Direction is more important than speed - Rebecca’s experience with Every Bite
Rebecca Kirby-Crowe lives with her husband and two young daughters in Luggate, a little town about 10 minutes out of Wānaka.
After hearing about Every Bite through a colleague who thought she might be interested, Rebecca was excited to give the programme a go.
“I started this journey with a hiss and a roar - feeling scandalised about food waste, totally motivated and really enthused about the new tips and tricks.”
But she soon ran into a problem with this approach.
“I felt a bit overwhelmed when I left the intro night because I wanted to do it 'right' and had subconsciously set an intention to have no food waste so I would 'do well'.
As we got going I realised I was being unsustainably dogmatic, and I decided to aim for honest results I could reflect on rather than getting a 'good' result.
Once I let that initial idea go I was able to settle into smaller but genuinely transformational and sustainable changes in my thinking and my actions. No doubt this will be a building block for greater opportunities for change in the future, but going big was the wrong way to start.”
Even though she got off to a bit of a rocky start, Rebecca learned a lot.
“I think my greatest learning on this journey was the moment I internalised the idea that real change won't come from everyone being perfect, but from everyone genuinely doing a bit better. It reminds me of a Paulo Coelho quote I read earlier in the year that I really liked:
‘Change. But start slowly, because direction is more important than speed.’”
Once Rebecca had her speed sorted, the Every Bite programme provided her with a direction to move in.
“The system has been easy to use and to integrate into everyday family life.
We established the 'Eat Me First' shelf in our fridge so I could better track sad veges and little bits and pieces that might otherwise get forgotten.
The combination of the 'Eat Me First' shelf and a more conscious intention to reduce food waste has made a difference in the way I cook too. For example, as the freezer stock bag gets full, I plan a risotto meal so I can cook up the stock and use it, instead of thinking 'what do we feel like tonight?'.”
Rebecca's 'Eat me First' card in use in the fridge.
She has also gained a better understanding of her family’s edible food waste.
“I had thought we didn't waste food, because we have a compost heap and we put that on the garden.
But I hadn't considered that food waste is anything that you bring into the house that you intended to eat. So, no, it doesn't get wasted because it gets kind of recycled, but, when I started looking at what I would have previously thought, ‘Oh, I'll pop it in the compost. That's all good’, I started thinking, ‘well, actually, I didn't buy that to put it in the compost pile. I bought it so we could eat it.’
I was surprised at how glib I was about buying something from the supermarket, putting it in the fridge, and then putting it in the compost. It's just such a bizarre thing to do.”
Rebecca has found the ideas from the Every Bite programme are relevant beyond the kitchen too.
“A ripple effect of thinking about food waste has been that I’m also thinking about subsequent resource use too.
I started getting caught between achieving some food waste changes and being mindful of using fewer resources generally. In the end, I prioritised the food waste journey and did things like heat the oven only to make breadcrumbs, but creating that space has made real change possible in my food habits.
I can now normalise those habits into daily life and look to be more efficient in how I achieve the new normal. Tackling one thing at a time seems a good way to go.”
“Evelyn, the guest chef at the Wānaka launch event, gave us a sauce recipe for her Buddha bowls and I think we all raced home to try it. Everybody in my family just loves that recipe.
When our friends were in town visiting the other day, my husband was like, oh, we should show them the Buddha bowl! He's quite evangelical about it. It's really shaken up the way we use the same food.”
Left - buddha bowls for Rebecca’s children.
Overall, Rebecca enjoyed her Every Bite experience.
“I would like to thank Every Bite for the initiative and resources, and Wastebusters for bringing it to life.
Evelyn, the guest chef who helps Wastebusters deliver the Every Bite programme, seems a real gem and Wānaka is lucky to have her - she's relatable and warm and a wealth of information, and her practical contribution to that opening night was quite inspiring.
I will be spreading the word. Keen to be part of more things like this in future too.”
Every Bite is delivered by the Zero Waste Network in partnership with the Ministry for the Environment.
If you’d like to take part in upcoming programmes, register your interest here.