S9 Ep41: Mindful Foodies: Eating Smart, Wasting Nothing with Janet Irizarry
“I want to create a world of mindful foodies. I don't see this as a little project. I see this as something big.” —Janet Irizarry
Founder Resource Series
Episode Description:
“I want to create a world of mindful foodies. I don't see this as a little project. I see this as something big.” —Janet Irizarry
Every bite we take is a vote for the planet's future, and our children are the most powerful voters we have. By modeling mindful eating to them, we can transform how future generations understand and respect the journey of their food.
Janet Irizarry is a culinary innovator and passionate educator who has dedicated her professional life to reshaping how families approach food sustainability. As an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and founder of The MMK Method, she bridges culinary expertise with environmental consciousness.
Listen as Justine and Janet unpack the secrets of reducing household food waste, creative strategies for involving kids in mindful eating, insights about food storage and preservation, the profound environmental impact of conscious consumption, and practical, joy-filled approaches to transforming kitchen habits that benefit both families and the planet.
Connect with Janet:
Janet Irizarry, M.Ed, is the founder of the My Mindful Kitchen (MMK) Method, a program dedicated to fostering mindful eating, sustainability, and well-being. With a Master’s in Education from Arizona State University and extensive experience in teaching, instructional design, and hospitality, she develops impactful courses at The Culinary Institute of America and advocates for food sustainability as Editor of Hudson Valley EATS. Passionate about reducing food waste, Janet collaborates with initiatives like Food Waste Prevention Week and inspires positive change through education, community engagement, and her innovative MMK Method.
Episode Highlights:
03:26 Raising the Next Generation of Mindful Foodies
05:44 The MMK Method
10:52 Practical Tips for Reducing Food Waste
15:57 The Role of Mindfulness and Family Involvement
26:23 The Impact of the MMK Method
31:55 Creating at Home Change
Tweets:
Every food scrap tells a story of environmental impact. Discover how simple kitchen strategies can transform your family's relationship with food with @jreichman and MMK Method Founder, Janet Irizarry. #podcast #entrepreneurship #socialgood #inspiration #impactmatters #NextGenChef #EssentialIngredients #Season9 #yMindfulKitchen #MMKMethod #MindfulFoodies #SustainableEating #ZeroWaste #FamilyNutrition #EcoKitchen #FoodWasteSolutions #EcoParenting #ClimateAction
Inspirational Quotes:
02:07 “If kids learn about food at an early age, they will automatically do better than we have. ‘—Janet Irizarry
02:41 “Kids are curious, more curious than many adults these days. By answering some of those questions and giving them the guidance, there's a potential opportunity to give them the tools, the information, the education to make it integral to their life.” —Justine Reichman
05:14 “Simple awareness can change habits so easily. —Janet Irizarry
09:12 “It can be overwhelming when you feel like you need to do everything.” —Justine Reichman
09:41 “This is not about feeling obligated or perfect. It's about having fun with it and going at your own pace in the way that feels good to you.” —Janet Irizarry
13:32 “Know what you have and be organized in all your storage areas because if you don't know what you have, there's a chance you're going to overbuy.” —Janet Irizarry
26:13 “It's not only all the resources, it's also the people who need food— it's just so wrong of us to be throwing things out when there's people who don't have enough.” —Janet Irizarry
26:58 “I want to create a world of mindful foodies. I don't see this as a little project. I see this as something big.” —Janet Irizarry
27:40 “We're all born with good values. There's not one value that we can't learn through respecting our food.” —Janet Irizarry
28:27 “You can't change the past, but you can start today creating a brighter future.” —Janet Irizarry
30:34 “Once a mindful foodie, always a mindful foodie.” —Janet Irizarry
31:20 “Appreciate what you have, and look at food beyond nourishment. Look at the effect by not wasting and preventing food waste, you have on the rest of the world.” —Janet Irizarry
31:50 “When you work together, there's a power in that. And so it's conversation, conversation, conversation, and have fun with it.” —Janet Irizarry
Transcription:
Justine Reichman: Good morning, and welcome to Essential Ingredients. I'm your host, Justine Reichman. With me today is Janet Irizarry. She is the Founder and CEO of The MMK Method. The MMK Method focuses largely on creating food supporting food waste so that there isn't any at a consumer level. It's very meaningful to a lot of us here, and we're excited to hear from you about The MMK Method. What inspires you, and what kinds of change do you hope to inspire? So with that, Janet, if you could just please tell us what inspired you to start The MMK Method?
Janet Irizarry: First of all, thank you, Justine, for having me, because I love to talk about The MMK Method. I developed it, but it's been a process because I've always been environmentally conscious. And from the age of second grade, I always knew that I wanted to leave the planet either as it was then or better than it was. And it's taken me years to put this all together, but my focus is really doing what I think I can do, and putting my passions together. And that is helping families reduce household food waste, and educating our kids because they are the future. And unfortunately, just the way of the world of busy schedules and the world of abundance they've grown up in, they might not have the respect for food. I don't even want to say that, because that sounds kind of harsh, because that's what my My Mindful Kitchen is. It's about looking at things where you don't have to be perfect or obligated. We're looking at things in a positive aspect, so no fault of the kids. They're just living the lives we're living, food and family sitting around the table and just talking about food and where it comes from. It kind of fell by the wayside. And so if kids learn about food at an early age, they will just automatically do better, and dare I say this, than we have.
“Kids are curious, more curious than many adults these days. By answering some of those questions and giving them the guidance, there's a potential opportunity to give them the tools, the information, the education to make it integral to their life.” —Justine Reichman
Justine Reichman: Right. I think it's true because kids are curious, right? Kids want to know. They're always asking, why? But why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? You can say anything. We have to go now. But why? Eat this apple versus that apple. But why? So exactly. If we go back to that, and we remember that these kids are curious, more curious than many adults these days, right? It's who they are at a young age. By answering some of those questions and giving them guidance, there's a potential opportunity to give them the tools, the information, the education, and make it more part and integral to their life. So that as they continue, it's going to be part of their core value system. So really, when I think about what you're doing, it's really incorporating those values at a young age. They are part of the children and as they grow up, it's just natural. It's not something you have to think about. It's not something you have that you're forced to do. It's something that's become ingrained.
Janet Irizarry: You're spot on. And a few comments to that is, first of all, I am an instructor at the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, and I teach hospitality. That's one of the first classes the students get when they come into is like the introduction to the CIA. Most of the students coming in just think hospitality is a restaurant business or hotels, but it's also the concept of hospitality. I'm seeing the students as they're first coming in from high school, and it's amazing to me that they haven't learned more about sustainability. And it's not really amazing to me because I understand it, because as I had just said about they've grown up in a world of abundance, and they've never been educated on things where their food comes from, and all the resources it takes to get to their table. And if they had just learned a little bit more about that, it would be a whole different story. And I always talk about my grandson. I've told the story so many times. He's 6. Must have been last year so he's probably 5 at the time. I was at his house, and his mom had ordered Peapod, which is a delivery service of food. He walked out on the front step and he saw him coming. He goes, thank you, universe. It is just a perfect example of how kids don't even understand where their food comes from, or the money it takes, the hard work their parents have put in so they have the money to provide for them. So part of the method is teaching and educating, and bringing those conversations into the home so that it's awareness, it's simple awareness that can just change habits so easily.
“Simple awareness can change habits so easily. —Janet Irizarry
Justine Reichman: What role does educating the parents come into within this method? Because there are a lot of parents that's not passing judgment, just may not be aware. Or may not have the knowledge to share, but want to be able to share it and talk about it so that they can create positive change. Is that integral to your method?
Janet Irizarry: The method is, actually, I've put it into a course. The course is for modules, and it starts by building awareness. And then the next three modules are all about the things you can do in strategies. It's really simple. If you want to know more about how the course works, I'm happy to talk about it. But it does include getting the kids involved, and what I call discussion starters. First of all, if you want to reduce your waste, and there's many reasons to reduce your waste besides just being environmentally correct, where I think many people fall short. They don't understand the significance of food waste. And for anyone who's listening, basically, it is one of the major contributors to climate change because it puts greenhouse gasses into the air when it's at the landfill. And household food waste is the number one contributor to all the food in our landfill that's why it's so important to be aware, and reduce your food waste. On the other side are the economic reasons. As an ex restaurant owner, I can tell you, throwing out food is like throwing out money. Of course, to point out that it's fun too. Because I like to say, that high you get when you get to the bottom of your laundry as you're folding it and you find that all the socks match, that you don't have any leftovers.
Justine Reichman: Very exciting times.
Janet Irizarry: That's the same feeling you get when you go into your refrigerator and find that broccoli that you might have pushed aside three weeks ago, and it's as good as it was the day you bought it. So there's joy and happiness in that, versus pulling out that broccoli and looking and saying, oh, what did I do? Throw it out. Not only is it disgusting, it can't be used. If you think about it, you're throwing out your money too. I'll tell you a funny story. When I did a food waste challenge in my local area a couple years ago, I had 80 families together, and that was just highlighting something. It was part of another initiative I was doing. We went through it six weeks altogether, and what I found afterwards is it was just simple awareness that changed habits and people were like having those aha moments. But besides that, it's the small changes that can be made that make the difference. But in my head, I kept on saying, I need to put this out to more people. It makes so much sense. It's so easy. So I was developing this course and I was calling it, I had two names for it. I didn't know which one I was going to use, the food waste project, the family food waste project, or the family food waste challenge. And then something just wasn't feeling right. I'm like, families, another project, a challenge? No. And as someone who's very mindful of spirituality and bringing that into my home, I was like, wow, that's all it takes. Mindfulness. So the whole method is really centered around mindfulness and being positive, and working on something together as a family that's good, that brings in those conversations and teaches those lessons.
Justine Reichman: That makes perfect sense to me. What comes to mind is that I know that it can be overwhelming when you feel like you need to do everything. Oh, my God, I need to do this. And I need to do that. So what's the best way to break that down so that you can feel like you're having an impact and you're being mindful of food waste in your home, maybe even thinking about the role of upcycling or something so that you feel like you're being successful and not falling short because you make one mistake.
“This is not about feeling obligated or perfect. It's about having fun with it and going at your own pace in the way that feels good to you.” —Janet Irizarry
Janet Irizarry: Well, we point out at the very beginning of the method, this is not about feeling obligated or perfect. It's about having fun with it, and going at your own pace in the way that feels good to you. And I love the fact that you brought up upcycling. Because the people who are going through the course right now, most of them have no idea what that word actually is, and so we bring that to mind. We talk about it in a way that is easy to understand, and has you thinking more about your food. And why am I binding beats? I cut off the bowl and threw the stem and leaves away. I could be doing something with those, and that's bringing those words in and having them understand them. I know you are totally in that space where you're always reading articles, and that's commonplace for you. But for most people, the word upcycling is totally foreign to them. So just by educating is bringing awareness and changing habits.
Justine Reichman: And I think the other thing that I think of, you have the food waste because we use parts of vegetables and all sorts of things. So being able to be creative to make those recipes and have fun with that, look online on what you can make with this, a fun way to do that, and incorporate the whole family if you're cooking. The other thing that I often think about is if you have a bowl of fruit and you put all the fruit next to each other, some of it gets ripe faster because it's next to another kind of fruit. You put some in the fridge, and there's been conversations about different ways to store your fruits, vegetables and your bread to make sure that they can have a longer life. What role does that play in for you? Are people familiar with this?
Janet Irizarry: No. I have someone going through the course right now with, I swear to you, 10 minutes ago, someone wrote to me and she said, I had no idea about the ethylene effect. How come I didn't know? Because we talk about that. So we talk about things like first in, first out. We talk about the ethylene effect. We talk about your refrigerator and how to store things properly for maximum food life. And it's really fun. We do it in a really fun, easy way. Because once again, hey, listen, I threw out something today. I felt horrible about it. I'm not perfect. I did it. You do the best you can, but that's a big part of it, and just learning that. So we actually have an activity where we talk about the ethylene effect. And then we suggest that when you come home from the grocery store, you have two different stickers, and you have your children put stickers on the fruits and vegetables that produce a lot of ethylene, and then another sticker, like two different colors, so it gets ingrained in their brain, as well as the mom realizing this for the first time. Because once you start doing it, it just comes naturally. And after a little while, you won't have to put stickers on your fruits and vegetables. You'll just say, oh, look, this doesn't go with that. That doesn't go with this.
Justine Reichman: But it's so fun. So for those listening that are not familiar with the ethylene effect, could you maybe just go into that a little bit for those folks so that they're on the same page with us.
Janet Irizarry: As you said, some are ethylene sensitive, and some are ethylene producing. So basically, if you put the sensitive with the ones that are producing together, the ones that are as ethylene sensitive are going to go bad.
Justine Reichman: If you are going to recommend or give people a couple tools that they could use to make this process a little bit easier for themselves and fun to start being mindful of this, what are the three top things that you might recommend?
“Know what you have and be organized in all your storage areas because if you don't know what you have, there's a chance you're going to overbuy.” —Janet Irizarry
Janet Irizarry: About storage and keeping food fresh? First of all, knowing what you have been organized in all your storage areas. Because if you don't know what you have, there's a chance you're going to over buy it. And so therefore, that leads to waste. Or the other thing is the refrigerator. Using the refrigerator is a tool to keep the foods fresher longer. Because believe it or not, the refrigerator has different sections on the refrigerator, and they're built to keep your food. Like the crisper drawer, there's sort of foods you should put in the crisper. There's other foods that don't belong in it. Some need humidity, some don't need humidity. The doors of your refrigerator, those should be left for condiments where that don't really need to be kept at a certain temperature all the time. They're a little bit more susceptible or unsusceptible, I guess that would be the word, to go bad. The other thing is expiration dates. We talk about that, which is a big, big topic in the food waste space. I actually had someone who was going through the course who I personally know, and she goes, this course is great. I'm going to go into my pantry and cabinet. I'm going to throw away all the food that's outdated. I was like, no, don't do that yet. We're going to talk about that. Expiration dates are really subjective, and so using your senses to know if something's good or bad is really important. Learning about not just accepting that expiration dates are subjective. I tell a story that a few weeks ago, I found a log of mozzarella cheese that had expired a month before. It was fresh mozzarella, and I opened it up, smelled it, looked at it, touched it, tasted it. It was fine. But most people, they've seen the expiration date and gone, done.
Justine Reichman: How do you explain that to a kid? If you want your kid to be able to be empowered, to go in the refrigerator and feel safe, you want to give your kid something fresh, how can you teach them to make those the right choices?
Janet Irizarry: Well, by going through this course and knowing how to store food properly, you're not going to have that problem. You're going to not be having old food in your refrigerator. You're going to be making sure you use it up. The other thing is using what you have and loving your leftovers. I don't know how you feel about leftovers.
Justine Reichman: I think about the holidays, I love leftovers. On the holidays, I love inviting people over and making a beef meal and then having those leftovers. I don't like the leftovers when I'm just cooking for myself. That's not as interesting because I don't put as much into it because I don't have anybody sitting there telling me, wow, this is so funny. I just have the same high for that.
Janet Irizarry: I hear what you're saying. When you cook for a lot of people, you cook with a lot of love. But when you cook for yourself, you don't cook for love. You gotta change that Justine.
Justine Reichman: I am. But I'll make a steak and broccoli for myself, and I'll eat it. Maybe there'll be a little piece of steak, and I'll eat that the next day. But when I cook for people, I cook with abundance, and I cook to have a variety of things. So therefore, when I go to the refrigerator, it's not just eating the same thing over and over. There's all these different things to choose from because it's my love language, if you will, that I cook. And I cook with abundance because I want to make sure everybody's got something to eat, or it's a little bit of everything. And I know myself. I cook for myself. I make a steak and a broccoli, and that's fine. The steak the next day is amazing. I like good cold steak.
Janet Irizarry: Yeah. So the other day, my husband said he was in the mood for chili so he made this wonderful chili, and we had it for dinner the next night. The night after we had it on nachos. I waited because I couldn't eat leftovers three days in a row. I do have to skip a day, and my husband was actually disappointed that we didn't have it the next day. But the day after, I made it into a wrap. So I put in the chili, I made some rice, we put it in, and we did like a burrito kind of thing with it. So getting creative and changing up the flavor so it's not the same. When I made the burrito, I added some other seasonings in it to make it a little bit more Mexican. I put avocado on it and whatever. And to me, that's the same thing. You just get joy out of it because you've changed it, you've saved money. You feel like, whoa. It's like that sock example. When you go to Marshalls and you find this designer top that is marked down from $150 to $20 and it's in your size, and when people say, oh, I love what you're wearing. You say, I got this for $20.
Justine Reichman: What a deal.
Janet Irizarry: That's the feeling you get when you do that. And I do have people calling me saying, you're not going to believe what I just did with my stale bread.
Justine Reichman: Question for you. So for those folks that maybe aren't in your area or not near the CIA to take this class.
Janet Irizarry: It's online.
Justine Reichman: Online. Oh, my gosh. So everybody's got access to this. It's not just meant for people building restaurants, it's meant for people that want to change, make a change in their home with their families.
Janet Irizarry: That's what it is. It's for the consumer, and I'll tell you a little bit about it. I made it as easy as I could, and as short as I could. And so, how does it get delivered? The course gets delivered via an email drip sequence. If you sign up for the course, three times a week, it gets delivered right to your inbox. And there's no need to sign into a course because you just click the link and it goes to the lesson. The lesson has a short, two to six minute video talking of the topic. I have this wonderful mom who explains the topic in a way that's fun and easy to comprehend. And she has a little bit of humor. It might be dry humor, but she has humor nevertheless just alone watching the videos. In every lesson, there's 30 lessons total. It takes 10 weeks because you're doing three a week. And so she makes it easy. If you just watch the videos, you're going to change. But if you want, there's additional resources to get the kids involved. There is a short video on how food gets from the farm to the table. There's a video on food miles, the resources used. So there's games to play, there's activities to do, there's discussion starters. It really can fit easily into someone's schedule. They're waiting for their child to pick them up at the bus, and they can just click on it, watch the video, and then decide where to go from there.
Justine Reichman: It sounds like it's really accessible. Because I know that if you listen to podcasts, or you have a choice between a 20 minute and an hour and a half one, it's hard to schedule time for the hour and a half one, but somehow we find 20 minutes is easier. So your two to six minute videos are very doable. You could be on a treadmill. You could be walking the dog. And I think that sort of inspires change. I'm curious, with all these videos and with the education and the community that you've built, can you share some of the greatest changes that have been reported to you by the people that have taken the course?
Janet Irizarry: Well, first of all, I have to let you know that the course as it stands right now is just being launched. The people taking it are beta testers and telling me how good it is, and making sure it's all okay for everyone. But the reactions are amazing. I just told you, someone just wrote to me and said, oh, I never knew about the ethylene effect. When I did it with the families a few years ago, they were just seeing that, you know what? If we're talking about those mommy moments where, mommy, I want this, can I have this blah blah, blah got reduced because kids now understand why mommy's saying NO to certain things. You go to the grocery store and, mommy, we need these. We already have apples. We have green apples at home. We gotta finish those first. But I want the red ones. Well, remember that we'd be just throwing them out unless you can figure out what to do with the green apples, then we'll buy the red apples next time. We gotta finish those up., The kid goes, I get it. It's not such a fight.
Justine Reichman: As you're saying this, what I'm thinking about is the fruits and vegetables. They grow, they're living kind of thing. And so if you think about it, you want to eat things while they're living, while they're fresh, before they die. So is that part of the conversation?
Janet Irizarry: It is. It's about buying locally. That's mainly what it is. How it's fresher. It hasn't gone as far so it's going to taste better, it's going to be cheaper. It hasn't used as many resources as gasoline. So that's part of one of the videos we talk about. Two of the videos actually address both of them. But they're, once again, five minute short videos that are kid friendlies, and they just have to understand and know that. And that just makes a world of difference.
Justine Reichman: That was kind of why I was talking about living versus death. I don't know if this is accurate or not. But I'm imagining that when you're explaining to children, and you explain to them, we want to eat this before it dies. That's a concept they can grasp. And if you think about it like that, you don't want something to die. You want to eat it while it's still fresh and good. Because if it dies, well, then it's wasted. But that's a different narrative.
Janet Irizarry: It's an interesting one. I haven't heard that one, but it definitely is worth the conversation.
Justine Reichman: Yeah, I don't know. I was just throwing it out to you.
Janet Irizarry: Yeah. I guess in my world with My Mindful Kitchen, we try to touch on things very gingerly and positively. Bringing in something dying might be a little negative, though I found that there's always ways to tweak words to make them fit. But once again, as you point out, it's much more important for them to grasp the concept.
Justine Reichman: That's where I was going with that, grasp that concept. You could say, look, this is fresh. We just picked it ourselves. But the minute you pick it, it's not going to grow anymore. It might be premature, it might be perfect, whatever it is, but you want to only pick the things that you're going to eat before they go bad.
“It's not only all the resources, it's also the people who need food— it's just so wrong of us to be throwing things out when there's people who don't have enough.” —Janet Irizarry
Janet Irizarry: And the other thing is when they learn the resources, they see that the food's being planted and then who's tending to it, then how it has to travel and all those things. I just thought, thank you universe. It landed on my front step. I never thought about it that, oh, my goodness, all these people have worked. I don't know if you've ever seen them. I know if it's out there, it's called Life As A Strawberry. It was this little video, and I think you still can find it. I forgot who did it, but it was like a strawberry. I was saying that at the farm, it's planted. The strawberries grow. The farmers tend to it. They water it, they pick them, they bring them aside to the barn. They sort them, they haul them by truck to the factory where they get put in the clamshell, and then they are brought to the supermarket, and they get to the supermarket and put on the shelves. And when strawberry falls in love with the line, that's just a little part of the story. And also the family comes through, and the little girl goes, mommy, I want strawberries. Can we get strawberries? And the mother goes first, no, we have enough stuff in the house. We don't need it. And then, of course, the little girl says, please, mommy. The mommy buys the strawberries. Cut to three weeks later at the person's home, season back that container with moldy strawberries and they're thrown out. And it's just a perfect example of showing everything that happens, and what a waste it is when we throw out food. Once again, there's just so many levels of this because it's not only all the resources, it's also the people who need food. It's just so wrong of us to be throwing things out when there's people who don't have enough to eat, and those conversations will come into line as kids gain an awareness of food.
Justine Reichman: So as you're building out this, you're launching this beta program, this beta class, and you're speaking with the families of the moms so that they can inspire conversations with the kids. And it's new right now. But if you're thinking down the road, what are you hoping to achieve by kicking this off and inspiring that change? What's the biggest change? What change can you hope for, or do you strive for?
Janet Irizarry: It has to come naturally to people. I want to create a world of Mindful Foodies. I don't see this as a little project. I see this as something big. It's easy to do. And I think what makes it so unique is, once again, as I said, there's food waste challenges out there. Everyone's trying to do community initiatives, but they're so hard. They're not something people want to invest their time in or realize that it's not going to make them feel as good as going being mindful because people who follow mindful practices, they do it because it makes them align with their values. And I think you brought it up at the very beginning of this conversation. I cannot think of one value. I believe we're all born with good values. We want to be kind. We want gratitude, appreciation. There's not one value that we can't learn through respecting our food. I think it can be fun. Let's not make this thing we have to do. If the power is in our own kitchens, we don't have to wait for policies to be passed. We don't have to wait for infrastructures to be passed. Oh, I hear they're going to be doing recycling, or blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, we can't wait. The problem is now. It's so evident with the weather events we've had, the hurricanes, the fires, climate change is real. And instead of feeling helpless and saying, what can I do? I feel so bad. You can't change the past, but you can start today by creating a brighter future. It's easy, fun and it's positive. What I wish is people just see the fun and joy of treating food with respect, and becoming Mindful Foodies.
Justine Reichman: As they have these conversations, and as you start to create a movement, if you could quantify it, what would positive change look like on people's wellness and the planet down the road? What kind of change do you hope this inspires?
“Once a mindful foodie, always a mindful foodie.” —Janet Irizarry
Janet Irizarry: Well, there is economic change. More money for households and families, and just in general. Globally, methane emissions are being reduced significantly. So when kids go out into the world and they're doing jobs, they will create the policies or treat food differently, and not just throw it out. They understand what's happening. So I might have gotten off track a little bit. But the bottom line is we're going to make a healthier planet. We are going to be more in line with our values, good values. I want food and family to be back to enjoying it, and not have the kitchen such a scary place because everyone's being so rushed. Because if you ask me, one of the major benefits of being a mindful foodie is having things in its place, and being able to spend less time in the kitchen because you're not running out to the store for this and that. So it's overall well being. And also to your point is by making healthy food choices. It's not just for a physical body, but we can teach our kids about it. It's a way of talking about healthy eating. One of the games that these kids can play when they go to the grocery store is to compare labels, try and read the ingredients and find out which box of cereal is healthier than the other. I say, once a mindful foodie, always a mindful foodie. I just want to make a world of Mindful Foodies.
Justine Reichman: Okay, we're going to build a movement of Mindful Foodies. We have a lot of founders. We have a lot of people that listen and watch the video that are inspired to just create change in the home, so everybody's interested, and our goal is really to inspire, engage and empower. If we could just list out three things that somebody could do to create change in their house among their families, what would they be?
Janet Irizarry: To have a conversation with the family of where food comes from.
Justine Reichman: That's one. What's two?
Janet Irizarry: Two is appreciate what you have, and look at food beyond nourishment. Look at the effect by not wasting and preventing food waste, you have on the rest of the world.
Justine Reichman: And what's three?
“When you work together, there's a power in that. And so it's conversation, conversation, conversation, and have fun with it.” —Janet Irizarry
Janet Irizarry: Three is to work together as a family to do something good. There's just so much negativity in the world when you can work on such a big chore as mitigating climate change or fighting inflation. When you work together, there's a power in that. And so it's conversation, conversation, conversation, and have fun with it. Just have fun.
Justine Reichman: I really appreciate you sharing that. One thing I'll just add from my perspective that I also really appreciate is the idea that. It brings family back around the table, and it fosters conversation, connection, collaboration, education. And it can become something that we talk about over dinner meals at the table have become a bit of a lost art. Everybody's so busy, everyone's eating a different time. So when I think about it, I think about, okay, well, can we carve out the time to have the meal with our family? Can we carve out the time to even cook with our kids and make that part of the activity? And then even shopping. As you were sitting here talking, I got inspired. I was like, well, I wonder if there's an app where we take a picture of our refrigerator, we see what's in there, and then we cross reference it with our list so we don't double buy. I don't know if that exists, but that's what you inspired me to think about.
Janet Irizarry: We have the tools for you, because we're going to give you a list so you can have inventory before you go. So just quickly, the awareness module. Then the second one is about planning, about organizing your house or your kitchen area. Second is about storing food properly. The third module is all about planning and shopping. And the fourth module is about mindful cooking, or making your kitchen more mindful. We don't teach cooking, that's not what it is. We teach the mindset. And so all of what you said is right on the money, and we give you the tools to do it. You have Margot who is the mom in the videos to cheer you on, and make it sound like fun. Any reason that you might not be doing it right now, it's not about feeling guilty. It's about saying you're totally normal, but let's get through this together. And it's not as bad as you seem.
Justine Reichman: Awesome. Thank you so much for joining me today. I want to thank our guests for tuning in, whether they're listening on to the podcast or watching the videocast. Don't forget, you could do both. Our videocast is on YouTube. Our podcast is anywhere you listen to podcasts at Essential Ingredients. And again, if you want to get some clips for upcoming episodes or see what's coming down the pipeline, don't forget to tune in and follow us at the link on Instagram @essential.ingredients. I look forward to seeing you here again next week. Thanks again, Janet.
Janet Irizarry: Thank you for having me. It was great.
