Every year about 540,000 tons of wrapping paper is thrown out and ends up in landfills. So. Much. Waste.

I’ll share with you a few things I’ve done this past year. For Valentine’s Day I sent my kid’s Chipotle gift cards, but instead of mailing them a card with a gift card in it, I sent them e-gift cards with a note saying I love you, here’s lunch on me. Most sites that offer e-gift cards have a place for a personal message. For our anniversary instead of gifts we went out for breakfast and went whale watching. We’d never been and it was a beautiful day out on the water. Of course there’s good old cash, I forgot to get (or make) my niece a graduation card so I used Zelle through my bank and transferred her gift right there at the dinner table. Easy peasy.

Our daily choices can make a huge impact, it may not feel like much but trust me it matters. Here are some other ideas:

• Support small businesses, there’s lots of cool hand made things at the local farmers markets and usually they don’t have packaging. Think soaps, lip balms, bath bombs etc. Buying things at local businesses cuts down on transportation pollution.

• Get your coffee or tea loving friend or family member a reusable coffee cup and an e gift card to their favorite coffee place (preferably a small business).

• Give the gift of quality time, especially to your aging grandparents and parents. Take them for lunch, dinner, a movie, a pedicure. Go to a concert, bake cookies, watch a football game. Whatever it is actually doesn’t matter much, they just want your time. They get lonely and need to know that they’re still important amidst our busy lives.

• Shop secondhand. I have found some incredible deals at thrift stores, like $200+ premium denim jeans for $15!!! And I LOVE Poshmark, I have found amazing things with the tags still on for less than half of the retail price..

• As for wrapping, use unexpected things like old paper shopping bags, news paper, cloth scraps, magazine pages. Bulk food, grocery bags or pillow cases work they and serve a dual purpose. Bows made from fabric or twine. Pine cones, cinnamon sticks, dried citrus fruit are all cute and compostable. Or you can use stuff that’s been in your Christmas box for years like I am.

What is actually recycleable?

Recycling can be very confusing and somewhat frustrating. According to the UC Berkeley Office of Sustainability the following is what’s actually recycleable.

Recycling must be CLEAN and DRY.

⁃ If bottles and cans have food or liquid in them, they will be thrown away at the recycling plant. Moreover, if a bag of recycling is more than 20% contaminated, either with food or non-recyclables, ALL OF IT will be landfilled.

⁃ If paper is wet or damp (or gets wet or damp because of wet bottles and cans) it will go to landfill.

What is recyclable?

⁃ Clean, dry aluminum foil (feel free to wash and dry it if it has food on it)

⁃ Aluminum cans

⁃ Plastic drink bottles/milk jugs, some plastic containers but not most

⁃ Glass

⁃ Clean, dry paper & cardboard (egg cartons too!)

What isn’t recyclable?

⁃ Film plastic (plastic bags or anything like that); they clog the machines at the plant

⁃ Coffee cups/boba cups/Solo cups

⁃ Anything contaminated with food

⁃ Any mixed material. For example, orange juice cartons are plastic layered with paper. They cannot be separated, and therefore can’t be recycled.

If you don’t sort properly, or if a few people don’t sort properly and contaminate our bin, all of our efforts to cycle resources will be wasted. So it is very important that this is followed.

Also, I encourage you all to avoid  packaging whenever possible. You can buy reusable mesh bags to put produce in instead of using plastic bags. The Strauss milk company sells milk in glass ($3) that you can return to the store and they give you $2 back when you return the bottle for reuse. These are two examples, but the best trash, and the best recycling, is the trash that was never created in the first place.