Smart Kitchen Habits That Save Families $4,000/Year

Hello and welcome to the Conscious Design Podcast. I'm your host, Ian Peterman, and I help product ideas become sustainable 7-figure businesses. Join me for another episode where sustainability meets innovation and business savvy. Today, I'm very excited to have Janet. She's the founder of My Mindful Kitchen and the MMK Method, helping people reduce food waste. Welcome to the show. Thank you.

Thank you, Ian. Very happy to be here.

Yeah, so food waste is a big, a big thing to tackle. And you probably more than most people know with everything you've done in the food industry. I'd love to kind of step back a little bit. You can decide how far back, but what got you to going after, you know, something like that, as big of a problem as this?

I actually think it started, you said don't go back too far, but it actually started in second grade, okay?

All right. Well, let's do it.

No, that's when I first became environmentally conscious. It was my second grade teacher who, you know, started talking about leaving the planet as we found it. And it always stuck in my head. I've always loved the outdoors and environment. And then life goes on and I will credit my mom too, 'cause she used to be really into fresh ingredients and going to farm markets and all that. Also. So I had that too, but now fast forward, I owned and operated restaurants for years and years, always been in the food business. When I finally got out of the restaurant business, I was like, okay, now I have time to do what I want to do, go volunteer some time. And I landed up, of course, wanting to go something that was food related first. Yeah. Right.

It's your area.

It's my area. So first I worked at Meals on Wheels. Locally and helped prepare food and whatnot. And then I landed up moving, and I landed up going to a local—it was called the Lunchbox, but it was basically a soup kitchen, one of the biggest in our areas. And I walked in there and said to the director, like, "I would love to help out, but I do not want to cook. Is there something else I can do? Because I have the restaurant back. Help get things more organized for you. Something I can do that's small." more meaningful. And it was doing that, that I just, I saw how much food was coming into the pantry and how people were food insecure. And meanwhile, habits were so wasteful and it just started turning then and there that I was like, wow, how does this all come together? When I first started learning about a circular food system and just getting more aware of my habits. And so a few years back, I started a website called Hudson Valley Eats, which first came to highlight food entrepreneurs and restaurant owners throughout the Hudson Valley, because that's my background. I owned and operated restaurants for years. I wanted to go meet the restaurant owners and give them exposure that they might not already have had. It's hard to get exposure in the restaurant business.

It is.

And, um, yeah, and I did that for the love of just loving to eat and loving to go meet restaurant owners and just give them the exposure. And so it was after 3 years or so of that, doing that website, and of course right before COVID I said, why am I doing this? What's the real meaning for this website about food? And then I realized that I could use it as a platform to make sure everyone eats in the Hudson Valley. And that's when I decided to, you know, turn the website into more of a website that highlighted sustainability. And, you know, then as I said, COVID hit. And so I was actually gonna do this dining club to raise money for all these nonprofits that were like the Lunchbox that helped the food insecure. And once again, when COVID hit, no one— dining club does not really work.

Yep. Yep.

And But what I ended up doing was putting on a webinar series called Cooking for a Cause, where we highlighted local Hudson Valley chefs. And what they did was teach a cooking lesson online. People paid for it. And the money that we raised went to these various nonprofits. So it was a wonderful thing. We actually got picked up by Chobani, the yogurt company. And we did a 3-part series that was called Cooking with Kids for a Cause. And that was successful too. It was wonderful. But then thankfully things started opening up. People were not stuck in their house with COVID And what landed up happening was we weren't getting the engagement. You know, people were actually going out to eat. They didn't want to be on another Zoom call. And I'm like, okay, what am I going to do next? And that's when I decided that I would tackle the issues of household food waste because once again, climate change— food waste is a major contributor to climate change. And actually household food waste is the number one contributor to all food in our landfills. So it's a big problem. And I just thought it was something that by bringing awareness to, I could make a difference. It had everything, as I said, from second grade on in my life It put everything together for me. It's my love of the environment, it's the love of family, food, and education. And I'm like, okay, so yeah, I did a 6-week food waste challenge in my local area where I got 80 families to participate in a 6-week challenge. And after I was done with that, I was like, wow, the participants learned so much. It was so much fun. It was just little changes and just awareness that created big differences. And that's when I said, you know what, I got this. I got a solution, something that could be fun family activity that could really do something to make a difference. And not just for one's physical body, but their emotional body and the planet.

Always good to do all of those. Yeah, that's a great, great Great win. I'd love to talk a little bit about, you know, the food waste. And I've, I've had a few other people on, on the show we've talked about, because people will often think about, oh, well, restaurants, they make so much more food, but they're super efficient. They can't waste food as much, right? So they are more so— maybe not. It seems they're a little bit more efficient on the food waste side than necessarily at home.

Well, there's 2 pieces to that. One is a good operator, definitely, because if you're throwing away— just like at home, if you're throwing away food, you're throwing away money. If you're a restaurant, you can't survive that way. And it seems like a no-brainer, but it is a brainer, you know, like, because you also have to make sure you have the tools in place and the systems so your staff realizes it too. It's a big thing. The other end of it is the portions and how much food gets wasted by the consumer at a restaurant. Because a lot of consumers are thinking, oh, quantity is quality, or whatever. You know, a lot of people look for a big plate and they order it and then don't take the food home. And that's a huge issue. And so what I'm doing with the consumer Actually, by them gaining awareness, I guarantee that they won't be so wasteful when they order, or they won't throw the food out, say, I'm not going to take it with me. But that's a huge piece of the puzzle.

What you're saying is, yes, if the consumer at the end ate all the food, it would be generally a— you know, restaurants would be very efficient. But when you introduce the part where people leave half a plate or something like that there, then, then that, that food waste there, that's where it starts to really add up. So I like this idea of going through, well, what's the behavior, right? What is your normal behavior? Because that's how you're gonna behave at a restaurant. You're not gonna eat differently.

Taking a diner, for example. Okay, go there, stand there, and look at all the plates and how much food is left. You know, they give you a 4 pieces of bread and you only eat 2. They give you, you know, eggs. It's amazing to me how much gets left right there and people don't even think about it. And part of it is because maybe they're not going home and they didn't think of bringing a cooler to put the food in to keep it safe. I mean, there's so many different reasons. But so my goal is to make a world of mindful foodies. And make them— because once a mindful foodie, always a mindful foodie. You know, once you start realizing the benefits of not wasting and how good it feels, you're going to continually do it. And it's not like breaking a habit. It's not a hard lift by any means. And people can make such a huge difference by just making— first of all, having awareness of the issues of food waste, understanding how they can get their kids involved, I mean, kids.

Yes, I have kids.

Yeah, you do?

Oh yeah.

That's a challenge. That's, you know, and every parent wants their kid to eat, right? So you might just give them so much and then they, you know, you're just trying to please them. And I think I mentioned I'm an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and I don't teach cooking or any of that. I teach introduction to the hospitality industry. So The students come in, it's like their first semester at school, and we have these discussions about sustainability. And it just amazes me that students out of high school have so little knowledge of it or understanding. Well, it doesn't surprise me. I mean, they grew up in a world of abundance. You know, walk into the grocery store, they're told every shelf is totally stacked. My grandson, who's 6 years old, Peapod came to the door because my daughter couldn't go out shopping for whatever reason. And he walked out the front door when the Peapod came, he goes— and you know what Peapod is, it's a food delivery, you know, from a grocery store— he just looked up, he goes, thank you, universe. He doesn't realize, you know, these days kids don't even know where money comes from. They just don't understand those concepts. So we need to start teaching our kids young. That's why The MMK Method is a way of getting the whole family involved in a way, bringing the kids into the conversation, showing them, doing activities with them, and showing them videos of how food comes— gets from the farm to the table. Because if a parent says, I can't do anything about climate change, I can't do this, I can't do that. Oh my goodness, I wish I could help. The fires, the hurricanes, I mean, we're all feeling the stress of it and you feel helpless, but everyone has the ability to do something in their own homes. You don't have to wait for policies to be passed. They don't have to wait for infrastructure to be in place. You can start today creating a better future for tomorrow. Just feel like you know that you are doing something because you're starting with your kids and they're going to take it and do better and go out into the world. And be the ones who create new policies and get that infrastructure in place. So cool.

They'll learn in second grade and then take it, take it with them.

Once a mindful foodie, always a mindful foodie.

I love it. I'm curious. So when you did that pilot with the 80 families, I guess what were the biggest areas? Because there's all kinds of like food waste, all kinds of ways you can waste food, right? But it was portion sizes? Because I'm kind of curious if that's like a more? Because people talk about American portion sizes are always much bigger compared to like European portion sizes. So I'm curious, like, if you, if you have like an order of like the biggest contributor.

Well, and this is why— a great question. I find it's more organization and not knowing what they have and what they don't have. So overbuying is a big one, and proper storage of food You know, there's ways of keeping food fresh longer, and it's not any really any harder than just throwing it into your refrigerator. It just takes a little bit more thinking. So that is one of the biggest. And then it's portion control because people don't eat leftovers. Well, the leftovers are so good.

I didn't have a choice growing up. That was, that was, we just got it. It was lunch tomorrow. There you go. You have it. But yeah.

But I love leftovers. And once again, um, so food waste is caused at home by not enough time, right? Busy schedules, lack of planning, not knowing how to store food properly, planning ahead for what your meals are so you buy what you need and not buying too much, and Yeah, so those all contribute. That's the crazy thing. It's just little things that you can do that make such a big difference. And people will say, I don't have time to plan. Yes, you do, because that 1 hour of planning is going to give you 3, 4 extra hours in your week. And I hate to use the word habits because, you know, you don't want to break habits. You know, once again, being a mindful foodie is not about being perfect. It's not about feeling obligated. It's about doing what feels good to you. And I always— this is a weird example, but I just put it up on an Instagram post yesterday— is what's— what do a pair of socks and 3-week-old broccoli have in common?

They're always forgotten.

No, no, it's the good feeling you get. You know when you're doing laundry and you get to the bottom of your laundry basket and there's no mismatched socks? Everyone has You know, a match. So you're like, whoa, that's, that's a joyful feeling. For some reason that just makes you feel good. Well, when you go into your refrigerator and go grab the broccoli that you kind of forgot about, it is 3 weeks old, and you take it out and it looks as good as new, you get that feeling too. So, because you just feel so accomplished, you feel like you want to shout it from the rooftops because you've kept it, you've done something good, and you are now going to use it and give that Broccoli the respect it deserves and you didn't waste money.

Right.

You know, those are the things that we can do. There's different tips, simple ones.

Hey, it's Ian here. So glad you're enjoying this episode of Conscious Design. If you want the full scoop on conscious design, what it is, how we do it, how you can do it, then check out our book. We wrote it so creative entrepreneurs like you can code social and environmental responsibility right into your brand's DNA. You can download the first chapter for free. Link is in the description. Enjoy the rest of the episode. Don't forget to like, subscribe, and share. Imagine on the, you know, you talked about the price side of things, right? I would imagine you're, if you're planning, you're not wasting, your cost of food is going to go down pretty significantly then over, do this for 10 years, 18, have a kid, 18 years of Of food?

Well, yes. And, you know, so my promise is like the average family of 4 could save over $4,000 a year in groceries. Okay. And with inflation right now, that's a huge thing. But it's because of 2 things. It's because you're not overbuying and you're not throwing out and you're using more of the product you have. So when you combine that, it's a huge savings.

Where would you put properly using food, right? Because you think about, you can chop up vegetables, you can do things right in a more efficient where you get to eat more of it, or you can be not as efficient. Is that kind of— where does that sit on impacts that you've seen?

Oh, huge. Because people don't realize how creative and how much fun it is to create meals out of what you already have in the refrigerator. And, you know, we go into that MMK method, but Simply anyone could, you know, you see things that are kind of going bad, or you know that they've seen better days, and you take them all out, you put them to the front of your refrigerator, then Google. Use the old Google. I have this, this, and this. What can I make? Sautéing is amazing because you can always just tweak it. It could be, you could take leftovers and make them into Italian, Mexican, anything that you want, you can just Just tweak it a little bit, you know, to make it an exciting dish and not leftovers. It's what we call it, bonus meals.

Bonus meal, I like that.

But it's true. And I have people who went through the course or they're just with me all the time, you know, they're in my circle of friends and they're always calling me and telling me, you wouldn't believe what I did. We went out to dinner a couple of nights ago. We took the bread home with us. She goes, I made Breadcrumbs, and I just had chicken Parmesan, and it was excellent. And once again, that's a win. That feels good. It tasted good. It's just being creative. And, you know, we give tips on how to do that. And the other thing is when you get the kids involved, it's a great thing for the parents because— did you say you have kids?

I do.

I was—

Yes. They range from a year old to 17. Almost 17 now.

Oh, okay. Okay. Did you ever take 'em grocery shopping and they're like, I want this, I want that?

Always.

Always. Yeah. So when, when kids become more aware of what it takes to get the food from the farm to the table, they get more knowledge about, you know, what it costs and that other people aren't so lucky and all those things. It's much easier to have a conversation in the store with them. About, no, let's not get this, that this time. Let's use up what we have and then we'll do it next time. It's more understandable. It's just you need to— kids need to know why. And once they do, watch out because they'll police you.

Yeah, we can't get that. That's not on the list. That's not part—

Yeah, no, no, no. What are you doing? And also, you know, bringing— I think because everyone's so rushed these days, that kids rarely spend time in the food-making or planning process.

Right.

But getting them involved is gonna take pressure off of you as a parent, first of all, because they're doing stuff, maybe not exactly the way you want it. That's a little bit of a challenge, but you can be patient. But, you know, those cutting of vegetables can also lead to loading the dishwasher and unloading the dishwasher. The other thing about getting kids involved And what I found as I was creating the MMK Method was that there's not one value that I believe everyone is innately born with that you can't align with food. So it's a great way to bring conversation into the kitchen, use the kitchen as a classroom, and teach values on money, healthy eating, giving back, not wasting. Gratitude, appreciation, and protecting the planet. Right. We'll go with food.

I mean, I love food, so I'm all for— we can do that. That's great.

Yeah. Yeah. So a lot of lessons that can be learned by it.

And for— I'd love to go a little bit into— so you've done this, you did some work with group of families, you've built this method, you have program that you now have. Could you talk a little bit about what that is, how that would go for someone? And then, you know, I'd love to have you share where, where people can find, find this and follow you.

So it's a course that you can buy at the website mmkmethod.com. And I know a course can sound scary, so everyone has to hear me out here. Okay. I have designed the course to be Easy to fit into anyone's busy lifestyle. It is a 10-week course and it's delivered— once you sign up, it's delivered in an email drip campaign. So you don't have to go log into the course and figure out where you are or remember. 3 times a week for 10 weeks, first thing in the morning, you're gonna get an email. And the email is gonna say what the lesson is and have a link to Margo, Who is your guide to teaching you of how to reduce your food waste. And it's a— she talks, it's between a 2 and 6 minute video about the topic. Now you can just watch the video and guarantee you're going to start thinking differently about food right away. But most lessons also come with some sort of resource, such as videos for the kids to get them engaged, Activities to do as a family, conversation starters, different tracking methods and stuff like that. So those are the additional, and they're easy to follow. And the great thing about the course is, as I said, just watching the video, 2 to 6 minutes is easy enough. You can't go forward. Like, I don't wanna overwhelm anyone. This should be a fun thing. I think once you meet Margot, you're gonna love her. She's very natural. She's you and me. She's someone who has a sense of humor and brings real life to it. She has 2 children of her own, and so she talks from experience. She's a personal chef. She's got it all. She's a wellness coach. She has it all, and she's just— I think she's just really fun. She could be your best friend. You look forward to seeing Margo 3 times a week. So you can always go back. You can't go forward. We also have a group. page. So it's a private group, anyone in the group, in the course, so they can share successes, failures, ask questions, have some fun. And people have access to the course for the rest of their life. And same with the group page. So it's something building a community of mindful foodies. Woohoo.

I love the idea. I think it's, you know, it's something that if you don't learn it, you'll never be able to do it kind of thing. And so it's great that you have this opportunity for people that want to, want wanna be more mindful about their food and be, even just from a financial standpoint, if you, like you were saying, a family of 4 a year, that adds up quite quickly.

Right. And you don't wanna sacrifice what you're, right? You don't wanna sacrifice what you're buying. So this is a way not to sacrifice 'cause you're gonna save the money. You can still go for the quality if you want, but you're using it more efficiently, which is—

And you feel good because it's better. It's better for the environment. You're saving money. It's a good check multiple boxes off.

Just to be honest with you, like I mentioned, I did that, the food waste challenge with 80 families in my local community. Challenge. I was going to do the same thing when I first decided I was going to create something that the world could use. I was going to call it the Family Food Waste Project or the Family Food Waste Challenge. And then I said, nobody needs another challenge and nobody needs another project. And I am into mindfulness. I follow some gurus. It just makes me feel good inside. It's about— once again, it's just like the method I created. It's not about obligation or feeling perfect. It's just bringing more joy into your life through mindfulness. And that's when I decided to redesign it, call it My Mindful Kitchen, to bring that element into it and make it something so About positivity, and we carefully created the course so we stay away from negative news headlines or make people feel bad. Yeah, but on the other hand, what I was gonna say in addition to that, when I first was gonna do this, the project, I was really not marketing it for the reasons I was doing it, which was for environmental reasons. And now, 'cause I don't think people really wanted to hear it or weren't really realizing it. And once again, that was 2 years ago. But in light of the natural disasters that have happened recently, I think people are getting a wake-up call. Wait, we need to do something. And if I could be a part of the solution in a mindful way, in a positive way, in a way that attracts more positivity, let's do it. Let's do it.

I think this is a great thing because it doesn't take— it's not a huge, massive habit change. You don't have to go buy a new car. You don't have to install solar. Like, if you can install solar, you should. But this is like easy. This is the easy level of some change you can make that saves you money. You can do with your kids, right? I think there's so many benefits to that, which is amazing. And I think it's great that you're doing this and this is available. For people that want to learn more, right? It's something if you didn't learn it in high school, if you didn't learn it when you were a kid, but you're interested, you got to have— you got to find someone who can show you, show you these things.

And yeah, and it's not overwhelming. That's the thing is people often say, how do I do something good? How do I start? You just do this one thing. You do not realize how many people you're affecting because you're showing respect to all the natural resources, but all the human resources It takes two. It feels good when you know that you can have a positive effect on life going forward, right?

It does. On that, for people that want to find you, I know you already said the website. Is there any other— do you have a social media platform you use more for people that want to reach out or learn more or connect?

Yeah, well, it's always great to go to our Instagram page, which is @mmkmethod, because we're always posting stuff and tips and ideas and just food for thought, pardon the pun. Pardon the pun. And My Mindful Kitchen on Facebook, we're on there. Once again, the website is www.mmkmethod.com. I know we're talking about it as a course and, you know, it's something that you buy and pay for, but it's insanely Low price because I want more people to get involved in it. I would rather quantity of people. I don't want versus quality. That doesn't sound quite right, but you know what I'm saying? The only way we're going to make—

Help the most people.

Yes, exactly. And help the world. Yes.

Amazing. Well, and for everyone listening or watching, we will have links in the show notes for you guys to easily use. And Janet, I really appreciate the time you've taken out of your day to chat with me and talk about this and love what you're doing. I appreciate that. And yeah, thanks for being on the show.

Oh, Ian, this was my pleasure. I love talking about it.

And that wraps up another episode of the Conscious Design Podcast. If today's episode inspired you to bring your product idea to life and turn it into a sustainable 7-figure business, visit petermanfirm.com or click the link below Your ideas have the power to change the world, and we're here to help make that happen. Thank you for joining us, and I'll see you on the next episode.