Arabella Forge is a Melbourne based nutritionist and author of Frugavore: How to grow your own, buy local, waste nothing and eat well. Here she shares some tips with us.

How to minimise waste in your home

• Produce as many things as you can yourself, or source them locally. Grow some of your own produce, keep chickens, and shop directly from a local farmer where possible.
• Get a compost bin, worm farm or bokashi bucket for your kitchen waste. Use this to fertilise your garden and grow a blossoming vegetable patch.
• Consume less: only buy products that you really need. Try to avoid resorting to 'retail therapy'.
• Shop locally and avoid products that are processed or have a lot of plastic packaging.
• Recycle old clothing as rags for cleaning.
• Recycle old jars for jams and preserves. Use plastic containers to store leftovers and larder staples, or for cleaning products.
• Stop using paper and plastic bags: purchase or make a recycled cotton, hemp or string bag.
• Bottle your own filtered tap water instead of buying plastic bottled water.
• Practise 'positive pilfering': if someone is throwing something out that could be used, grab it!

We have a lot to learn from the peasant habits of frugality - choosing delicious and nutrient-dense food, making the most of what we have and wasting less. Obviously we can't return completely to the pre-industrialised way of life. But we can do the little things - and these little things can make a huge difference. Understand where your food comes from, choose food with less packaging, waste less, and recycle everything you can. Lastly, at the end of the day, when you sit down to enjoy your meal, take some satisfaction from knowing where your food came from. Give thanks for the person who cooked the dish, for the farmer who grew each plant and animal...and for the lucky soul who'll be doing the cleaning up.

Kitchen utensils

Too many cooks these days get hung up on having the latest equipment - shiny pots and pans, non-stick coatings and the newest technology. But food doesn't need to be created with the latest appliances to look and taste good. If you want a healthy cooking environment and a nourishing finished product, stick to the basics, just like our grandparents did.

Cookware: Where possible, try to avoid cookware made with 'non-stick' coating as this has been found to contain the chemical polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE). PTFE has been associated with numerous chronic and acute health problems. If you do choose to use non-stick cookware, never heat it to high temperatures, as this appears to release more of the toxic emissions. A better alternative is heavy stainless steel, cast-iron, stoneware or enamel-coated pots and pans. Stainless steel or copper (not aluminium) work well for everyday steaming, frying and boiling. If you can, it is worth investing in one or two large, heavy enamel pots. They are excellent for long, slow, gentle cooking as they retain the heat in their thick, cast-iron walls. These old-fashioned, heavy-set pots aren't always cheap, but they do last a lifetime. Many op-shops and thrift shops sell good quality old pots and pans, and I've seen some great buys on eBay. Don't worry about superficial scratches or chips, it's what's inside that counts.

Chopping boards: Timber cutting boards that haven't been sealed or treated are the best choice for the home kitchen. Natural timber breathes easily, so repels bacteria and bugs better than plastic boards can. Clean your timber cutting board regularly and always allow it to breath when you're not using it. Keep it on the bench top or propped up against the wall, rather than tucked away in a stuffy drawer.

Microwaves: Microwaves are a convenient appliance for busy households. But microwaves do more than just reheat food quickly. They radiate heat using a form of electro-magnetic energy, which destroys and deforms the molecules in food and depletes many of the important nutrients. As an alternative, choose an oven with a fan-force option. We have at home a 'double oven'; one oven is 90 centimetres wide and the other is 30 centimetres wide. The smaller oven heats ip quickly and uses less energy to reheat meals. With the fan-forced heat, it takes only 10 or so minutes to reheat a dish - nearly as quick as a microwave, and much healthier.

Freezers: The best investment we ever made was a large freezer, which we keep in the garage or back veranda. We store meat and grains that we've purchased in bulk, as well as stock and leftovers. The freezer saves me much time and worry. If I come home late at night, I can defrost something quickly and easily - some sausages, or some mince meat for hamburgers or meatballs. I combine this with a few fresh greens from the garden and any vegetables that happen to be in the fridge, and ta-da! dinner is made. No shopping and very little planning required.

This information kindly provided by Arabella Forge, from her book Frugavore: How to grow your own, buy local, waste nothing and eat well.

Go to Arabella's Bubble and Squeak recipe.

Go to Arabella's Fish Stock recipe.