What do you get when you gather a whole team of foodie fanatics and sustainability savants in one place? A whole bunch of knowledge!
Imperfect is all about reducing waste at every step from farm to fridge, and we know so many of our customers want to waste less and live more sustainably but aren’t sure where to start. Well, consider this square one. We’ve compiled articles on everything from cooking artichokes to regrowing lettuce in your windowsill so you know exactly where to turn when you’re feeling lost. Enjoy!
Zero Waste Tips
Cutting down on food waste at home is a hugely impactful way to save all the resources that went into growing your food, not to mention all the money you spent buying it. Here’s our stacked set of guides and tools for using every bit of what you’ve got.
- Our Grocery Storage Guide tells you how to store all of your favorite foods.
- Learn to cook every part of your produce from root to leaf .
- The Save the Food Guestimator can help you plan how much to cook for a group.
- How to clean out your fridge like a pro.
- How to use your coffee grounds.
- Here are 4 ways to reuse your Imperfect box.
- Learn 5 ways to waste less protein.
- How to shop smarter and make your groceries last.
Scrappy Cooking
Our favorite kind of cuisine isn’t Italian or Thai or Mexican. It’s scrappy! We love cooking with the mentality of using what you have rather than following a recipe exactly. And if there’s a way to give veggie scraps, the last few drops of sauce, or orange peels another life, you butter believe we’ll make it happen. Here’s how.
- Root to leaf cooking tips.
- Transform your citrus peels into a non-toxic cleaner.
- Turn corn cobs into stock.
- Re-use your coffee grounds.
- Ideas for leftover condiments.
- Learn what to do with leftovers.
Gadgets & Gear
Having the right gadgets can really make or break your experience in the kitchen. Here are the tools of the trade we recommend, plus how to care for them to make them last.
- We share 10 tools every cook should have around, explore how to care for your knives and how to shop for a chef’s knife.
Technique
Alright, friends. Time to drop some knowledge bombs. Here’s how to grill everything from burgers to beets, pickle any vegetable that you come across, and even transform raw produce into fantastically fermented delicacies.
- 8 tips for grilling.
- How to pickle everything in your kitchen.
- How to turn leftovers into stock.
- How to ferment vegetables.
Must-have ingredients
When it comes to dry ingredients, it’s all about the staples. Here’s what we recommend always having on hand whether you’re baking vegan cookies or prepping an old fashioned roast.
- How to build a better pantry.
- 5 baking ingredients you should always have around.
- 5 tips for better baked goods.
- Our 4 favorite baking substitutions for when you’re in a pinch.
Ingredient Guides
Ever seen a vegetable and thought, “What on earth do I do with that?” We’ve been there. Here are our guides for cooking the weird and the wacky, plus a few downright genius tips for cooking everyday ingredients.
- Artichokes: Here are 3 tips for cooking with artichokes.
- Beets: Here’s everything you need to know about cooking with beets.
- Brussels sprouts: Learn our top 5 tips for roasting Brussels sprouts.
- Citrus: Learn about the main types of citrus in our citrus 101.
- Chili peppers: Read our pepper 101, learn how to pick the right hot pepper for you, and see why we love habanero peppers so much.
- Cooking oil: Learn which cooking oils to use when with this handy guide and in our Baking Fats 101.
- Eggplant: Learn our 4 tips for making eggplant delicious.
- Herbs: Check out our guide to herbs and learn when to use fresh or dried herbs
- Kale: Learn how to love kale again.
- Leafy Greens: Understand 4 common leafy greens and what to do with them.
- Nuts: Read our advice for how to cook with nuts.
- Persimmons: Learn the difference between Hachiya and Fuyu persimmons.
- Pomegranates: How to cook with pomegranates.
- Pumpkins: Here’s everything you wanted to know about cooking with pumpkins.
- Root vegetables: Get your common questions about root veggies answered by chef Abra Berens.
- Spices: Get some tips about using our favorite spices, discover our top fall spices, or learn about spice pairing.
- Squash: Check out our squash cheat sheet to learn about the most common types and when to use them.
Gardening & Composting
Here’s the magical thing about plants: they keep on giving even after you’ve finished dinner! Learn how to compost and which veggies will regrow right in your kitchen.
- Learn which vegetables you can actually re-grow from their scraps from Kevin Espiritu of Epic Gardening.
- Check out our composting 101 to learn how to get started where you live.
- Can’t compost where you live or don’t want to? Find a composting pickup service near you.
