No more veggie waste: Post Script

Last night, our friend went out of town and gave us the groceries that were left in her fridge.  Score 1 for not wasting food!  We got some great, crunchy carrots and some fresh soy milk, but the kale was limp and floppy, and the color had gone a little dark.  Not a pretty sight. 

Step one in not wasting vegetables is to keep them fresh as long as possible, so you're not scrambling to cook them into something that you may not even want to eat.  I learned from Tristram Stuart's Waste to always store my lettuces and green plants in a column of water.  They'll last a lot longer!  Actually, I keep most of my cut vegetables (say, I have half an onion left) in a shallow pool of water in a dish in the fridge, and they stay fresh for ages.

So I cut off the ends of the stems of the sad, wimpy kale and set it up in a column of water (actually just an old Duncan Hines frosting container filled with water) overnight, and BOOM - this morning, I looked in the fridge and saw the most beautiful, crisp, vibrant green plant.

I should have taken a "Before" picture, but I guess it never crossed my mind to take a picture of a wilted, saggy kale plant.  But here is the "After":

I don't even like kale very much (bad vegan!), but a plant that gorgeous will probably find its way into my tummy somehow.