Lessons from the Wilderness on Food Management at Home

Become a zero food waste hero and master of food management at home by practicing these tips that we have learnt from running mobile gourmet safaris throughout southern Africa and hosting our guests at our private country house villa.

The journey to opening the doors of umSisi House near Kruger National Park, a decade ago now, began with Black Pot Safaris. Provisioning for, and feeding, guests we hosted on multi-day gourmet African safari adventures in southern Africa’s various wilderness areas with limited storage space and access to fresh produce became the foundation for how we operate today. Now after many years of running Black Pot Safaris and umSisi House, our heads overflow with real hands-on knowledge about ecotourism principles which we apply every day in the umSisi House kitchen through our zero food waste policy.

We consider ourselves fortunate to call this corner of the South African lowveld our home. Like any home, respect should be shown to it and the guests we share it with. We do this through a number of eco-initiatives, that have a strong focus on food management. At umSisi House, we believe an important and easily implementable facet of being kind to the environment is managing food properly – right from the beginning of the process to the very end.

While we may only be able to meet in person after the COVID-19 outbreak has been contained, we are taking this time as an opportunity to inspire you and your family to live in sustainable and environmentally-friendly ways.

Through years of experience, we have compiled the 11 most important ways you can begin to reduce food waste in your own home:

1. Shop smartly and plan your weekly menus. Only buy what you need to cook with.
2. Store food properly. You will be surprised by how many regularly purchased items like to be stored at room temperature as opposed to in the fridge.
3. Cook enough for everyone, but don’t over-serve food. Let people help themselves.
4. Save leftovers in the fridge or freezer. And actually eat them.
5. Keep a detailed list of what’s in your freezer. Include these lovingly cooked meals in your weekly menus.
6. Avoid clutter in your fridge. Always know what needs to be eaten next and don’t forget the cheese drawer!
7. Know your pantry and cook with those luxury items now before you shop for more.
8. Treat expiration and sell-by dates as guidelines only. Sample before you discard and throw away.
9. Keep track of what you throw away regularly. Next time try making your own stocks, soups, pasta sauces, smoothies and fruit sorbets instead.
10. Try composting your food waste. There are some very innovative solutions out there including micro worm farms. Ask Google!
11. Grow your own wherever possible. In pots, on a wall, on a windowsill and in whatever space is available in your garden. As you tend to cherish what you have grown yourself!

If you would like to find out more about how we practice zero food waste at umSisi House or how to better manage the waste from your kitchen, you are welcome to contact us.