Food Swap! Waste not, Want Not.
Food swaps are events where members of a local community meet up to share homemade, homegrown, and foraged foods with each other. Apart from diversifying their larders and redistributing surpluses and gluts, they provide opportunities for building stronger communities and picking up tips. No money changes hands swaps allow direct trades to take place between, a loaf of bread for a jar of pickles or a half-dozen backyard eggs.
Swap events often include a potluck as an immediate food-sharing (and sometimes item-sampling) component.
Swapping events are a delicious way to diversify the homemade foods in your own pantry while getting to know members of your local food community.
Crop swapping is a great way for those who grow their own food to make sure nothing is going to waste. If you have an over-abundance of particular fruits or vegetables in the garden, you can find growers in your area who will exchange their surplus for yours.
How do I start a food swap?
Here's how it works:
- Get a group together.
- Assign everyone a recipe. Each person is responsible for creating 4 "meal-kits" for their specific recipe. A "meal-kit" is a fancy way to say that you shop, measure and chop the ingredients.
- Get together and swap your prepped meals. This can be a simple or as fancy as you like.