This Restaurant Is Making Nutritious Veggie Burgers From Leftover Juice Pulp!

Did you know that anywhere from 30 to 40 percent of the US annual food supply winds up in the trash? According to USDA researchers, as much as 133 billion pounds of wasted food winds up in landfills each year.

Thankfully, innovators are coming up with creative ways to reduce and eliminate food waste. An inspiring example is a collaboration between Pressed Juicery at Westfield UTC in San Diego, CA and Mendocino Farms, an organic vegan restaurant chain with seven locations near Los Angeles, who have teamed up to create a scrumptious veggie burger made of upcycled pulp from the juicery.

Aptly named the Rescued Vegetable Burger, this patty is made up of the leftovers from juicing spinach, carrots, beets, romaine lettuce, kale, and turmeric. Pressed Juicery creates an incredible 300 to 500 pounds of the usable fruit and vegetable scraps from juicing every week which means Mendocino Farms has a whole lot of ingredients to make their juicy burgers topped with butter pickles and a bright magenta Thousand Island dressing made with pressed beets.

For now, the Rescued Vegetable is a seasonal item. You can grab one for around $11.95 at any Mendocino Farms location.

Mendocino Farms

Want To Repurpose Your Food Waste At Home?

You can help reduce your impact and eat delicious foods by changing your habits at home. Here we’ve compiled a few inventive recipe ideas from the Food Monster App that create little to no waste.

Make your own mineral broth. 

Bone broth is all the rage these days, but did you know you can make your own mineral-packed, plant-based healing broth from your leftover vegetable scraps? Rebecca Fallihee recommends using leftover bits of onions, carrots, celery, and brassicas to bring a mild flavor to your Healing Mineral Broth. The broth can be used to cook grains or as a base for stews and soups.

Keep your leaves!

Many people don’t realize that greens on your beets and carrots are actually completely edible. In her Beet Greens With Garlic and Toasted Almonds, Rinku Bhattacharya sautés beet greens with garlic and spices then tops them with toasted almonds, creating a perfect side dish for your favorite meal. Plus, whipping this up means you’ll create less waste when you cook with beets!

Persevere over food waste with preserves.

Maybe you have produce that is about to go bad? Or you bought more than you can handle? You can always make preserves out of your fruits and vegetables to increase their shelf life. Try this Slow-Cooker Tomato Preserve from Susan Edelman if you’ve got some leftover tomatoes you want to utilize instead of tossing them.

Want even more ideas for how to cut down on your food waste? Check out our handy guide featuring 6 Ways You Can Make A Difference Right Now by reducing the amount of food you throw out.

You can also find more plant-salvaging recipes by downloading the Food Monster App, which is available for both Android and iPhone, and can also be found on Instagram and Facebook. The app has more than 10,000 plant-based, allergy-friendly recipes, and subscribers gain access to ten new recipes per day. Check it out!

Lead image source: Lentil and Mushroom Veggie Burgers