A thread of food I refuse to throw away. I grew up in an always-cooking family and part of my childhood was during wartime, so I have both respect for and irrational attachment to food. It hurts me to trash it. Today: I saved the kids' pizza crusts…

Why? What am I going to do with them? Reheat them and eat them with hummus! It’s sourdough I lovingly grew and mixed and tossed and baked. I am NOT about to throw it out, kid mouths on it and all!

Today’s never-throw-out-food lunch: the kids’ pizza crusts, gravy made quickly in a pan I fried a steak in the other day. (I had pickles on the side for uh balance)

Another thing I never throw out: brine from pickle jars. Strain it and save the pickle juice. Personally I just drink it on ice, but it's probably best deployed as a marinade for fried chicken.

Challenge: about 1/3 lb ground pork and 1/3 lb ground lamb. Also in the fridge: a hard boiled egg, a cooked potato, small thing of rice. Solution: albondigas-style meatballs. With a quarter egg in the middle of each.

Today: meatball sub with avocado salsa (also had a fading avocado in the fridge), pickled onion, feta. The fruits of my labor…

Do I throw away the shake at the bottom of a chip bag? NO. I save it for crunchy-topping purposes.