The Zero Waste Chef

Author: Anne-Marie Bonneau

A sustainable lifestyle starts in the kitchen with these use-what-you-have, spend-less-money recipes and tips, from the friendly voice behind @ZeroWasteChef.

In her decade of living with as little plastic, food waste, and stuff as possible, Anne-Marie Bonneau, who blogs under the moniker Zero-Waste Chef, has preached that "zero-waste" is above all an intention, not a hard-and-fast rule. Because, sure, one person eliminating all their waste is great, but thousands of people doing 20 percent better will have a much bigger impact. And you likely already have all the tools you need to begin.

In her debut book, Bonneau gives readers the facts to motivate them to do better, the simple (and usually free) fixes to ease them into wasting less, and finally, the recipes and strategies to turn them into self-reliant, money-saving cooks and makers.

Rescue a hunk of bread from being sent to the landfill by making Mexican Hot Chocolate Bread Pudding, or revive some sad greens to make a pesto. Save 10 dollars (and the plastic tub) at the supermarket with Yes Whey, You Can Make Ricotta Cheese, then use the cheese in a galette and the leftover whey to make sourdough tortillas. With 75 vegan and vegetarian recipes for cooking with scraps, creating fermented staples, and using up all your groceries before they go bad--including end-of-recipe notes on what to do with your ingredients next--Bonneau lays out an attainable vision for a zero-waste kitchen.

Anne-Marie Bonneau is the blogger behind Zero-Waste Chef who has lived plastic-free since 2011. She shows others how reducing their trash not only benefits the planet but also satisfies their taste buds, improves their well-being, and boosts their bank accounts. A Canadian transplant, Bonneau lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with her two daughters and her sourdough starter, Eleanor.